Date:         Thu, 19 Jan 1995 08:48:58 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Steve Johnson <sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com>
Subject:      Speakin' of brakes

Okay, last weekend I changed my brake pads out ~$80 for the
pads. Ouch!  Anyway, according to Joel, (if I remember correctly)
he said that he changes his every 30K miles or so.  So I thought
at 60K, for most cars, is about right.  When I inspected my pads,
I still had quite a bit of pad left on mine.  Certainly nothing
to worry about but I decided to change them anyway since they
were out and I felt 60K was enough, so I tossed em' in the box
the new ones came in and put anti-squeel goop on the backs and
popped them in.  Okay so far.  Then I bled the brakes (what a
mess! I use a piece of fuel line and an old 'O.J.' bottle (had
to get that in! ;) ) to bleed the fluid into.  Still made a 
mess though.  The caliper was kinda hard to work with.  And
pushing the piston back in it's cylinder wasn't too fun either.
Well, I had Linda help by doing the press the brake peddle 50
times then bleed, 30 times then bleed, 10 times then bleed.
Stop! Add some more Dot 4 brake fluid, press the pedal 10 times
then bleed.  Well, you get the idea.  Anyway, after several iterations
of this, I put everything back together and did the other side
with much the same gyrations.  So, I took it for a spin and the
brake pedal still isn't tight enough.  I decided to drive it for
a week and if it doesn't get better, I'll bleed it some more.

Any suggestions?  

Steven

sjohnson@pcocd2.intel.com