Date:         Tue, 8 Apr 2008 21:01:04 -0400
Reply-To:     "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: How not to bleed the brakes. Help needed!
Comments: To: Greg Potts <greg@pottsfamily.ca>
In-Reply-To:  <47FC0A91.5040509@pottsfamily.ca>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Greg:

Just finished a rebuild and bleed with Bus Guru Scotty on the junkyard
rescued "Gertrude Blue"  It was painstaking enough without using power
sterring fluid.

I actually gasped out loud when I read your post.

I know things will be Ok for you, my friend, because you have given so much
to our little bus community.  The bus gods will smile upon you for your
years of setting up cool bus events and giving out free advice on the Type2
list and here.

Get going with that turkey baster, though.

Good luck.

--
Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "Joe's Van"
WWW. Busesbythebeach.com


On 4/8/08, Greg Potts <greg@pottsfamily.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi Volks,
>
> I bled the brakes on Dad's 1985 vanagon tonight; it's the first time
> that the brakes have been bled since he bought the van almost two years
> ago and the pedal was a bit softer than I like, even after new shoes
> were installed in the back and things readjusted.
>
> The bleeding went well, with lots of nasty looking black fluid coming
> out and lots of nice clean fluid going in. I also got some nice bubbles
> out of the system that tell me the brakes are going to work much better
> now. But apparently one 475 ml bottle of DOT4 is not quite sufficient
> for the entire job.
>
> So off I go back to Canadian Tire to pick up another. And when I get
> home and start to top up the resevoir I notice that this fluid doesn't
> seem to be pouring quite as easily as the last bottle did.
>
> And then I look closer at the bottle, and see that it isn't DOT4 brake
> fluid, IT'S POWER STEERING FLUID.
>
> I am not very happy with myself right now.
>
> So the question is: Can I remove the resevoir and drain out the bad
> fluid, or should I have the local garage purge the entire system. Or is
> it not a big deal, as long as I don't put brake fluid in the power
> steering?
>
> Unfortunately I don't have a bentley handy, it's in the other vanagon
> down at Dad's house and he isn't home at the moment.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
> Happy Trails,
>
> Greg Potts
> 1973/74/79 Westfakia "Bob the Tomato"
> 1985 Sunroof passenger van (winter custodian)
> 1987 Wolfsburg (taking delivery en route to EveryBus)
> www.busesofthecorn.com
> www.pottsfamily.ca
>