What coupling do you have?
The little short Attwood, the gnarly Dico or the sleek little Unique?
They pretty much all have the fill plugs in the top, just pop the top and peek in the hole. Grab a Popsicle stick or something to "dip" the fluid to make sure it is actually fluid. There is a chance it is water. Normally if they are out of fluid, the master gets filled with water.
They all have different "issues". Many times it is the small shock absorber or the bushings... They can get pretty friggen loose.
I refuse to fill them with Dot 3, I use Dot 5 silicone.
Dot 3 mostly consists of alcohol and has an affinity for water (read;rust), whereas Dot 5 is silicone.
You cannot mix them, it will gel up. But in the case that you did lose the fluid through a wheel cylinder, just buy everything and change it over to Dot 5.
Hope this helps.
GT