I have a 1996 Honda Accord Ex with about 140,000 miles on it. Lately, the brakes have started losing pressure, as I'm stopping and when sitting at lights. I've only noticed it in the afternoons or when it's hot out. I just checked my brake fluid level and it is fine. A local reputable mechanic quoted me around $600 to replace the master cylinder. Does this sound reasonable?

 

I had the same problem last month. I have a guy who has his own garage and repairs cars for a living. I know that he only payed about 90 dollars for the part, if that. So 600$ sounds really unreasonable to me. The part online, Brake Master Cylinder, is less than 100$.

 

The part brand new from Honda, is $150 picked up at my dealership and it took me, with no prior knowledge of how to remove it 20 minutes to remove and install the replacement.

I would recommend getting a new OEM.

 

It's definitely the master cylinder, but $600 is incredibly unreasonable. Even a high labor rate Honda dealership would likely do it for $300 or less. You can pick up a remanufactured master cylinder for well under $100 at a local parts store and do it yourself if you're mechanically inclined and have a buddy handy to help bleed the system.

 

wouldn't a master cylinder from a local auto parts store be pretty good?

96 accord ex master cylinder for my area is under 100 bucks at autozone
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...temId=cat30105

 

Eh, the rebuilt ones have a tendency to fail. One I originally got was a rebuilt one and was damaged on the exterior.

The off brands I'm sure you could get but only $40 gets you a brand new OEM one. I feel a lot safer with it.