hey all, I own an '85 190E and was wondering when is it time to change the master brake cyclinder. How long to these things last? I'd like to change it before I encounter stopping problems. Thanks in advance!

I imagine that at least half of all 190s will go to the grave with their original master cylinder. Thats just a conservative guess, it could be 80% or more. Of the scores of 190s we service I imagine we have replaced 5 cylinders.

With the advent of ABS many more people started servicing their brakes and fluid appropriately. Its always has been a problem the way MB described brake fluid replacement; "every other year in the Spring". By not placing it at certain intervals many of these fluid changes were missed. We used to do Master Cylinders in the dozens a year, now I would be surprised if we are doing over 10 a year for all the German cars we work on.

If you notice I haven't answered your question. It would be just my luck to tell you to forget it and next week have a one in a million total failure catastrophically. Not me....


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Steve Brotherton
Owner 24 bay BSC
Bosch Master, ASE master L1
26 years MB technician