Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: Pressure bleeding brakes questions
From:Alistair Bell
Date:Sun, 1 Sep 2019 11:36:34 -0700

Interesting, bad copy editing at Bentley to add that lever ref to the vanagon manual .

Gonna try using “the club” between pedal and seat. Looks long enough.

Alistair 

> On Sep 1, 2019, at 10:40 AM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
> 
> I had to go look … the Jetta does have a lever on the side - presumably for adjusting the bias between front and rear.
> 
>> On 01-Sep-2019, at 14:37, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@NBNET.NB.CA> wrote:
>> 
>> No, I’m sure you’ll fancy something out of aluminium. 
>> 
>> BTW:  I don’t think any of our six VWs have lever on the proportioning valve, but I haven’t had cause to crawl under the wife’s Jetta yet.   
>> 
>> 
>>> On 01-Sep-2019, at 14:30, Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I’ll give it a go Roy . The “German Bentley “ was the only place i had come across that method until your reply.
>>> 
>>> But don’t have any hockey sticks to use, don’t tell anyone Roy, I’ll be deported :-)
>>> 
>>> Alistair 
>>> 
>>>> On Sep 1, 2019, at 10:19 AM, Roy Nicholl <RNicholl@nbnet.nb.ca> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Alistair:
>>>> 
>>>> For a couple of decades (or more) I've used a custom-fitted shaft from a Victoriaville stick (the same one I used as cruise-control in the ’66 Westy) to slightly depress the brake pedal when bleeding the brakes (a local VW mechanic - imported from Germany in the 70s - recommended this approach years ago.  
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 01-Sep-2019, at 13:49, Alistair Bell <albell@SHAW.CA> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Time to flush the brakes, it’s due and an event on last trip made it even more time :-) I might post a description of what happened, but for now I have some questions.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have been using a home  made pressure bleeder for years, and it works fine. Nothing complicated, just a garden sprayer modified with pressure gauge and fluid reservoir cap  with bulkhead fitting .
>>>>> 
>>>>> Some years ago I noticed in one of the German language manuals I have, that they go into more detail on pressure bleeding than the English Bentley. One thing especially intriguing, that is a special tool that goes between the driver’s seat and the brake pedal. It’s just and adjustable bar and it seems the brake pedal is pushed , not full way down, during pressure bleeding.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I kinda thought that the passages from the brake mc to the reservoir would be blocked during brake pedal depression and thus preventing the pressurized ( during bleeding ) fluid in reservoir from travelling thru system. Maybe the idea is only partial brake pedal depression? 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Any thoughts?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Another query is from the English Bentley, 47-8. Procedure calls for disconnection of the brake booster vacuum line at the check valve when pressure bleeding. Again I haven’t done that before. And again I don’t know why this should be needed.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Same page of Bentley, and I think this is a mistake. Calls for the pressure regulator lever to be pushed towards rear wheels. I’m pretty sure our vans don’t have a lever on the pressure regulator ( the proportioning valve under the van ).
>>>>> 
>>>>> Alistair
>>>>