[Vwdiesel] Brake SNAFU

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

  Sounds like what I've gone through.  You've got at least two seperate 
problems.  First off your squishy pedal sounds like mine was until 
recently.  I replaced the master cylinder and no difference. So, if your's 
does turn out bad I have a good used one still, I think.  
  The low, squishy pedal was fixed by a stout bleeding.  It would NOT 
bleed out until we did the two-man method and it still took a few fast 
pushes on the pedal to finally clear out the RR line.  Fluid flow was 
really low until after that.  Pedal was normal after that too.  :)
  If pumping it actually does raise the pedal then try steping on the 
brakes with the e-brake on.  Compare.  If it's noticeably higher then 
it's time to do some rear brake work.  You either have worn shoes, 
drums or both.  I had worn shoes. (I thought I'd replaced them, I'd only 
bought them.)
  The stiff pedal sounds like lack of vacuum supply.  You'll need to 
check the booster for leakage.  I just pull the hose from the pump 
and suck to see if it holds or not.  If it holds vacuum then your pump's 
probably worn.  Mine was good for one pump after warming up a few 
seconds.  Second pump was kinda stiff, third was hard.  I was able to 
grind/sand down the body of the pump to decrease the HUGE 
clearance between the rotor and lid.
     Loren