Date:         Fri, 2 Nov 2001 14:26:34 -0800
Reply-To:     Leon Korkin <korkwood@WSHOST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Leon Korkin <korkwood@WSHOST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Frustration in Brake Land
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

If i 've gone so far to rebuild brake system, i would definitely remove and clean or replace
proportioning valve. After a while they collect a lot of "brake grease", black stuff consisting of
parts of rubber seals from master cylinder etc. They can also freeze(piston).
Last time i did brake job i poured in a lot of brake fluid before most of the air was gone.
It took a lot of bleeding, i thought there was something wrong.
Leon
85 Subwagen Westy


11/2/01 12:25:48 PM, KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:

>
>
>
>   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