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Date:         Sun, 3 Oct 2004 12:03:36 -0400
Reply-To:     Cory Sammons <slagskot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Cory Sammons <slagskot@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Steel brake lines, or "I'm coming to get you, Frank"
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <6.1.2.0.2.20040930230547.052f04b0@pop1.attglobal.net>
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

On 9/30/04 11:36 PM, "David Beierl" <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:

> Well Volks, in typical airhead fashion I've been totally ignoring (because > it terrifies me, no doubt) my own little problem which is that I've sprung > a leak in the line going aft on the right side. I need it fixed pronto > and I could use any and all advice, particularly gotchas lurking if I do it > myself versus different gotchas from a shop or from <gasp> the dealer. I > presume that it would be richly foolish to simply patch up the offender and > not replace the rest; is that too cautious? And to the nearest thousand or > two, what might I be looking at? > > -- > David Beierl - Providence RI USA -- http://pws.prserv.net/synergy/Vanagon/ > '84 Westy "Dutiful Passage," '85 GL "Poor Relation" > My brake line story (and MTCW) 1. If you have the time - and a lift or good stands - go ahead and do all of the lines at one go. They are a royal pain if you have to crawl under the beast the whole time. You could even drop the gas tank and replace all of your fuel lines while youre at it. 2. If you have the $ have it done by someone else. As far as I know, the brake system on our vans is not some german secret and most shops should be able to handle simple brake line replacement. Now - my story I blew out a line over Labor day weekend in maine (Saturday eve, of course)

So had to delay my departure until Tuesday when stuff opened up. Took it to a local shop owned by my friends uncle (independent shop - limited van experience). He was kind enough to squeeze me in between his other jobs and had one of his guys replace the line - $60. About 20 miles later the brakes were soft again and fluid was pouring out from over the gas tank. Thought it was the other old line (next weakest point?) Took it to a shop in N. Conway, NH (recommended to me by Midas). They had a guy they called their vnagon specialist look at it. We put the van up on the lift and found that the new line was leaking at a joint over the gas tank. The guy at the first shop had to join two lines together because he did not have a long enough line to do it in one shot. But he put the joint right over the gas tank so we had to disconnect the whole thing to get to the coupling to tighten it. Moral of the story - put the damn joint where you can see it to check it. Anyway, another $75 later and everything has been fine. Until the other day when my e-brake cable smapped - but thatıs another story... Good luck

Cory Sammons 84 Westy 99 New Beetle Gardiner, NY


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