What did you do to your car today?

[ORCoaster]

Pulled the battery as I needed to Jump N Carry it this morning.  Took battery to store, man tests and says 94% good. Return home, clean ground to frame connection.  Fires right up. 

How many times do we have to do that?  Well, if it is a VW, and you are having electrical gremlins dancing on your hood.  Clean the grounds and ring a bell.  Tah Dah, both go away. 

[Rabbit79]

I usually spray some of that battery terminal sealer stuff on the grounds. Seems to protect them from the elements.

[ORCoaster]

I wanted to coat them in POR after I cleaned them.  Seal them up for a good long time. 

[pzookey]

Nope the proportioning valve appears to be working properly so I did not mess with it.

[ORCoaster]

My brakes seem low on the pedal too and I have put two different Proportioning valves on and I still don't like the feel of the brakes.  Maybe in my case, it is MC problems.

[RabbitJockey]

it can be hard to find a good master cylinder for an american made mk1. Are you driving the car? maybe it the master cylinder just isn't full bled?

[ORCoaster]

I don't drive it like I used to because I am enamored with the Hybrid Maverick right now.  But yes it is/was my daily driver.  I can't think that there is still air in the MC, I bench-bled it before I put it on a couple of years ago and I have pumped and pulled over two quarts of brake fluid through it in the last couple of months doing the proportional valve swapping. 

It could be a bad MC.  Many get rebuilt poorly so I may put a gauge on the ports and see what I get for pressure and if it holds.  I can pump up the pedal and when I stand on it after that it will slowly sink to the floor.  That is a sign of poor seals in the MC if I remember my mechanic learning correctly. 

[RabbitJockey]

yeah that sounds like a bad master to me

[RustyCaddy]

You have likely seen them but if not there are a few MCs on The Samba classifieds that appear to be NOS but they are a little pricey these days (what isn't?). Not mine or anyone I know

[Dennis Froelich]

I second RustyCaddys response!! Excellent source of OEM parts!!

[ORCoaster]

So now I need to add that one to the list of places to go.  I already spend too much time on Marketplace and CL as it is. 

Maybe if the selection is better just drop those other two? 

[Dennis Froelich]

Well worth the time Dale! I check Samba watercooled parts every day for hard to find parts.

[ORCoaster]

So today I decided to attack the diesel leak that has slowly been growing under the pickup after I parked it facing downhill on the street I live on.  I popped the hood and started poking around and found the filter was a bit loose from the bracket that holds it to the fender.  In working on that I feel the entire filter is loose on the bracket itself.  Ok a twist or two and that problem is solved.

Tighten the screws on the fender and that problem goes away.  But what about this hose that looks all shiny?  I got a towel and dried it off and I notice that is has a line or two on it that become shiny again.  So I took it off and it was nearly cracked at the banjo fitting that held it to the filter.  OK, a new one of them please, from the shed stockpile I went.

 I ended up replacing all the hose from the back of the firewall to the front of the IP. 

In doing that I noticed that my alternator was a bit loose and that might have been the reason for the flickering dash light at low RPM and warmer than normal engine temp.  Got that tightened up and it started right up and didn't seem starved for fuel anymore.

Not good to have all those air leaks in the system when drawing fuel into the IP.  Maybe that is why it was cutting out some at 3500 RPM coming up the long hills.