Date:         Sat, 7 Jun 2003 13:13:15 -0400
Reply-To:     Dan Erlandson <danoer1@ECLIPSE.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dan Erlandson <danoer1@ECLIPSE.NET>
Subject:      brakes
Content-type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Question for the group on brakes, calipers and drums

History: My wife (primary driver of the van) complained to me the other day
that she thought that the brakes on the van were mushy and that she had
almost gotten into an accident because she had to "pump them".  I reminded
her about the weight of the van / stopping distance  (yea, yea, yea).  The
front pads were done 30k ago, the rear drums and shoes about 20k ago and the
master cylinder and brake fluid just last summer...about 10k ago.

So anyway I checked things out yesterday and noticed that the inboard side
of the front rotors seemed rusty.  The fluid in the master cylinder looked
nice and clean and up to the mark.  I've never been real successful in
getting the rear brakes adjusted quite the way I would like them to be.
Seems like the shoes are either too close to the drum (they scrape a bit) or
too far away and the emergency brake handle travels too far).

Questions: Sorry for the long background...
1.  Does the rust on the front rotors mean that the pistons in the calipers
are not functioning correctly and if so is it best to just replace these as
a whole unit rather than just worrying about rebuilding them?  The calipers
are original on the van that we bought back in 91.

2.  I'm confused by the Bentley reference to a one way vacuum check valve in
the engine that is supposedly attached to the brake booster (if I am reading
the manual correctly)  I seem to have never found it.  The brake booster
does indeed seem to be operating as per the Bentley testing procedure
(starting car with brake pedal depressed and having brake pedal fall
slightly but then hold)

3. Does the brake pressure regulator have any bearing on this situation?
It's only function seems to be regulating the flow of fluid when the van
isn't level.

4.  What is the consensus on adjusting the rear brakes?  adjust them close
and have the shoes scrape a bit during the first few hundred/thousand?
miles?


Thanks for the help


--
Dan Erlandson
Flemington, NJ
> danoer1@eclipse.net
91 VW Vanagon GL 170,000 mi
99 VW Passat 107,000 mi