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Castrol LMA Lo Moisture Absorbsion and Natural

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Yup;
That's the way I see it too. If you use DOT 3 you are good to go for any kind of rubber. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

The DOT 5 silicone is a different debate for another thread.
 
Yippee Camping 57! This is excellent information! So correct me if i am wrong -
SAE J1703 = DOT 3
SAE J1704 = DOT 4

for some reason we may not totally understand, Castrol LMA meets both standards.
Do Castrol , Penzoil, and Prestone all meet both?
Can you guide us on how to review these J1703 04 standards?
This could lead to cocktail party repartee extraordinaire or possibly a lot of paint removed around the master cylinder area.

I think Kip may think castor bean technology may be in all Castrol products - maybe it is?

I would like to submit all the participants in this thread for the technical merit badge of the month.

carello

PS i just bought some Castrol Girling grease off of Ebay to be used in brake sys assembly. It does not spec any tech info on the tube, but says will not harm natural rubber, also says never use ordinary grease to contact brake parts.
 
Carello,
You are spot on with the correlation between the SAE and DOT spec numbers.
For our cars I would stay with DOT 3. The DOT 4 was developed for ABS systems I think. The LMA fluid is good stuff and it meets both. My guess is that it is compounded using a blend of both chemistries to try to optimize the performance. That is just a geuss because trying to find out the actual stuff that is in these fluids is pretty darn tough.
The rubber compatability test for both DOT 3 & $ appears to be the same during my quick look (it is about 5 pages long in each of them and I just skimmed it).

If you have access to a major library (community or university) you can likely find a copy of the SAE standards book(s). If you are into cars they make for really interesting reading (or maybe I just need to get a life). Otherwise you can purchase them on-line individually from a service called IHS.

My understanding of the Girling grease is that it is not petroleum based which is why it is compatible with brake system parts.

Dick
 
[ QUOTE ]
I checked out the specs for DOT 3 fluid (SAE J1703 rev 4/04) and it referes to a non-petroleum based, glycol ether based fluid. The interesting part comes next:
"These fluids are designed for use in braking systems fitted with rubber cups and seals made from natural rubber (NR), styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) and a terpolymer of ethylene, propylene and a diene (EPDM)."

[/ QUOTE ]

This thread has really gotten down to it, and thanks especially to Dick. This above is hard core, primary source information that we can all verify if we wish and then hang our hats on. Congratulations and thanks.
 
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