Got a 2000 RWD 3.0L with a brake light, an ABS light, low brake fluid level, squishy/soft brake pedal, and what I'm 99.9% sure is brake oil all over the rear driver side brake assembly. The brake line looks fine and doesn't have any droplets hanging off it and doesn't look like the source, so pretty sure the cylinder let go. Still haven't popped the tire off yet to take a look (yeah inside of the brake is a mess).

Haven't had this happen before, so just wondering what I should plan on expecting to replace? I'm kind of assuming that I should do both of them, and that if there's brake oil all over the shoes, those probably need replacing, so probably just replace the cylinders and do a brake job on both sides to keep everything even?

 

Yeah, there's brake fluid on the shoes, so replacing. Going to replace cylinders, pads and all the hardware on both sides just for good measure. Drums still seem okay. Mildly interestingly, this is a RWD with 10" drum brakes stamped 256.3mm, so it isn't just 4wd that comes with 10" drum brakes.

 

If it were mine, I would just replace the leaking cylinder, bleed it, and spray everything off with the garden hose. Brake fluid is water soluble. Spray the shoes off several times so that any brake fluid that has soaked into the shoes can be removed. Install the clean sprayed out drum and take it for a test drive. I would not expect a problem.