Mike,
I drove the van some more today and the clutch seemed to improve. Someone
(Stan I think) suggested pumping the pedal 50 times. Between driving and
pumping the pedal the clutch got better. When I got home I loosened the
bleed screw and some fluid ran out, I kept the reservoir full and let the
bleed screw run until about 1/2 of a small bottle of DOT 4 fluid went in.
Now the pedal works higher than it ever has. I guess that the seals were
stiff from sitting all winter and it took a bit of motion to get them to
work. I did not notice any bubbles or water but the old fluid looked brown.
I'm not sure why the fluid would not gravity bleed when the mechanic tried
it. Thanks for your help and suggestions.

George
'85 Westfalia

----- Original Message -----
From: "mike boland" <westy@mvboland.com>
To: "George Thorburn" <thorgk@accesscomm.ca>
Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 6:24 PM
Subject: Re: Clutch

> George,
>   I'd go with bad seals or crud  if reservoir is full...
> you'll just have to replace it.. do both clutch and clutch slave  other
one
> always seems fail after you put new one on..At 08:40 AM 5/11/2003 -0600,
> you wrote:
> >Mike,
> >The reservoir is/was full.  The brakes bled fine.  I think the seals on
the
> >pistons are bad or maybe some "crud" is blocking the line.
> >Thanks for the reply.
> >George
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "mike boland" <westy@mvboland.com>
> >To: "George Thorburn" <thorgk@ACCESSCOMM.CA>
> >Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 8:18 AM
> >Subject: Re: Clutch
> >
> >
> > > George,
> > >    nothing come out?  was the brake fluid reservoir under dash cover
> > > fill?  it has to be about 3/4 low  to go below clutch feed pickup..
the
> > > brakes and clutch share same reservior, check your fluid level.. try
> >again..
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > At 07:59 AM 5/11/2003 -0600, you wrote:
> > > >List,
> > > >I finally took my van out of the garage after a long winters rest.
The
> > > >motor started right away and every thing seems to work fine except
the
> > > >clutch. When I parked the van last fall the clutch worked fine. The
> >clutch
> > > >disc is almost new. The problem seems to be with the hydraulics. The
> >pedal
> > > >only works near the floor. Pumping the pedal helps a bit. The
mechanic at
> > > >Kal Tire (they were installing new tires and changing the back brakes
for
> > > >me) tried to bleed the slave cylinder but nothing would come out, he
> > > >removed the entire bleed screw and still nothing. Is the problem the
> >slave
> > > >or the master cylinder? Should I have both changed? There was some
> > > >information on the list a while ago. I forget if there was a step by
step
> > > >how to on changing these components. Thanks for any help.
> > > >
> > > >George
> > > >
> > > >'85 Westfalia
> > >
> > >
> > >
>
>
>