Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2014 19:09:11 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Sudden clutch nothing...while parked
In-Reply-To: <5408F1C2.4040105@cox.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Thanks...
I am not sure exactly where the level was when I added fluid...I put in
almost three Dixie cups...maybe 5 oz (a guess) and that brought the
reservoir level to just above the full mark. Then I put my pressure
bleeder (Motive) on the reservoir and bled the slave cylinder...Works fine
again after just letting an oz or two bleed out...I couldn't tell if there
was air, but there must have been.
I try to defer all my difficult maintenance tasks on the van until our
Northwest weather gets nasty and I can't really enjoy the outdoors...Then I
feel ok about 'wasting' some time under the van inside my cold dark shop,
doing all the stuff that needs to be done before I head south to really
escape 3 months of crappy cloudy freezing rain and snow and gray skies.
Right now I am 'living with' a leaking axle seal, which spews Swepco all
over the clutch slave side of the motor....so I can't really see any
leaking there..The MC is not leaking that I can see, and I have replaced
both the MC and the slave just about a year ago...I don't see anything at
the wheels either, but I've only had the rears off lately...
I guess it's probably that slave cylinder...those aren't very good
quality parts...I've put two in my van so far...I guess I'll monitor my
fluid closely now...I didn't even check it since last fall, I don't
think. If I can, I will live with this new minor issue, unless it recurs
very frequently or my fluid loss is actually major...and then when our
great fall and indian summer weather breaks I'll put the beast up on the
jackstands and fix the tranny leak and the clutch slave again...if that is
what I find leaking....
BTW...Those very economical Go Form tires I bought last spring have now
about 20k miles on them with no appreciable wear and are still a pleasure
to drive on. ~$50/tire in the stock 14" Vanagon size from
TiresEasy.com. A good score, I think.
On Thu, Sep 4, 2014 at 4:12 PM, mark drillock <mdrillock@cox.net> wrote:
> The hose connection to feed fluid to the clutch master is up on the side
> of the brake fluid reservoir. If the fluid level dropped below that point
> then the leak is in the brake system. If it stopped at that level then the
> leak is in the clutch system.
>
> Mark
>
>
> Don Hanson wrote:
>
>>
>> ....So I park the van, slightly head up, as I normally do, on my sloped
>> drive, after coming in from a great day on the water, a few days ago. I
>> take my other work van to work, two days the Vanagon sits
>> still...again...this is not unusual... Today I go to drive it and the
>> clutch pedal goes down without any feel, no hydraulics there at all.
>> Flacid! Hmmm...I pop the instrument cowl and find the brake reservoir is
>> very low...I add almost 3 dixie cups of brake fluid before it hits the
>> "max" line.
>> There is no trace of leaking that I could see, on the ground where I
>> was parked......
>>
>
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