Can't catch a... brake

"I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker" (qaaaaa)
10/26/2020 at 10:26 • Filed to: None

When I resuscitated my 1995 Jetta, the last thing to do before hitting the road was putting new brake pads in up front. So here’s how that went.

Advance had a set that “fit”, so I threw those on. Or tried to, at least. They were the right shape for the bracket, but when I went to put the caliper on, it... didn’t. Checked that the piston was compressed fully, it was... a quick search of the ‘tex showed this exact part number was too thick. Awesome. Measuring the pad thickness and consulting my service manual confirmed as such. (Wearever Silver. If you’re one of the few dozen idiots that still dailies a Mk3 Jetta, keep that in mind). Hoarding tendencies saving my ass, I threw a used set I’d kept around from my Golf on. They were definitely glazed, but they worked until I had the right set. I put a RockAuto order in for a bunch of stuff, including new hoses (the ones on the car looked original. Not dry rotten, so they’re probably fine, but should be replaced) and good pads.

Three hundred miles later, the new pads and hoses were in, so yesterday I put the pads on the car. Lack of time and desire to mess with rusty fittings motivated me to not do hoses. Went around the block and such a few times and bedded the pads in, all seemed good. Also fixed the slop in the shifter linkage. So now it stopped and shifted way better than before.

Then I go to go home, and the first stop sign I come to... brake pedal goes straight to the floor. Amazing. Pumping the brake pedal brings me to a stop (beyond the sign) and I limp it brakeless back to my storage/workspace. Did I blow out an old hose or something?

Poking around shows no line or hose leaks to speak of. Removing drums shows some wheel cylinder leaks as expected, but not nearly enough to lose all braking ability. So, the master cylinder must have gone bad. I guess stomping brakes to bed in new pads finally blew out the seals. The master cylinder had sat dry for a few years, so it’s expected. I guess.

Autozone had a master cylinder in stock (for $94! Same part number on Rockauto? $35. The price of convenience.) So I started tearing into the master cylinder while waiting on my girlfriend to pick me up and drive me to Autozone’s hub. She’s great.

First fitting pops off no problem. Maybe I’ll drive it home tonight? Nope! Fitting number two rounds out with a flare nut wrench. As does fitting three. Fitting four was not attempted, as the wrench was now on the other end of the building.

New plan: replace wheel cylinders, replace brake hoses, replace all hard lines, replace master cylinder. Awesome. Looks like the Cabby is getting one more week of daily driver service...

DISCUSSION (17)

rctothefuture > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 11:00

Brakes are the bane of my existence in auto repair. I’d rather try and cobble together a rusty exhaust and weld it with a car battery than do fittings and lines and hoses.

The problem I have is that you end up running all new lines every time. Not a HUGE issue, but it ALWAYS happens in winter. So I’m on my back, in the snow, trying to bend a frozen brake line and trying to get fittings to seal while losing feeling in every part of my body.

And of course something will leak. And trying to tighten a fitting, in the cold, covering your hands/tools in cold brake fluid, with no feeling in said hand, is a nightmare I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > rctothefuture
10/26/2020 at 11:04

I’m shit at making brake lines and I’m completely comfortable admitting it. Time to get better I guess.

Fortunately it’s not winter yet here. I’m going to find what lengths and sizes I need and get some pre-flared NiCopp lines in the right sizes from a store.

rctothefuture > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 11:11

I got a friend of mine that makes hydraulic lines for a living, and he is of course really good at brake lines. I’ve ended up calling him over and paying him his hourly to do them for me. It may be $300 (parts and labor) for a night of work, but it’s cheaper than a shop and I trust him

speedyboi > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 11:22

Who s idea was it to buy a junkyard spec Jetta?

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 11:37

My Mk3 project had the stupidest shit go wrong with it. Fo r me, the brake issue was that the caliper guide pins fell out and every part store said it needed different pins than the ones that fell out of it. VW used 3 or 4 different caliper styles over the life of the Mk3, which makes things fun....

Good luck with the repair. Hope e verything else goes together smoothly. The fun of Mk3s is they’re not terribly difficult to fix, once you get the right parts and get access to what needs repair.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
10/26/2020 at 11:40

They’re easy enough to work on, you just have to work on them a lot...

My bird IS the word > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 12:23

You dont really need to replace the hard ines if they aren’t rusty, seems like a lot of extra work to me . If they are rusty, then have fun.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > My bird IS the word
10/26/2020 at 12:25

They’re not rusty, but I rounded fittings. Can’t exactly tighten them as they are right now.

jminer > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 12:57

On old vehicles I always use vice grips to remove brake lines now. I’ve rounded off way too many with a flare n ut wrench.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > jminer
10/26/2020 at 13:10

That’s admitting defeat though.

kanadanmajava1 > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 13:11

Maybe the rounded ones could still be opened and even reat ta ched with some kind of pliers with a good bite? Not my favorite solution but I have had to do this couple of times when replacing the whole brake pipe w asn’t a viable option.

But my current solution to avoid rounding is a set reinforced flare-nut wrenches . They have webbing at the other edge to make them very stiff. Mayb e other manufacturers have these too but mine are from Facom. They were annoyingly expensive but I really like them.

Kinja'd!!!

Having only six corners (technically only five) makes them less prone to rounding than twelve corner versi ons but there was a case (Renault power steering hydraulic line removal) when the wrench just couldn’t find any position that allowed any turning.

There are also “closed ring” wrenches that could be even better but I haven’t managed to try these.

Kinja'd!!!

jminer > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 13:30

I look at it as working smarter. It’s easier and does less damage to break it free, then use a line wrench to back it the rest of the way out.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > jminer
10/26/2020 at 13:33

Fair. So you use a vice grip to pop it off, then back it out with a wrench? Does it not deform too much to reuse?

I have a few other shitboxes needing brake work.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > kanadanmajava1
10/26/2020 at 13:34

Those are both interesting. I might look into those when I buy tools next.

jminer > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/26/2020 at 14:11

Yes that’s pretty much the process I use. It’ll leave marks on the nut, but only if it is really stuc k does it damage it past usability.

It also works really well to bust free already rounded nuts.

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > jminer
10/26/2020 at 14:23

Yup, that’s what I’m going to have to do...

pip bip - choose Corrour > I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
10/27/2020 at 04:12

that sounded like “fun”