Re: Driving With Two Brakes - Part Two

I agree but for a vee-dub for anything more advanced than oil changes and brake jobs the Bentley manual is the only way to fly.

I never heard of a Bentley manual before.I would have thought that would be for a Bentley car. cuhulin

It used to be many years ago, some new cars and pickup trucks from the factories to the dealerships didn't have tires (they used tubes in those tires back in those days) mounted on the spare wheels.I guess the customer had to take his or her new vehicle to a tire store to have a tube and tire mounted on the spare wheel.Or maybe the dealership arranged for that if the customer asked about that. cuhulin

jeez, once you got inside it far enough to replace the cylinders, how cheap would a person have to be to not replace the shoes? or maybe he's hoping to double his labor charge when you come back to replace them later?

Maybe. Or he sincerely thinks it's not necessary. Either way, I'll trust his judgment that they won't be unsafe. Doubt I'll go back to that shop again.

Do you feel comfortable pulling a rear wheel yourself? I'd be curious to see what you find when you finally get in there. Maybe the cables are binding up? I know that I did have to replace the cables on my GTI.

nate

More thoughts...

if this were *my* car I'd want to find out if the parking brake issue is symptomatic of a problem with the service brakes or is separate. Can you simply jack the whole rear of the car up, place it on stands, and see if the service brakes are working? (spin the rear wheels, have a helper apply the brake pedal, see if they stop well.) If the service brakes are not working either, you either need to replace the shoes or there is some kind of mechanical problem with the brakes. If they *ARE* working, you probably need new parking brake cables.

Also VW's of "a certain age" (not sure if yours falls in this category) had a load sensitive prop valve mounted near the "beam" of the rear axle. If this seizes up, and it sounds like your son's car was neglected long enough that this might be a possibility, you'll have full pressure to the rear brakes which can result in premature rear lockup. I'd like to crawl under there and see if the mechanical linkage from the prop valve to the axle beam is free or if it is seized. If it is seized, you need to replace the prop valve. That may not be a DIY job - it wasn't on my '89 GTI. Theoretically it is, but I couldn't get the brake lines loose from it without using a torch, and that's far easier and safer in a proper shop with a lift and fire extinguishers handy etc.

nate