Front Brakes: Good News, Bad News

Following up on brake bleeding session...

Good news is that there's more than enough brake pads, and apparently rotors left. Bad news is that the wear sensor (part #34351179819) is broken (best guess is that whoever changed the pads broke the new sensor and decided to cover it up) and needs to be replaced. Pity - it's a $5 part, and labor involved in checking it and installing a new one is much more than that.

Other bad news is that the ABS sensor cable (part #34521154044) seems to be going (aging insulation is falling apart) and will have to be replaced soon.

Still need to take a look at the rear brakes - don't remember seeing the wear sensor there, either.

RMeuropean delivery: wow, I'm impressed

Ordered two Pitman arms (part #33321126476) from rmeuropean.com at 13:30 local time yesterday. At 11:30 local time today the package was at the door.

That's the shortest shipment time ever. Wow.

Oh Noes! The Clutch Is Gone... And Back

...now have to figure out what's the cause, and how it is related to yesterday's brake bleeding session.

Master cylinder is the main suspect until the morning sun comes.

UPDATE: Just air in the system, nothing more. Bled the hell out of it while identifying the issue - it's not immediately obvious where the intake hose is, and it's easy to suck the air into the clutch system unless you're watching the fluid level in the main reservoir. For the reference, a safe volume from the maximum level to the level you have to stop at is about 8 fl oz, or 200ml.

Before you set out to bleed the clutch, you may want to check if you need to replace the bleeder screw (part #21521116360), and whether the dust cap (part #21521102908) is in place - will save you some grief.

It is possible to use a vacuum bleeder to bleed the clutch, even though this is not a recommended way - you will most probably have to unscrew the bleeder screw completely (there will not be a massive leak), wrap it into teflon tape and screw it back (thanks to mooseheadm5 for the advice) - otherwise you'll be sucking air through the bleeder screw thread.

While you're there, you might just as well take off the slave cylinder and push the air out of it. Don't have the pedal all the way up when you're installing the slave cylinder back, you won't be able to overcome the resistance of the clutch release spring and put the nuts back.

Wonderful Discoveries of Brake Bleeding

When you bleed the brakes for the first time on the car you've just bought, don't be surprised if the brake pad wear sensor cable is neatly tucked under the bleeder valve cap tie. All of it. Including the sensor. Apparently, no participation in the actual process of measuring the brake pad wear was deemed necessary by the last person that changed the brake pads on the car.

Makes me desperately want to check the brake pads and rotors' thickness, despite seller's passionate assurances that they've been *just* replaced.

All You Have To Do Is Ask Nicely

Shopping for the next batch of parts for the Bucket List, found a bizarre fact - one seller (names withheld to protect the guilty) had outrageously high shipping price for quite an ordinary bulk item, even though the unit price for the item was about as half as it was in other places. Given that shipping price, it didn't make any sense whatsoever to buy from them, even though every single item in the batch also was priced below the competition.

Well, I thought, it doesn't get any worse, I thought, and called them. Explained the situation, and guess what? They corrected the shipping price, turned out to be a misunderstanding.

All in all, I am probably going to order from a different retailer (those guys do have very high shipping prices on all items and that totally offset savings on unit price), but the rule of the thumb still stays true:

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask nicely.

Fun Facts: Chemical Compatibility

Standard issue surgical gloves are transparent for mineral spirits. If a job you're doing is your first time, or you're just tired and forgetful or simply careless and are not listening to what your skin is telling you, you may end up with chemical burns. Not fun.

By the way, WD-40 is 50% mineral spirits as well.

Drive Axles Are Back

One hiccup down the road - almost got a heart attack when I saw the pit. Then I realized that it's been there since June 1987, exhaled and kept going. The rest was uneventful, except for a little chemical surprise.

PARTS

4 repair kits (part #33219067906), $60.

MATERIALS

Odorless mineral spirits.

RESULT



NOTES

Before you start disassembly, you might want to carefully examine mounting bolt (part #07119919620) heads for damage - and that's really difficult to do while they are still on the car, for they are probably buried under a healthy layer of baked oil and dirt. Might save yourself some aggravation and order them upfront - the cost, even for the complete set ($25-$50 plus delivery), is marginally comparable to the effort to repeat the procedure, or to the aggravation of having a bolt head stripped while trying to torque it in.

Oh, and it goes without saying that you'd want to see if you also need to replace the diff gaskets while the drive axles are off, but that significantly extends the maintenance window - so we had to skip on it this time.