castrol brake fluid

[tahoe healey]

Went to Napa, O'Riley's, Autozone, Walmart and K-mart to find Castrol brake fluid with no luck. Got on-line and now I see a LMA Castrol with a choice of DOT 3 / 4 and a synthetic form. What is this synthetic form? Is it comparable/comparable with the DOT 3 /4? On-line it costs $3.55 but $7.95 shipping. Don't you just love it when the shipping is more than the product?

 

[Healeysince59]

I queried Castrol a couple of years ago when they first started labeling LMA as "synthetic" This was their response:

"Thank you for contacting Castrol North America,
Castrol GTLMA now has a higher wet boiling point and the product label has been changed. The product formula has not been changed; Castrol GTLMA has always been a fully synthetic brake fluid.
The wet boiling point has increased from 311°F to 329°F (155°C to 169°C).
Castrol Consumer Relations"

I believe all Dot 3/4 brake fluid is synthetic. Valvoline was the first to label it as such.

Marv J

 

[John Turney]

From the material safety data sheet (MSDS), the ingredients are:

2,2'-oxybisethanol (Diethylene glycol)
Poly(oxy-1,2-ethanediyl), α-butyl-ω-hydroxy-
2-(2-butoxyethoxy)ethanol
di-isopropanolamine

Those sound pretty synthetic to me.

 

[tahoe healey]

There are two different labels currently. Only one says synthetic. Thanks for the answers.

 

[Keoke]

There are two different labels currently. Only one says synthetic. Thanks for the answers.

Well that is what the labels say but they are not compatible with DOT 5 fluid only Dot3/4 fluid.--Fwiw--Keoke

 

[Bob_Spidell]

AFAIK, no glycols--which I believe are chemically related to alcohols--occur in nature (except possibly as miniscule metabolism byproducts). So, brake fluid--and antifreeze--has always been 'synthetic,' but now they're putting that on the label to capitalize on the cachet of synthetic oil (or possibly to compete with silicone BF). The whole thing smells like marketing. If 'synthetic' starts showing up on jugs of Prestone AF we'll know. Just a SWAG.

If there's no compatibility warnings on the label; e.g. 'do not mix with non-synthetic DoT 3/4' then there shouldn't be any problems mixing it with 'non-synthetic' DoT 3/4 (but I haven't done it).

On a (possibly) related note, I believe some oil labeled 'synthetic' is actually highly-refined dino oil (Castrol Syntec comes to mind). IIRC, they sued the gov't to be allowed to use the term 'synthetic,' so they must believe there's some value to labeling something as 'synthetic.'

I'm old enough to remember when 'synthetic' meant 'not as good as the real stuff.'

 

[tahoe healey]

That answered one of my questions. But where is it available these days?

 

[Healeysince59]

Pep Boys has it here.

Marv J

 

[tahoe healey]

Thanks,Marv. There is one in Reno. I'll try them when I'm there in two weeks (that is 65 mils away). I'm surprised every one doesn't carry it.

 

[DrEntropy]

Pep Boys here has LMA in quarts for around $10, they're the only place we've found it consistently. Sometimes the WallyMart has it but that's spotty.

 

[Keoke]

Look like they have lots of them here DOC---Keoke



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