car eats brake fluid

[Schnell 318]

i think i may have a leak in my braking system somwhere, because my car eats brake fluid. i filled it up like 2 weeks ago and i had to fill it up agian tonight. i dont see any fluid anywhere on the garage floor however. is it possible that one of my brake lines is cracked, and it is slowly leaking? i havent seen my braking effort or stopping distance increase.

on a side note, to convert the front brakes to the bigger vented ones from the 325 i would only need calipers and disks right? would the lines and such mount up?

as for the rear i would need the complete trailing arm assemblies with the brakes, but if i installed the master cylender from the 325 my brake biasing shouldnt been all messed up right?

[Spaz]

your 318i has rear drum brakes correct?? if so check your wheel cylinders inside of the drum they can be a majour cause of fluid leakage, and it will be harder to spot also. if thats the case you will have to replace both cylinders, and the brake shoes, as they turn bad with they come in contact of brake fluid/oil/grease and etc.

as for the front brakes. from what i understand you will need calipers, and caliper bracket, pads, rotors. and while i was there i would replace the hoses.

hope that helps.

[rs4pro3]

Up front you need rotors, calipers, brackets, and pads. Hoses mount up as does everything else it's a very easy swap. In the rear you need the arms, calipers pads, rotors, lines from subframe back, parking brake cables. You should be fine with a 325 master. but youy should also swap the rear valve for one from a 325e it mounts near the rear subframe and diverts the fluid to the two sides of the vehicle.
As for the leak it's either a blown brake booster, or probally your rear slave cylinders. Mine where leaking pretty bad and had to be replaced. You'd know though if the brake booster was bad as it would be realy hard to slow the car down.

[Fred]

Also check your brake pressure regulator since that's a major leak point for earlier E30s.

Fred

[Schnell 318]

Also check your brake pressure regulator since that's a major leak point for earlier E30s.

Fred

where is that located?

[808BMW]

Check the grommet right underneath your brake fluid resevoir. Mine just went out a couple weeks ago.

[Fred]

where is that located?

Driver side of the car, just under/behind the master cylinder. Look towards the firewall...kind of a pain to spot since you'll have to go under the car. You'll know if it's leaking if you see a lot of fluid in that area.

Fred