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Date:         Fri, 2 Nov 2001 14:03:30 -0700
Reply-To:     "Michael A. Radtke" <michael.radtke@BULL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Michael A. Radtke" <michael.radtke@BULL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Frustration in Brake Land
Comments: To: "KENWILFY@AOL.COM" <KENWILFY@AOL.COM>

Ken,

You can easily eliminate the booster as a possibility by just not starting the engine. After a few pedal pushes, no more boost and if the brakes are still squishy, the problem is somewhere else. I think that it still will be squishy.

If the brakes were solid before the work, I would suspect that the calipers and pads were not correctly installed. I'd take a look there first.

However, the customer brought the van in for some reason beyond having you replace a few parts. He may have been trying to fix the same problem that you are. Something is ballooning, compressing or bending.

You are doing all the right things and I am sure are a much better mechanic than I am so don't give up, you'll find it. The only thing that I can add that you may not have thought of is foam. When you bleed the brakes, is the fluid clear? If it is milky, something is leaking air into the system.

Please let us know how you are progressing.

Mike Phoenix AZ

---------- From: KENWILFY@AOL.COM[SMTP:KENWILFY@AOL.COM] Reply To: KENWILFY@AOL.COM Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 1:25 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Frustration in Brake Land

<<File: ATT00004.htm>> I have a '80 Vanagon Westie here that is trying to drive me insane. The guy brought it in to have some brake work done. He could see that one of his calipers was leaking and draging and the pedal was feeling soft. He told me to replace the brake booster, the master cylinder, and the front calipers and whatever the brake system needed. I had a set of known good, used calipers that we decided to use for the front and I set my helper on this project because I was busy with two other vans. My helper replaced the booster, the master cylinder, and the two front calipers. We then bled the system. Pedal was still low and it seemed that you could pump it up, then let off of it, and after a few seconds it was low again. I then inspected the rear brakes. One wheel cylinder was bad, I replaced that and I also had a thin drum on one side. I put a new drum on and also a new set of shoes. We bled it three more times. Still low pedal, kinda smooshie. I went out and bought a power bleeder (Mity Vac). I had wanted one of these for a while any way. Bled it again, still the same. I inspected the metal lines and the rubber lines and found that all of the rubber lines had bulges in them. I thought I had finally found the problem. I replaced all of the lines with new ones. Bled the system again. Still the same!!

Any suggestions? I am starting to suspect that my helper did something wrong when he installed the brake booster, however I can't figure out how the brake booster could cause a low, smooshie pedal. The only other thing I can think of is that the one of the parts we put on is defective. Any help would be appreciated. Usually brake jobs are so simple, this one is starting to get to me.

Thanks, Ken Wilford John 3:16 www.vanagain.com Phone: (856)-765-1583 Fax: (856)-327-2242


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