Date: Sun, 6 Jun 1999 18:12:37 -0700
Reply-To: Brent Christensen <bpchristensen@MINDSPRING.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Brent Christensen <bpchristensen@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: Changing Brake Fluid
An addendum to that story - I just did the same thing on Saturday. The
entire process took me about 30 minutes. Here's why:
I have this VERY nifty toy called Gunson's Eezi Bleed from a company in the
UK. I originally bought it from Moss Motors in goleta, CA for my Austin
Healey years ago, but it works great on the VW master cylinders as well. It
is basically a plastic pressure vessel that you fill with brake fluid. It
has a clear tube coming out of the top which you fit to a hole in the
appropriate sized master cylinder cap (it comes with an assortment of caps
and gaskets - VW is included). You screw the cap in place of the normal
cap, then attach another tube coming from the vessel to your front driver's
side tire, after airing it down to 20 psi or so. (or you can use a spare
tire - I happen to have an air compressor, so refilling is easy). Bicycle
tires don't have enough volume, BTW.
Once the gizmo is attached to the MC and the tire, you just go and crank
open the bleeder screws one at a time until the are completely flushed out.
On a Syncro, you don't even have to lift the car to easily get under there.
If you have big bubbles in the system, you still need to push the pedal a
couple of times, since that generate a lot more pressure than the Eezi
Bleed.
I think I paid about $20 for the Eezi Bleed 10 years ago. It sure makes the
process of changing the fluids REALLY easy.
Brent Christensen
'89 Syncro Westy "Klaus"
'95 Cherokee Sport
----- Original Message -----
From: Shawn Wright <swright@MAIL.SLS.BC.CA>
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 1999 10:55 AM
Subject: Changing Brake Fluid
> Last night I finally changed the brake fluid in my '88 Westy, which I
> haven't done in the 3 years since I've had it. With my Jetta, I've
> been in the habit of changing it every 2-3 years, which has saved
> me from replacing rear wheel cylinders which generally corroded
> away in the old fluid.
>
> I started with 4 small bottles of DOT 4 fluid (Castrol LMA and
> Pennzoil), and used about 2/3 bottle on each of the rear brakes and
> the clutch slave cylinder. I attached a few feet of clear tubing to the
> bleeder, and inserted the end a 1 liter empty jug. Since the old fluid
> was quite brown, it was easy to tell when the new clear fluid has
> flushed through, at which point I closed the bleeder, then opened
> slightly, bleed a bit more to clear any air, then closed. (Hint: spray
> wd-40 or similar on bleeders before starting, and have a small pair
> of vice grips, as bleeder screws are likely seized.)
> After about 5-6 pumps of the clutch, it suddenly got *very* easy to
> depress the pedal, which got me worried that I had blown the master
> or slave seals :-( I finished flushing the clutch and moved on the
> fronts, which require only a small amount to flush out.
>
> The left front brake bleeder cap was full of rust when I popped it off.
> Hmmm. The bleeder was quite seized, and no fluid escaped when I
> loosened, except some which seeped around the threads when it
> was very loose. I pumped to see if it would force the rust out. No
> luck. I inserted a small nail and worked it around, then tried again. A
> large amount of rust chunks flushed though the hose, until it was
> finally clear. I don't know if the rust has reached the caliper bores,
> but I hope not. After seeing this and the colour of the fluid, it's no
> wonder I had brake fade on long hills!
>
> After finishing, I tested the clutch, and discovered it was fine, but
> was suddenly much easier to depress. Possibly I saved myself from
> buying a clutch cylinder as well...
>
> I highly recommend this cheap and easy maintenance task to
> prolong the life of your brake components and improve braking.
>
>
> Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
> Shawnigan Lake School
> swright@SLS.bc.ca
> http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
> http://www.sls.bc.ca
>
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