master cylinder dead?

[scirocco16vr32 at gmail.com (Chris Bennett)]

Jacob,
      Also bleed the fronts regardless if you messed with them or
not... this is a crossed line system.  Meaning that the front right
brake is tied to your right rear so if you do have a brake cylinder
blow out, fail, go MIA, abducted by aliens, whatever, you still have
braking on both sides, even though it's 70/30 and still wants to throw
you into the wall.  When I reassembled the 85 after the engine swap I
had a buddy of mine helping me and kinda had a whatever attitude, he
put the front calipers on and used the wrong bolts.  Not the hardened
ones but ones for something else they fit and they worked for a while
but I was on the Tacoma Narrows bridge and the bolt sheered and I lost
the braking on that half when the caliper became a ping pong ball
inside the rim.  I think more people die on the Narrows bridge than
any other in Washington at least.  No barrier in the middle so I was
in oncoming traffic, damn  near went over the side, it was a mess I
regained control finally and got it off the bridge but it was horrible
to drive home like that.  The slightest touch of the brakes would
prompt an unexpected lane change.  I had to tap out the bolts and
replace the brake line but other than that the caliper wasn't damaged.

That being said you should absolutely bleed both fronts, but bleed
them all as Cathy has stated farthest one first.  Do you have someone
helping you on the bleeding process?  Do they know the process?  Puff
puff give?  Er I mean pump until it's solid and then hold.  Repeat.

Also I am pretty sure I recommended that when you were doing this to
replace all of the bearings anyway.  You disassembled and are
introducing dirt into a closed grease area.  (under my hood also
qualifies as a closed grease area btw lol)  Under the best conditions
it's not that bad and is pretty minor.   In your case you are dealing
with a 25+ year old car that God only knows when they were replaced
last time.  It's a good idea when you dissasemble anything to replace
with all new consumable parts.  Seals... Bearings... Cotter pins.
Bearings can be reused if they are good shape.  Even the glan nut...
(is that the right term?)   That holds it all together, is designed to
be tightened x number of times.  Do we reuse them when we shouldn't?
Yea cause most of us are cheap.

You have a number of things working against you bro.  You are student
on a time constraint, probably not made of money, the parts are
walking away on you and apparently there are no-one from the list
nearby.  I hate to say this but maybe you should consider another car
for the short term and make this a project.  It's probably older than
you and if you are looking for reliable--a mk1 in need of work maybe
it's not the one you need.  It is the one you want, but at some point
you have to be practical.  I guess the point I am making is that you
can't cut corners on things that will save your life.  Brakes do that.
 If you don't have the resources in way of time or money to do it
right you are going to make bigger problems later.  Any time you do
brakes... unless you did them a week ago and you know everything you
put it was new, you should replace the shoes, springs & hardware (all
in one kit), grease seal, cylinder, have your drums checked but last
time I bought drums they were like $20, the inner and outer bearings
cotter pins and those cheap tin castle nut covers things.  For health
reasons you should spray the shit out of it before you disassemble it
with brake cleaner.  Brake dust causes cancer.  Brake cleaner will
compromise grease so it's a good idea to wipe it all off and start
over.  BTW  Get a bunch of baggies and bag your parts.  Use a sharpie
to number them or whatever and throw them in the passenger side
floorboard.  They are safe from parts gremlins there.

I am not lecturing but I feel like I am repeating things I've already
said.  But hey it's 4am and I am going to Vegas this morning, so maybe
I am rambling.  It's your car do what you like.  I hope you follow the
advice of the list, there's more knowledge here about these cars than
VW has I believe.  Certainly alot of experience.  I have been on the
road you are on and I still fight pulling out my wallet when I KNOW
it's going to bite me in the ass later.

And oh yea, quit playing those damn games.  I swear, you young
whippersnappers.   On that note I am off to go and play Counterstrike.
 LOL  Maybe D&D later... :)  Ok not really.

Good luck.
Chris







On 10/6/06, C Boyko <roccit_53@scirocco.cs.uoguelph.ca> wrote:
> On 4:10 am 10/06/06 Spewey <spewey@comcast.net> wrote:
> > Jacob Hawes wrote:
> > >  Someone from england on a mmo I play (eve-online) suggested that...
> >
> Spewey added:
> > I'm pretty sure you came to the wrong list or else this place has
> > become useless.  Try and go stab someone at your place of education
> > and see if anything bad happens.
> >
> >
> SOMEONE sure came to the wrong list. ;P
>
> Anyway, master cylinder failure symptoms are pretty easy to diagnose, so
> let's go there eh? Usually brake pedal feel will be soft if the MC's dead,
> and the other, more useful dignostic is to pull up to a stop sign and stop.
> (Yeah, Spewey, I know that's frigging rocket science, but I'll continue on
> with the helpful advice if it's okay with you).
> Anyway, what happens after that is the key. Once you stop and the pedal has
> travelled to where the brakes grip firmly, the pedal shouldn't creep any
> more towards the floor as you apply pressure, ie it should stop somewhere
> before it bottoms out and not move further. If it slowly creeps down after
> that, you may just have a shot MC. I'd bleed it again just in case,
> starting with the wheel furthest from the MC and working closer as you go.
> HTH.
> Cathy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Scirocco-l mailing list
> Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>


-- 
80 Scirocco Callaway Indiana Red
87 Scirocco 16v Tornado Red
04 R32 Reflex Silver
79 Rocco homeless/transient