Date: Sat, 3 Oct 1998 13:37:20 -0700
Reply-To: Rich <rdunsheath@AKAMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Rich <rdunsheath@AKAMAIL.COM>
Organization: **
Subject: Re: brake reservoir leak
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
SJ,
I did this not long ago on an 82 Vanagon.
Not too difficult. I can't remember if I even looked at
the Bentley to fix this.
I bought a master cylinder from Ron at Bus Depot for about
$90.
To do the repair:
Reach back and put your fingers in the recesses in the
back of the instrument cover and squeeze until it releases
and then tip it back towards yourself.
Brake fluid is nasty stuff, I dislike it almost as much as
I dislike antifreeze. You will get the stuff everywhere,
but try to keep it off the paint because it will remove
paint. I think you can use like damp rags to wipe up what
you wind up spilling. I think I read that you should use
a turkey baster to suck out the brake fluid from the
reservoir. I didn't have a turkey baster handy so I just
slopped more of it around everywhere.
The reservoir just sits in the master cylinder held in
place by rubber grommets, so you just wiggle it out of the
mater cylinder.
The are a couple of switches connected to the cylinder,
just wiggle them off too. Then just unbolt everything
that unbolts and pull the works out of the van.
I cleaned out the reservoir with new brake fluid then
fitted it to the new master cylinder. Installation is the
reverse of removal. It is a little tight in the dash
area, but the whole job is not very difficult and it
doesn't take long. The book talks about doing a bench
bleed, which I interpreted as meaning to pour a little
fluid into the master cylinder and work the piston that
pumps the fluid. The fluid goes everywhere and I didn't
worry too much about doing this real well.
I bought Castrol super duper brake fluid and the regular
DOT 3 stuff. I used the DOT 3 to flush out the old brake
fluid and switched over to the more expensive Castrol
after the bleeding showed the fluid running clear.
Bleeding the system is a pain in the neck because
everything is under the van and the wheels get in the
way. As I recall, you start at the wheel that is furthest
from the MS, i.e. passenger rear, and work your way to the
wheel closest to the MS. I bought a cheap little bleed
kit and threw it all away except for the little one way
valve. The valve I put on the end of a section of hose
about 2' long. I made up a little deal with a soda bottle
where you cut a hole in the cap just big enough for the
hose to go through. Then you put a little brake fluid in
the bottom of the bottle, enough to cover the end of the
hose. Make sure you use a clear bottle so you can see how
much fluid is in the bottle and you can tell when the air
bubbles and old dark fluid stop coming out and nothing but
new clear fluid is coming out of the brake line.
When that happens you are done with that wheel and you
just tighten up the bleeder valve, replace the rubber cap
and move on to the next wheel.
You need to have someone pump the brake pedal when you
give them the word. What you do is loosen the bleeder
valve with a little box wrench, then push the rubber hose
over the nipple of the bleeder valve. I leave the box
wrench on the valve nut while I bleed. When you are
ready, have the the person working the brakes pump the
brakes two or three times and then keep pressure on the
brake pedal. While they keep pressure on the pedal, you
then open the valve a half turn or so. The person working
the brake should then push the brake to the floor and once
they get the pedal to the floor, they keep it there until
you can tighten up on the nut. When you get the valve
closed, you yell to them to let up on the brake. Then you
just keep repeating this process until you get sick of
doing it and say to hell with it. You should also bleed
the clutch slave cylinder at the same time because it
works off the same reservoir. My clutch was working find
and I didn't feel like with fighting with anymore bleeder
valves so I skipped this step. I'll bleed that sucker
when I have to replace it or when I have to do some other
clutch work.
In my case, one of the rear wheel cylinders was leaking as
well so I replaced them. $9 from the Bus Depot.
Good luck.
BTW, I think that the archives are back up and I found
lots of information on how to do the job on the archives,
including a post about how to make a nice little bleeder
system jar. I made my jar out of a evan water bottle and
it wanted to tip over all the time. I think a short squat
glass jar would work better. Also, the article mentions
attaching a short section of tube or a peg or something so
that you have a place to put the end of the hose that goes
on the nipple, betweeen bleeding. This is a good idea
because I didn't have anywhere to stick the free end of
the hose and it wound up slipping and hanging down and
when what happens it starts to siphon blake fluid back out
of the jar.
S_J_ WACKER wrote:
>
> I know this is discussed on a regular basis, but I can't access the
> archives. The reservoir behind the instrument cluster is empty and there
> is a drip at the bottom of the clutch master cylinder, but it hasn't
> stained the carpet so I'm not sure if I need to replace/rebuild anything.
> At any rate I want to check it out and replace the brake fluid and the
> Bentley seems to be devoid of any information on how to service the
> reservoir and master cylinder.
>
> Thanks
>
> Steve and Jo Ann Wacker
> San Marcos, Ca.
> 90 Carat
> 86 Syncro x two
> 86 Audi 5000 CS Quattro
> --------- End forwarded message ----------
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
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--
Regards,
Rich Dunsheath
***************************************
Bryan, TX (1 hour north of Houston,
3 hours east of San Antonio,
3 hours south of Dallas.
Near Texas A&M)
1982 Vanagon Santa Maria (Mary)
1982 Vanagon San Diego (Sandy)
1987 Maroon Vanagon Aggie
