a reminder not to stroke or pump the brake pedal all the way to the floor ..
never do that with a used brake master cylinder,
as the seals will be sliding over an often-corroded part of the MC's
cylinder...
and that can damage the seals.
 Half stokes only.
  Old text left on so people can see what this is about.

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Rodgers" <inua@CHARTER.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 9:45 AM
Subject: Re: Air in the brake lines?

>  On;y way to be absolutey certain it IS NOT air in the lines is to
> bleed your brakes again - and this time do it yourself so you can see
> the fluid coming out, or have it doen and stand there and watch. I get a
> helper to man the brakes and pur brake fouid in the tank - and I get
> underneath with a wrench, a piece of clear plastic tubing and clear soft
> drink bottle. I put the clear tube on the bleeder, turn it, have my
> helper pump the brakes, and watch the fluid flow into the bottle until
> the fluid runs clear in the tube, then I close it off. I have my helper
> top off the tank, and I move to the next one. This is not a hard task,
> but to be certain that your bleed job is correct - you must do it
> yourself.
>
> If after all this, you still have problems, then start looking at the
> brake master or even the brake booster. I don't know how you would test
> the booster, but an internal failure in the master will allow you to
> have a good pedal one moment then suddenly go down. If it does that -
> relace the brake master cylinder.
>
> John
>
> John Rodgers
> Clayartist and Moldmaker
> 88'GL VW Bus Driver
> Chelsea, AL
> Http://www.moldhaus.com
>
>
> On 7/14/2011 10:20 AM, T Collins wrote:
>> I had my brakes services a little while ago. One of the charges was for
>> bleeding the system. I thought that I had been feeling some mushy brake
>> pedal feeling when initially starting the vanagon. I dismissed it as
>> getting
>> used to the new brakes/pedal/bleeding feel.
>>
>> The last few days i have noticed this pedal feel to be worse. Like maybe
>> the
>> system was not bleed appropriately. The feeling goes away after a while
>> of
>> driving. I want to make sure that this is not a booster type thing going
>> on
>> it was not happening before the service.
>>
>> My hunch is air in the lines that gets compressed as I used the brakes
>> more
>> and more, but that fade/mushy feeling gets worst on initial operation
>> because of the previous compression of gas and liquid.
>>
>> Please, could the collective advise?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tony
>>
>> --
>> 82 Scirocco "Rodolfo"
>> 85 Vanagon "El Guapo"
>> http://groups.google.com/group/wash-co-vws2<http://groups.google.com/group/wash-co-vws2?lnk=gcimh>
>>   (new)
>>
>>