Date:         Tue, 3 Jan 1995 11:13:13 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         wabbott@townshend.Corp.Megatest.COM (William Abbott)
Subject:      Re: Bled the Clutch


	Ted,
	I've rebuilt master and slave cylinders and, for brakes, my
advice is DON'T, but for the clutch slave cylinder, heck, why not?
Try shopping for the best price, natch, but if gunk is coming out
of the slave and the clutch doesn't disengage, you're certainly
close to the problem.

	To confirm your diagnosis, put a pan under the slave cylinder,
use your "POISON" marked turkey baster that you never use for anything
else to suck out most of the fluid from the brake/clutch resivior and
then disconnect the slave cylinder and remove it. Can you now operate
the clutch using a finger, dowel or other suitablely inert and harmless 
object pushing where the slave cylinder should be pushing?

	When rebuilding hydraulic stuff for automobiles, NEVER repeat
NEVER use anthing other than THE SAME KIND OF BRAKE FLUID  * OR * Brake
Cleaner in the cylender, fitings, etc. That's right- no degreaser, nothing
with ANY kind of hydrocarbon- no Acetone, MEK, etc. I can't see how
soap and water, PLENTY of rinsing, could hurt, but dry everything
THOROUGHLY, maybe even bake it in the oven at 150 for an hour or so.

	Reason being, inside the hydraulic system which is also connected
to your brakes, you don't want to do chemistry experiments. When in doubt,
just whoosh everything with another shot of brake cleaner. Yeah, it gives
me the envirnomental heebeejeebees but what can you do? Work over a 
can of newspapers, or some cat litter in a garbage can lid or something to
soak it up. Then let it evaporate. Give to nasty stuff left over to
your community Toxic Waste collection.

	Remember that (USA) DOT 3 and DOT 4 brake/hydraulic fluids CAN
be mixed readily, but DOT 5 (Silicone) CANNOT BE MIXED WITH DOT 3 or 4!
DOT 5 isn't recomended for street use- instead of absorbing water, it
causes pockets of liquid water to form inside your system and rust the
pipes, etc, from the inside. Nasty. DOT 3 and 4 absorb the water, get
gucky and you replace them regularly, so no problem.

	Other than in brake systems, where it's too important to fool
around, I used to be pretty cavalier about 'clean' and using
solvents, etc. to clean with. Then the glue-on driver's mirror of my
late wife's '85 Golf fell off. I cleaned the inside class with
laquer thinner, my personal favorite solvent for when you REALLY
want to get it clean. Unfortunately, the glue for the little metal
foot wouldn't kick, even after 24 hours! Carefully reading the
instructions, I discoverd that it specificly advised you to NOT
clean with acetone- they recommended soap and water.
	So I did, and it worked the second time. Made a believer
out of me!

	Bill