Another servo failure reported Longstanding V8 enthusiasts, Mike Dunlop with Limeflower 0118, has reported a servo failure but fortunately it was detected on start up - the garage was filled with white smoke as the brake fluid burnt off as it leaked into the inlet manifold from the servo. My experience was nowhere as scarey as it might have been if the car had been travelling at speed as my car was in the garage when I found the problem. I was about to start up the old girl after her winter rest and as usual I tried the brake, clutch and throttle pedals before starting up. I noticed the brake pedal went straight to the floor. I checked the reservoir and it was empty. As the car was in the garage on chocks I started her up anyway and instantly there was white smoke everywhere, and I do mean everywhere as it was so thick I had to leave the garage to get some air. The car had started up fine on the second attempt (which is as usual) and the engine had sounded fine with the oil pressure at the correct point and steady as a rock. At this point I had a panic and convinced myself that the car had a cracked head (the garage had been very cold over the winter months) as at that point in time I had not connected the white smoke with the loss of brake fluid. TE low brake fluid sensor - a vital safety device for an MGBGTV8 See V8NOTE332 More information on the reported servo failures? Reports of brake servo failure. See V8NOTE228 Posted: 120212 Once the engine had cooled down I did a radiator check and looked at the dip stick and oil filler cap for the usual light grey sticky stuff associated with water and oil getting together, but all was fine. I went back into the house, had a strong cup of tea and told myself to think as a proper MG Car Club member would do. Then it came to me, the white smoke must have something to do with the brake fluid loss, marvellous thing the brain when used properly. It was then that I remembered the warning from the V8 Register as a note in Safety Fast about servo failure. The next thing I did was phone my mechanic to come round and take a look at the servo. As soon as he had taken the servo off the car, it was clear that the servo was the problem, the brake fluid that had not been sucked into the inlet manifold (hence the white smoke) was still in the servo. The remedy was obviously going to be either refurbish the original servo or buy a new one. I spoke to my twin brother in New Zealand who had replaced the servo on his 1968 MGCGT just before he had shipped it out of the UK and he thought the "buy new" was the best route, so that's what I did. I would have liked to keep the car original but on safety items I didn't want to take the risk. I purchased mine from Moss Group in Feltham and got a company called V-Tech to install it. This local company (Bracknell) is a two man team and the only guys who have ever been allowed to work on my car since I found them back in the 80s. The boss (Colin) did his apprenticeship on the V8 line at Abingdon on leaving school, but had never worked on a V8 since leaving MG and starting his own business until he met me. I have kept the original unit and possibly will get around to having it refurbished at some time. This all happened around March 2011 and once the new unit was fitted I had trouble free motoring for the rest of the year. The brakes are now better than I can remember them being for some time, so perhaps my servo had been on the way out for a little while. I must admit I had topped up the reservoir a couple of time the previous year and had checked all the brake lines for leakage but had found nothing out of place. As the top ups had been only a teaspoonful at a time, thought no more about it. The only disappointing thing for me was that the new servo came in black and of course the original unit was in normal steel colour which I had metal polished to a chrome look during the years I concoursed her. V8 Register - MG Car Club - the leading group for MG V8 enthusiasts at www.v8register.net