Mike - right away, you identified something I didn't do: bleed the MC. I'm not sure even how to do it, but now that you put it in print, I suddenly remember reading it in all kinds of repair manuals...WHOOPS! I can research the proper procedure, or will listen to your description, if you have time to post it. Also if, after that, the problem still exists, I will definitely check the MC internals - wouldn't be the first time that assembly was done wrong...thanks for the feedback on this.........