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
>