Basically, when the valve goes bad, the rear brakes do not work. Unlike
front heavy, front wheel drive cars, the rear brakes do a significant
amount of stopping. There is a test procedure for the valve. You just
need the 3,000 psi test set. (Right!) A simpler test is to apply the
emergency brake while stopping with the foot brakes. If you can easily
get a noticeable increase in stopping power with the handbrake, it is
likely the pressure regulator is going. At 17 years of age, it doesn't
owe you much anyway.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Loren Busch
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 8:12 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Any have a Good Used Condition Brake Pressure Regulator for
an 88?

 RE: Brake Pressure Regulator and 'soft pedal'
Dennis, can you be more detailed in your description of this kind of
failure?  I ask because I'm about to try to define a problem in my '90.
Not
really a soft pedal but maybe a little bit, but the main symptom is that
the
brakes just don't work they way they should or used to, not getting the
braking power I used to unless I really stand on them.  And the rears
have
been checked and adjusted, no problem there.