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Date:         Sun, 17 Jul 1994 09:04:17 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         steve@molly.tn.cornell.edu (S.Smith)
Subject:      more on brakes for rick

the switches do double duty, turning on the rear brake lights when you step on the pedal and turning on the dash light if "significantly different" pressures are detected in the two circuits, so it's not a complete surprise to me that you need themboth hooked up for the rear lights to work.

My FLAPS (a CARQUEST dist.) sold me a master cylinder for my 83 Vanagon (diesel but almost certain they all use the same mc) for a little under $50. My 83 only has 80K on it, but its time that kills the seals in these things usually. I would certainly replace the mc on any car of this vintage if I was already committed to bleeding the system out. I guess th way i see it is if you save two hours of labour later by replacing the mc now then that saves more than the part cost! This completely neglects the fact that when an mc does go to the expereince can range from the annoying (damn things broken again..) to the hair-raising (gee i hope those kids in the crosswalk see me coming ) - a little morbid but no brakes can be morbid indeed.

when i did my mc i removed all the instrument electronics (a couple of phillips screws and electrical disconnects - i didnt mark them 'cause they only go back in one place but your technique may differ).

Loosen switches and unions before unbolting the beast (2 13mm bolts), likewise get the unions started before you tighten the mounting bolts. The switches are pipe threads so dont torque the hell out of them - just snug them down.

Incidentally,since you have to bleed this thing i would replace every bleeder screw unless they look relatively new. Lately (mainly because my FLAPS abovehas a neat display case i like to play with) I have been into replacing bleeder screw >2 years old in an effort to eliminate the snapped bleeder screw syndrome from my life ....

incidentally (forgot to post this earlier) the clutch circuit does pull fluid from the reservoir but it is designed so that the brake system has first dibs on fluid (being able to stop is more impt than being able to go :-)

i remeber i had a lot of trouble getting the clutch hose of the fluid reservoir - ended up cutting it and shortening it a cm or two.

sps


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