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Mopar powered Studebaker: Rambler

I was changing out the brake pads in the Corolla, bled 3 of the brakes, and when I opened the last caliper, it kinda just fell apart and started vomiting fluid from the piston. I think my master cylinder ran dry. Yay. Of course it had to fail on the last leg after running into nighttime. Oh well, more annoying than a huge deal because I also learned how to bleed brakes with a bottle, tubing and a hose clamp!

So, 2 calipers incoming (the other had worn...springy pin things)...

I never mess with the brake fluid when I do the brakes. I just use a big C clamp to compress the piston.

I like to put a few psi over atmosphere on the fluid reservoir and bleed the brakes that way, I have a bored out cap with a Schrader valve upcycled from a wasted bicycle inner tube. Open the bleed valve and apply a little air pressure and you sidestep the pumping brakes with a helper nonsense.

It has also been pointed out that the goal is to remove air bubbles from the system, so elevating the wheel (air tends to rise) you're working on is not a bad idea.

Calipers and master cylinders usually need some shock/pumping to dislodge bubbles, but for the most part, a little positive pressure works wonders, just don't run it dry or you start ALL OVER.

I picked up a nagging engine sound this morning. I'm hoping it's just a blown out exhaust gasket. Car was purring like a little airplane driving home from practice last night, so I'm optimistic nothing really bad happened.

I did run a little low on oil, thanks to dried up valve cover gaskets oozing the love. My idiot light didn't scream at me though, and it has passed the stethoscope test.

The rainy season has begun, which plays hell with my electrical. Was blowing brake light fuses because of water on the horn (same circuit), and I'm currently sans brights for some reason I haven't dug into yet.

I need to put some new leafs.. leaves? In my Jeep, the rear is sagging. I'm fairly sure there is a broken leaf on each side. Of course it just snowed like a bastard this weekend.. I don't like working in the snow anymore. Well I never did, but sometimes you can just deal with it for a paycheck!!

The brights could be a simple relay. Not sure what kind you have, but I had a Saab once and the brights relay was trash, so I pulled the cap off of it, and all the solder joints around the PCB were broken. Fired up the iron and reflowed them, put it back in.. worked for years .. sold the car it was still working haha. I wouldn't have tried to fix it, but the Saab relays are literally like $180. It's nuts.

Yeah, it's probably the relay. Might be as simple as a floating ground connection to the relay. It's a standard part as I recall..

I've been chasing other things, I'm betting I just knocked it loose.

The car is a 1973 VW squareback.

The new VW Polo looks terrific

crochambeau wrote:I like to put a few psi over atmosphere on the fluid reservoir and bleed the brakes that way, I have a bored out cap with a Schrader valve upcycled from a wasted bicycle inner tube. Open the bleed valve and apply a little air pressure and you sidestep the pumping brakes with a helper nonsense.

It has also been pointed out that the goal is to remove air bubbles from the system, so elevating the wheel (air tends to rise) you're working on is not a bad idea.

Calipers and master cylinders usually need some shock/pumping to dislodge bubbles, but for the most part, a little positive pressure works wonders, just don't run it dry or you start ALL OVER.

Excellent idea. I'm gonna put together a garden sprayer pressure bleeder tomorrow. The parts were only about $20 altogether.
Also, the master cylinder didn't run dry! Shit yeah!

Achtane wrote:Also, the master cylinder didn't run dry! Shit yeah!

I discovered the source of my bad rattle, the big retaining ring nut that secures the muffler inlet to exhaust manifold on one side of my engine had walked out on me.

You should just get rid of the muffler.

… or bid on this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5UFWjdSgZc[/youtube]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5UFWjdSgZc

After many tries and much teflon tape I finally got the garden sprayer brake bleeder to work and it's like magic!!
I DID run the cylinder dry once more (lol) but I fixed it with this thing. You just gotta depress the pedal, start pushing fluid into it, then let off the pedal. Boom.
I bled all my brakes in like 10 minutes. And now the car stops so much better with new pads/calipers/rotors.

I couldn't figure out why the brake light was on afterwards, but it turns out that the little float in the cylinder had gotten stuck. Some booping with a wrench unstuck it.
Best day ever.

Volvo w/ a tank engine:

https://www.motor1.com/news/221859/bonk ... nk-engine/

Wow. I'd love to see what the gearbox looks like.