Re: Synthetic Brake Fluid

One of the posters asked about using synthetic brake fluid instead of the
recommended DOT 4.
Both DOT 3 and 4 feature a lot of ethelyne glycol, whihc is hydrosopic.
That is, it draws water from the air. This is both a bad and a good thing.



Bad, in that the water in the brake fluid lowers the boiling point of th
efluid, so that braking is degraded (steam compresses) fluids do not. It
is good in that it holds th ewater in suspension in thebrake fluid until
it is exchanged for fresh fluid every two years.

When silicone brake fluid was developed back in the 70's, it was
considered the shiznitz because it was rated DOT 5. As we all known, 5 is
better than 3, and silicone has some real advantages. It doesn't attack
paint, and it is non hydrosopic. Unfortunately, the water still gets past
the seals, but instead of making nice steam in hot brake fluid, it now
just laid in the braing system corroding the low points in the system.
THink calipers, pistons, etc. Very, very bad stuff.

Check to make sure that the Valvoline syntho isn't some silicone fluid,
and it should be okay.

BTW, you did use a fresh, sealed container of fluid, didn't you? Hmmmm?

I'll see you get another copy of the memo.

Ed Moore
BTDT



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On 10/5/07, Ed Moore wrote:
>
> BTW, you did use a fresh, sealed container of fluid, didn't you? Hmmmm?

Hmmmmmmmm back at you! And here's why. The other day I was topping off
the brake fluid in the Pegaso after giving it a fresh dose. I
periodically suck out the fluid in the reservoirs and replace with
fresh - sort of a lazy way to refresh the stuff. Anyway, I left a
brand new bottle of Valvoline fluid, the large one, open overnight.
Should I toss it now? I live a mile from the ocean and it gets a bit
moist here at night.

JohnA in LA
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