So I noticed a few drops of some type of fluid that had dripped down onto the top of my floor mat under the brake pedal. Looked up and saw fluid around the seal of the rod connected to the pedal going through the fire wall. What needs to be replaced and is it an expensive job?

 

The rod that attaches to your brake pedal comes from the hydroboost unit. The fluid will be power steering fluid. I have no idea if the seal can be replaced by itself, but I would expect to have to replace the whole assembly. I don't believe it's a common failure and would imagine it would be expensive.

 

Check your power steering and brake fluid. If power steering fluid is low you have a hydroboost leak. Check your hoses to the hydroboost for leaks. That means your steering sucks and you have no power assit on brakes and the brake response also will suck. I would not drive it untill you figure it out or be real carefull.

You could put flourescent dye in the power steering fluid and see if that is whats leaking using a flourescent light. I used transmission dye from NAPA in power steering and had a bad hydroboost unit which I replaced. My leak was under the hood below the brake/hydroboost unit onto the steering shaft.

 

I recently replaced the ps fluid with synthetic to help eliminate ps groans in cold weather. Would synthetic cause damage to seals? Brakes and power steering are working fine. Fluid levels are fine.

 

Brake fluid cannot leak thru the hydroboost to the apply rod - hi-pressure p\s fluid from the power steering pump is sorta in the way - if p\s fluid is leaking there, the piston end-seal is bad, which means the other seals\rubbers in the unit are failing\failed also - years back rebuild kits were available, but now it's replace - NAPA sells new oem units, and sells rebuilds by the same outfits that do the factory rework, so you might try theirs

Syn fluid should not cause leaks, except in a unit that was ready to start leaking - that should not happen at only 136kmi, but sometimes it's just the luck of the draw, considering the shoddy labor in the work force over the last decade