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Moonwolf12
Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2024
Posts: 41
Location: CA
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 Posted: Fri May 09, 2025 3:16 pm Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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| zerotofifty wrote: |
Once a shoe becomes soaked in fluid, it is toast, so get new shoes, replace both sides for even braking. always replace the shoes in left and right pairs rebuild or replace the leaked cylinder. Id be inclined to replace cylinders on both sides as the other may not be far from leaking.
measure drums , only machine if you have enough metal left on them with out machining past the wear limit. machine if deeply grooved, else reuse but scuff them. course sand paper will work
if hoses show signs of cracking, replace the hose |
The shoes look good and not too gunky, gonna clean the whole thing. The brakes look new even, the previous owner did change them recently but didn't mention the leaking wheel cylinder. The brake drum isn't grooved at all, which means it should have a long life ahead of it right? |
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Moonwolf12
Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2024
Posts: 41
Location: CA
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2025 3:24 pm Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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| vanis13 wrote: |
The OP follow-up is nice
Be discerning on the wheel cylinders you choose for replacement.... There is a recent thread with reading something like "ATE cylinders are CRAP"
FWIW, my vote is to replace only to rebuild the failed cylinder - one if the rain is that the replacements may be crap but also, that the other has proved working well and could last tens of thousands of miles more.... Though if you choose to rebuild, I'd rebuild both since not only is it cheaper, more importantly you will become intimately familiar with the cylinder so you know what you have.... And rebuild one at a time so if you screw it up, you screw up the already bad one and get to relearn w.o affecting the one that already works.
.....your approach and interaction styles make it easy to help you so thanks for that  |
Bought the replacements from van cafe before visualizing if they were both leaking, decided against rebuilding considering the cheap cost of the parts but maybe one day I'll try that out! Appreciate your advice, makes sense to replace one at a time but it seems like they're both failing at the same time, otherwise I would stick with "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality.. I originally wanted to replace both because it seemed like the safest approach with the brake system, to keep it balanced but maybe that just applies to the parts that see consistent wear.. always learning so any insight is appreciated! |
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Moonwolf12
Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2024
Posts: 41
Location: CA
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2025 3:34 pm Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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| dhaavers wrote: |
Brakes are important, you’re doing good work…but just for a minute, let’s back up a bit.
You were “told” you had a leaking cylinder, yet the only symptoms you describe are soft pedal (requiring pumping to stop) and one instance of needing to top off the brake fluid reservoir. Now for the questions:
1) Soft pedal comes from air in the system, requiring a simple bleed. Have you completely bled the system? (Might as well Include the clutch line, if ya got one.)
2) From this end of the internet I see no obvious major leak from either rear cylinder <or> front calipers. Am I missing something? As MarkWard mentioned, you can inspect for fluid under the rubber caps on each cylinder…ZERO fluid present is what you want to see. Please check this & report back.
3) Rear shoes pivot at the bottom & only move due to the cylinder pushing outward at the top edge. Because of this, shoes typically wear more at the top…it’s normal. Is it worse than it looks in your pics? Perspective is a powerful force.
Sometimes ya gotta become like the child of Perry Mason and Tim The Toolman Taylor…investigate, then do the work! 
- - - - - - - -
Unequal wear & dust from side to side could be several things:
A) Poor adjustment of “star” adjusters, &/or unequal adjustment from one side of the van to the other, or poor operation of “self-adjusters” once on the road. Not uncommon, these issues both provide regular forum fodder. Clean things up, install & adjust correctly and you should be in good shape for a good long time.
The self adjusters are kinda finicky…require complete disassembly, a really good cleaning and just a <touch> of lubrication on the threads before reinstall. They are also specific to the left/right side of the van so if you (or someone else) mix ‘em up, they won’t adjust nothin. If suspicious, check the star adjusters from time to time after some (thousands of) miles & make it right.
B) It’s possible the PO installed different types <or> brands of shoes on opposite side of the van. (PO’s be like that sometimes…  ) If so, it wouldn’t surprise anyone if they wear unevenly. If you don’t like what you see, spring for a new matched set.
C) Unusual-to-uncommon, but also possible the proportioning valve is outta whack causing unequal braking on one corner. (Check everything else first before working too hard on this one.)
Weekend now…it’s a good time for quality van time! Keep in touch… 
- Dave |
Hey this is why this forum is great, very informative thanks for all the details!
1) and 2) Should've bleeded first before starting with the wheel cylinders, but when i push back the boot they do indeed look like they're leaking, so I'm changing those first then bleeding the system. The leaks don't seem major but they're present.
3) That makes a lot of sense if that's how the shoes work, the wear does look uneven but not outrageously so, but the brake dust was present so there is something that is off. I'm cleaning the entire set up, any tips on how to adjust the star-adjuster? |
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dhaavers
Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 8267
Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2025 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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| Moonwolf12 wrote: |
| …any tips on how to adjust the star-adjuster? |
Do you have a Bentley <or> Haynes shop manual? It’s all well documented.
- Dave
_________________
86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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Abscate 
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 23621
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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| Posted: Wed May 14, 2025 3:19 am Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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Brake fluid soaked linings,,,,soak in Coleman fuel for a week, then light them off. Skillz will put them in for you with a warranty.
_________________
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊 |
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Moonwolf12
Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2024
Posts: 41
Location: CA
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| Posted: Tue May 20, 2025 10:01 pm Post subject: Re: Identifying brake fluid leak /changing rear brakes |
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| dhaavers wrote: |
| Moonwolf12 wrote: |
| …any tips on how to adjust the star-adjuster? |
Do you have a Bentley <or> Haynes shop manual? It’s all well documented.
- Dave |
I do have one, I thought I looked, I looked again, 46.9 for anyone else needing to adjust their star adjusters, thank you!
SOLVED, just needed to change my wheel cylinders. |
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