master cylinder dead?

[verboten1 at gmail.com (Verboten1)]

IIRC, at least on my van, if teh shoes were not adjusted right, pedal feel
was garbage

On 10/6/06, Chris Bennett <scirocco16vr32@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> 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
> >
> >
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>
>
> --
> 80 Scirocco Callaway Indiana Red
> 87 Scirocco 16v Tornado Red
> 04 R32 Reflex Silver
> 79 Rocco homeless/transient
>
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