Date:         Tue, 18 Jul 1995 00:32:09 -0600
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         jgladu@bcm.tmc.edu (John Gladu)
Subject:      '90 brake probs

My wife's GL stopped stopping on the way home from work today.

I noticed a "catch" in the action of the brake pedal yesterday, and a
little more travel in the pedal than I was accustomed to.  Today, the pedal
goes damned near to the floor before stopping things.  But it does stop
things once you push far enough.  This is power brakes (did any models come
without?).

So, I suspect the master cylinder has died (it is 108k miles old).  This
suspicion was reinforced when I took apart the right rear wheel, and, after
removing the brake line from the wheel cylinder, had a stead flow of brake
fluid, in spite of being parked on a steep driveway with the wheel in
question highest.  I attribute the steady flow to a blown seal in the
master cylinder, but I didn't think to check the main reservoir to see if
it had emptied (it was full before I started).

I'm putting new wheel cylinders, shoes and drums on the rears.
I'm going to flush the entire system and put in DOT4 fluid.
I'm going to try and replace the master cylinder myself, if I can figure
out how.  I've found that the Bentley manual is a whole lot less than
helpful at times because of the ongoing assumption that I know it all
already and the manual is just meant as a reminder...  There doesn't appear
to be any description of the removal or installation of the master cylinder
other than a paragraph that states that the entire dashboard must be
removed to change out the power-boost unit.

Any sage words for me before I tackle this?  Especially about the master
cylinder?

(Please send me email directly if it's something you feel I really need to
know - I get the digest form of the list once a day (usually in late
afternoon, which will be too late)).


bcnu - G (John Gladu)            Opinions are just that
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