Yesterday I took my 95 f3 out for a ride around the neighborhood. When I got on one of the main streets, I noticed that it was increasingly difficult to pick up speed, and the reason why was the front brakes were engaged. It brought me to a stop and wouldn't release. I took my pocket knife out and pushed in the plunger on the master cylinder and they released but I didn't have any brake pressure . Luckily I wasn't to far from home, but I had to ride back with no front brakes. Once I got it home, I noticed that when I squeeze the brakes, brake fluid runs from the pistons of the caliper. Could I have blown a seal or something? Has anyone had this issue before?

 

Sounds like you did blow a seal, but it sounds like you did when you messed with the m/c. A blown seal isn't going to make your brakes lock like that, you'll just lose pressure (like you did afterwards). Gummed up pistons will/could lock up, and cause issues. Considering the age, if they haven't been cleaned, that could be what happened. Or it could be your plunger that was gummed up from really old fluid/rust/dirt behind the seal and caused a similar situation where your piston in the m/c was slightly engaged.... What's the fluid look like?

You'll need to investigate and take pics.


Glad it didn't cause a nightmare scenario and you made it home okay.

 

Definitely will need master cylinder. My guess would be a brake line collapsed.