help troubleshooting brakes

- A
- Ant
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Apr 28, 2004 8:22 PM

Hi All

While coming here the brakes of my '73 1300 died. Well, not exactly, they are loose all the way down until the very end where they offer a bit of resistance and if I press it there the cars kind of stops.

How should I troubleshoot this?

Hint: last year one of the rubber lines broke and was replaced. Yes, yes, I know I should replace them all, since all are equally old, but my budget was as short as my experience and common sense so I left it for later. Could this be the reason? broken old rubber line? could somebody confirm this?

thanks Smart Ant

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks but my penis, breasts and mortgage have exactly the right size. Not interested in your spam

- S
- Seth Graham
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Apr 28, 2004 9:09 PM

Look for puddles of brake fluid to find the leak.

When you press the brake the master cylinder (unless it itself is the problem) it's still going to push fluid through the tubes, which means it's exiting your car somewhere.

Just find that spot. ;)

- W
- WJ
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Apr 28, 2004 9:14 PM

- W
- WJ
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Apr 28, 2004 9:33 PM

Oops. Dang send button. One of a few wrong things could be wrong here.

1) As Seth said, you might have had a catastrophic blowout somewhere. Those aren't too hard to find; look for the puddle of smelly fluid.

2) (I think this is most likely) Your master cylinder has failed on you. They're two-part, so the secondary is kicking in to give you a bit of pedal, but it's nowhere near safe. A new master cylinder and pro bleed job are recommended. If you do the job yourself, get a pressure bleeder. VW brakes are hard to bleed from the top down; they like it from the bottom up, which is the way a VW shop will do it.

3) You've suddenly got a lot of air in your brake lines. The only way this would happen without the blowout is if your brake fluid has been slowly leaking out, and your reservoir is finally empty. Check your reservoir if you haven't already, and check for air in the lines by pumping the snot out of the brake pedal. If there's air, the pedal will firm up a bit as the air is compressed.

Cheers, Walt