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On 4 Jun 2003 at 19:39, nathan howell wrote: > I looked under the hood today and found that the rear circuit is > completely empty and the front is near empty!! I believe something in > the rear pass side brake is leaking and apparently leaked all of the way > out. I need some suggestions. If your pedal still feels normal then the reservoir may look empty, but there is still fluid in that circuit. If this is the case, then you should be able to find the slow leak somewhere. I'd start by trying to pin down the problem. Look the car over for signs of wetness. Look under the carpet, under the gas pedal. Listen there while you push the brake pedal by hand. Stick a finger in under the brake pedal push rod and see if you can reach the bottom of the rubber boot where the push rod goes into the MC. If there is wetness there you need to rebuild your MC. If you hear a hiss when you press down on the pedal, then your long brake line to the rear is rusted thru and must be replaced. If you find wetness on the inside or outside of any wheel you will have to jack up the car and pull that wheel off and inspect to find the problem. Rear wheel cylinders can usually just be cleaned up or honed in place. Clean off and inspect the parts and put them back together. > How about one man bleeding? Should I buy a one man bleeder or use some other > tactic to get it done? Bleeding is MUCH less demanding that some would have you believe. You just get in the car and pump the pedal up and down. I like to find someone else to do this part while I walk around the car and watch the fluid coming out of the bleed valve as well as keeping an eye on the reservoir so that it doesn't go dry. (If you suck in air you get to start all over again.) Ignore any advice to bench bleed any of your parts. It's a waste of your time, doesn't make anything go more easily, and can really turn a simple job into an awful, brake fluid dripping on your face, one. I don't like the concept behind the one man bleeder suction guns. The seals in the MC and wheel cylinders were never designed to seal against vacuum, so I would expect them to want to draw air into the system, around the seals. OTOH, I've never tried them, just because I don't see much advantage to them.. -- Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org