After I posted I went right to Walmart and bought some DOT 4. As I was pouring it in, the level wasn't changing, then I noticed what was REALLY low. When I said the level was a 1/3 down from max., I was looking at the front part of the res. It was the rear section that was damn near empty. I had bought a 12 oz. bottle of fluid and it took a little over half of that to fill her up. After a couple pumpings of the brake, she was good to go. TO be honest with you, ever since I bought the car a year or so ago, I always just looked at the front compartment. I ASSUMED that what was in the front, was representative of the entire res. Of course forgeting that the sys. is designed as such that in the event of a major brake fluid lost in one brake circuit, that would not fail the other. So basicly I am going to watch the level, in both parts, particullarly the rear, now that I know that it is full. Again, the rear hoses are bone dry, as is everything else. Maybe all along the level was low and as my brake pads wore down a bit, the lack of fluid reared it's ugly head. I will also have test the low fluid light, because I didn't get a light. The pads themselves have a long way to go.

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1999 MB SL500 (110,000 mi)
2004 Volvo V70 2.5T (220,000 mi)
2014 Tesla Model S 85 (136,000 mi)
MBCA member