stangcoupe1970

I took the '70 out for her first ride, I went roughly 3 miles when it was cut short by a power steering failure and then a high tail home. however while I was driving the brake pedal slowly got closer and closer to the floor, when i inspected it at home it appears that there is a electrical fitting on the side facing the front of the car on the distribution block and it squirts out of that fitting. is this normal or is my block trash?

Bosko

Had the same thing happen in my 1971. There is a broken o-ring in the distribution block. I took mine apart, cleaned it up, and got new o-rings from the local Oreilly Auto. We matched the old ones from their o-ring box. Took me about 15 minutes to do the job, and around $2.00 in orings since i replaced them all while I had it apart, not just the broken one.

Now, you're distribution block is different than mine, so someone else with direct experience should confirm, but I am pretty confident that a broken o-ring is the problem.

Here's a pic. This is the piston inside the distribution block. When you press on the brakes, the pressure in the front circuit pushes on one side, the pressure on the rear circuit pushes on the other. If all is in balance, the piston does not move. However, if one side has low pressure (ie a brake fluid leak or similar failure), the piston will move to that side and activate the electrical switch in the block which turns on the brake warning light on the dash. With a broken oring, the fluid will blow by and squirt out of the electrical connector.



ok dammit, I can't get the picture to work.......

Third time's a charm.....finally!