Yes. The engine will idle poorly when a vacuum power brake booster goes bad. It can be a source of a large vacuum leak. A bad master cylinder however would have no effect on the performance of the engine.
Master cylinder is bad and appears to be coming from the booster.
Is a bad thing and requires IMMEDIATE REPLACEMENT OR REBUILDING OF THE MASTER CYLINDER TO PREVENT SERIOUS INJURY AND OR DEATH
the leak between master cylinder and booster is where difference type of gasket is worn out depended on the type of your vehicle...older vehicle usually have flat gasket but mostly have O-ring Gasket the need to be replace. you have a bad master cylinder its leaking fluid into your booster the seal or oring is just to prevent vacuum leak change master cyl before the fluid attacks the booster and you spend another 170.00
Sounds to me like your Vacum booster behind the master cylinder is weak or bad!
Look for leaking fluid at the slave or master cylinder.
Gradual Loss of brake pedal height (pedal sinks to floor)? but fluid level proper--internal leak Loss of brake fluid? Back of master cylinder (where is attaches to booster) wet with brake fluid? External Remove master cylinder and see if booster has fluid in bottom (bad real seal)
If you have no hydrolic pressure in your breaks, or in other words your breaks dont work very well.
with out more info;it could be bad break cables, calipers, booster cable, and/or master cylinder
how do i know the master cylinder is bad ?
this is most likely caused by a bad brake booster. hook up a vaccum pump to booster and see if it holds vaccum, if it does, its ok, if it doesnt, its bad. booster is located between firewall and brake fluid resevoir, you will see a large diameter vaccum hose connected to it, this is where to test it at.
They sometimes leak hydraulic fluid down on to the carpet where the peddles are.