Latest post of the previous page:
Keeping the pistons located is a good thing. Get them.Sluggo wrote:Brakes have firmed up a little.
retaining plates serve any purpose aside from stopping squealing?
On it tonight. Found these instructions from Colin on an old Samba post. I used a power bleeder. I'll try doing the master cylinder manually.hambone wrote:Bleed the brakes again. Also check the rear adjustment.
Amskeptic wrote:a low pedal with correctly adjusted rear brakes and fresh pads up front is air in the lines. (a leaky booster circuit contributes to a hard pedal) I do not know if you bled the master cylinder itself before installing it, but it is a critical step. If you have air in the vicinity of the lines where they attach to the master cylinder, most of your pedal travel is taken up compressing the air instead of moving the fluid.
You may bleed the master cylinder at the lines. Just crack loose the 11mm nut at the brake line that is closest to the back bumper and pull down hard on the brake pedal lever which you can reach from underneath the bus. Tighten the 11mm line before letting go of the brake pedal lever. Do some slow pumps of the lever then crack loose the 11mm nut again, pull down hard on the lever and tighten the 11mm nut before letting go. Listen for spits and look for "carbonation" in the fluid.
When fluid is clear, tighten that 11mm nut and check your fluid level in the reservoir, then move on to the 11mm nut that connects the brake line closest to the front bumper. This time, you must pull down on the lever before you crack loose the line then tighten the 11mm nut before you release the lever. You must have an air-free master cylinder-to-brake lines before you can successfully bleed the rest of the system.
You will need an assistant who obeys you to bleed the rest of the system.
If you have a bleeder that is stuck, or broken, just loosen the 11mm brake line nut at the offending wheel cylinder or caliper and bleed from there. It is messy, so have plenty of rags to catch the fluid. I bleed the front circuit first. That is the circuit that has the brake line on the master cylinder that is closest to the rear bumper. When that circuit is bled, it will act like a stop that then allows you to mash the brake pedal down to pressurize the rear circuit. Otherwise you are losing precious pedal travel.
Boosters either give boost or do not give boost. They are not responsible for a pedal that goes halfway to the floor.Sluggo wrote:I bleed the master cylinder again and got no bubbles. But....I decided to just let the power bleeder run a minute and got tons of bubbles out of each cylinder/caliper. I guess I cut it off too quick not giving bubbles at the beginning of the lines to make it to the calipers/cylinders. Brakes are much, much better. Not perfect though. I think the booster may be going out. Pedal still travels halfway to the floor.
Also, I had a small leak from the reservoir hose. Fixed it but the fluid filled the rear lower switch plug with fluid. Emptied it out. Now my warning light doesn't come on and my brake lights don't work. Could the brake fluid have ruined the switch/plug?
Actually it was a bad switch. Aftermarket crap made by FEBI I think. The fuse blew repeatedly until I put in the old factory switch.Sluggo wrote:Brake fluid from the small hose leak that worked it's way into the cup created by the lower brake light switch plug & boot caused a short that blew the fuse.