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...