In a message dated 05/02/2007 8:49:41 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:

I  replaced the wheel cylinders on my wife's 86 this past summer. They
were  unbranded from a local import parts shop. One started leaking in
November  so I replaced it with a German one from Van Cafe. The other
one failed a  month later. Replaced with a local unbranded because I
needed it now. 5  weeks later that one is leaking again. Am I buying a
lot of junk, or is  there something else going on? I'm getting way too
good at replacing these  things in the cold weather.

Roger, sounds like junk cylinders  to me.  Get good known brands.  One thing
I would check though is  your brake fluid.  Is it Dot 4 ?  Is it clean ?  If
it is old it  may have a lot of condensation in it which is causing rusting of
the cylinder  walls which in turn wearing out the piston seals rater quickly.
If you  have not flushed and refilled your brake fluid in the past two years,
I  would advise you to do that.

Cheers,

Frank  Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 Westy, '90 Carat, '87 Wolfsburg  (Forsale) & Lionel Trains (_Collection
for  sale_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
_Vanagon  Stainless Steel Exhaust Systems_ (http://members.ao
l.com/Fkc43/stebro.htm)
_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
camping event, Almonte, ON, June 07 ~ 10,  2007