Date:         Sat, 10 Aug 2002 19:10:48 EDT
Reply-To:     CMathis227@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Chuck Mathis <CMathis227@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Pressure bleeding brakes?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I went the high budget route and bought a pressure bleeder from Rocky
Mountain Motorworks.  What you get is essentially a short garden sprayer with
a pressure gauge on the tank and a cap on the end of the hose.

Changing the fluid and bleeding the system is one easy operation.  You remove
as much of the old fluid as possible with a turkey baster, dump fresh fluid
in the tank, screw the attached cap on the reservoir, pump up the tank, crawl
under the van and open the bleeders one at a time starting with the farthest.
 Once clear fluid starts coming out close the bleeder.  For special tools you
need a bleeder wrench, a turkey baster -- buy your own don't use the one from
the kitchen -- and a container with a piece of tubing to catch the old fluid
-- my tubing was a little short so I used one of those Big Gulp cups I found
by the road.

The instructions with the unit I bought says to pump it up to between 15 and
20 psi.

The whole operation from start to finish -- including just a bit of clean up
and putting everything away -- took less than 30 minutes (my bleeders were
pretty grubby).  With the nice clean new fluid it feels like a whole new
brake system.

If any one in the Houston area would like to use it, or if you are passing
through and feel the need to change your brake fluid let me know.  I won't
loan it out but we can get it done together real quick.

Chuck
'85 Wolfsburg Westy - 'Roland the Road Buffalo'

In a message dated 8/10/02 2:09:21 PM, LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

>Date:    Sat, 10 Aug 2002 12:08:18 -0500
>From:    Larry Alofs <lalofs@ENTERACT.COM>
>Subject: Re: Pressure bleeding brakes?
>
>John Carpenter wrote:
>>
>> Hi Ya`ll,
>> What is Dr. Robert talking about,
>> on this pressure bleeding of the brakes?
>> How much pressure? Where?
>> Special tools?
>> Worth it?
>> Anyone with experience doing this?
>> Thanks,
>> JC...
>
>Haven't tried it yet, but I plan to.  At a junkyard the other day I got
>an extra cap for the master cylinder.  I plan to drill a hole thru it
>and glue in a hose barb so that I can apply pressure.  I don't suppose
>it would take much, maybe 5 psi.  I'll probably monitor the pressure
>using the gauge that I bought from a list member for testing fuel
>pressure.
>  Of course some say that gravity will do the job if you are simply
>changing the fluid for PM, probably slower tho.
>  Anyone else have any pointers?
>
>Larry A.
>