Re: Type 44 bomb replacement & brake question

[Steve Frattini <s373231@gettysburg.edu>]

>With a dead bomb and the engine running, when you press the brake
>pedal it will drop a tiny bit as it uses up whatever hydraulic pressure
>there is, then it stops.  When the next pulse of pressure comes along
>from the pump, it drops a little more.  The pedal pulsates as it goes
>down.  Feels kind of like the ABS cutting in.

While I was home on Sunday, my father and I took a look at the car, and ran
through the "Bad bomb test" and got ONE! push on the brake pedal after the
engine was off, so it appears to be a bad bomb.  The car has always
required a lot of pedal effort to stop, at least while I've been driving it
and learned to drive on it, so that is the only way I'm used to.  The pedal
also pulsated as described.  All indicators point to a bad bomb, and based
on that, would you recommend replacing it first, and then trying the master
cylinder or vice versa.  I'm leaning toward replacing the bomb first.  I
know that the merits of replacing the bomb has recently been discussed, and
I agree that it should be replaced, I'm just trying to figure out a plan of
attack.  In any case, it is going to be looked at by a mechanic on Friday
to check everything out.  The brake fluid level was real low (which was odd
because we filled it the end of august) so there might be a leak/air in the
lines.  Regardless, I think the bomb is shot as well (the car is 14 years
old) and will need to be replaced anyway.  If  I  had to take a stab at it,
I would say there is air in the lines which is causing the pedal to go to
the floor, and that I just sort of stumbled onto the fact that the bomb is
bad in the process.  Any agreements/disagreements to this hypothesis.   

Thanks