I changed the brake pads on my 84 300SD ( front & rear) after the calipers were pushed in, a little brake fluid spiled out of the master cylinder.
On test drive i smelled brake fluid, came home a checked and a little smoke was coming from under the master cylinder and brake booster. It seems to be worse when i apply the brake. Any ideas? Thanks, Pete

Smoke??

Better describe it more explicitly.

Brake fluid can't cause "smoke".

What you did was to simply force fluid from the caliper cylinders, back up the lines and into the master cylinder and back into the reservoir.

For future reference, it would have been far better to crack the bleeder, let most of the fluid in the reservoir drain down into a jar, tighten the bleeder, and then force the pistons back into their bores.

What about flushing the brake fluid? You did do that, correct? It should be done every two years so that any moisture in the lines is eliminated. Some folks do it every year.

What i was thinking was some fluid might have spiled from the master cylinder on to some thing electrical. All i know is it was not "smoking" before i changed the brakes. Thanks for the help, Pete

Well, take a careful look. Offhand, I can't think of anything electrical directly below the reservoir. I didn't splash all the way over to the fuse box, did it??

No it was just a small amount of fluid. It drained straight down.

I cleaned all of the fluid off and i am going to take it for a ride and see what happens. Thanks, for you help.

Give that area a good dousing to rinse off the spilled brake fluid. Brake fluid will strip paint, water collects in that pocket if leaves and debris block the drains. Water sitting where there's no paint...

I'm puzzled by the smoke. Nothing's hot enough down there to boil brake fluid.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL