Re: Brake Bleeding

[Michael Eck <meck@ptd.net>]

David Conner wrote:
> Do I have a bad Master Cylinder?
> I've been passing the time bleeding brakes with my newly fabricated
> handy-dandy pressure bleeder, consisting of a reservoir cap with tire valve,
> etc.
> Works great!
> Except... I'm getting poor results on the 89 100 (non-quattro, auto trans).
> The pedal still feels spongy and I think there is still air in the system.

I lost my master cylinder a couple weeks ago after I replaced both rear
calipers and was bleeding the system. My symptom was the brake pedal
going to the floor on the first press. After that, it would give me some
resistance. I thought there was still a lot of air in the system. I
repeating the bleeding process three times (I use the two-person pedal
procedure and reserve the home-grown pressure bleeder for the clutch
only) and gave up.

The Bentley manual says bleeding is hard on older, high mileage master
cylinders. So I figured I did the damage. Replacing the master cylinder
cured all the brake pedal feel and bleeding problems.

Michael Eck
86 5KCSTQ
88 GTI 16V