In ten years I have not ever needed to use a mighty
vac or vacuum bleeder for a Vanagon clutch.
Gravity, though slow, will work.

The Bentley is a reference manual, not a how-to book.
There are several ways to accomplish bleeding.

Shops must use these because they need to get things
done on time. Nothing against mighty vac. I might get
one .
But if you are on a tight budget , gravity or a friend
or yourself pushing down the pedal will work.

I recently replaced two leaking clutch masters.
One was new 2 years ago and had the VW logos ground
off it and it looked like a very poor casting. It cost
60.00.

So this time I replaced it with a nice used one from a
late model Vanagon for 25.00.

Somethings are better used, unless you can get one as
good as the original, nice and bright shiny metal, not
rusty steel.

Robert

1982 Westfalia
1989 Wolfsburg
1987 Vanagon GL
1986 Westfalia
1970 Beetle

--- Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET> wrote:

> Whoa--before you replace anything, read the Bentley
> and other sources
> that will tell you that you can't bleed the vanagon
> clutch using the
> two-person method, but rather you need a vacuum or
> pressure bleeder.
> John Rogers says he's done it with conventional
> up-down bleeding, but
> it took a long long time.
>
> If you let it get below minimum, you have to start
> over. Remember that
> you're pulling a loooong tube of fluid back to the
> back.
>
> Harbor Freight has real Mity Vacs on sale now for
> about $26.
>
> Try the recommended bleeding before you replace
> cylinders.
>
> Jim
>
> On Feb 22, 2005, at 11:41 PM, Shawn Wright wrote:
>
> > On 22 Feb 2005 at 21:14, Shawn Wright
> <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA> wrote:
> >
> >> Tonight, I bled the clutch on my '82 Diesel
> Westy. Unlike the brakes,
> >> which
> >> weren't bad, the fluid which came out was pretty
> brown at first. Then
> >> it got
> >> *really* dark, followed by an audible squishing
> sound as my wife
> >> pumped
> >> the clutch slowly. Thinking that can't be good, I
> closed the bleeder
> >> and got
> >> her to try the clutch. No go, very little
> resistance. So it appears
> >> either the
> >> slave or master cylinder, or both, have failed.
> The noise seemed to be
> >> coming from the front, so I'm guessing master. Is
> there any other
> >> possible
> >> cause?
> >
> > After thinking about this, I decided to check the
> reservoir again. I
> > didn't realize the
> > clutch master is fed from a hose, which is
> slightly above the "MIN"
> > line, and the van
> > has the front end raised higher than rear, so...
> it appears I ran the
> > clutch low on fluid
> > while bleeding. I hope anyway. I dumped in the
> rest of the bottle, but
> > it still didn't quite
> > reach the MIN line or the hose. I'll get some more
> fluid and hope for
> > the best...
> >
> > Shawn Wright
> > http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
> > '85 Jetta TD (retired)
> > '85 Jetta D
> > '88 Westy 2.1L
> > '82 Diesel Westy
> >
>

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