• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

reminder-brake & clutch fluid

Share this page

T

trfourtune

Jedi Knight
Offline
just a reminder. for those that park our cars for the winter, change/ bleed the brake and clutch fluid before (BEFORE!!) you park it. when spring time comes CHANGE IT AGAIN!!!
then you will avoid internal corrosion that happens from moisture absorbtion. cheap. you wont get that pedal suddenly go to the floor syndrome.
rob
 
Good reminder. I just did mine anyways because I had installed Richards Gootpart springs on the front and rear. Never thought about doing it in the spring again. Has anyone ever switched from regular brake fluid to silacone. Do you just drain all the old stuff, fill it up with the silacone fluid and bleed?
 
you do it again in spring because of moisture absorbtion over the winter. silicone yuck!! you do know that its compressible by a small amount.but if you reeeaaaallly want to, suck out reservoirs, add silicone, bleed entire contents (refilling so you don't run dry) a few times (about a full pint for each). drive for a week, then do it again.
rob
 
When I first changed over to sillycorn fluid, I first bled the system with alcohol and then with the silcone. That's what was recommended to me. I now have the TR3 apart for a frame off resto, and WON'T be putting the silcone back in. I didn't like the vague feel it gave.
 
Is this a necessity in dry old Alberta (20 - 30% or less Humid.) , if the vehicle is stored in a (somewhat) heated shop?
 
do the before, skip the after. but if you want to push hard and brake hard, i'd re-do it. i help with a motorcycle racer and we have found that if we are using the best hi temp dot four or even racing 600 fluid, we need to bleed minimum once a day. the bike weighs 430 lbs,twin 4-pot front calipers. the triumph weighs more than 2000lbs.
it's your life! bleeding brakes is cheap.
rob
 
I'm in the process of bleeding everything -- just rebuilt calipers, cleaned rear cylinders, and checked the clutch slave (which looked perfect, even though 3 out of 4 brakes were rusted.)

I'm going to go to DOT 5 -- just because then I never have to worry about it again!
 
can i be your life insurance benneficiary? never have to worry about it again? OOOOOO-kaaaaayyyy.
rob
 
sammyb,
I went with DOT 5 on my 8 and haven't had a problem. It doesn't appear to feel any different than the DOT 4 that was in it before the restoration. Stainless steel brake hoses help as well.
 
I used DOT 5 in my car for about a year and didn't like the pedal feel at all, very mushy. After several bleeds over a few week span I couldn't get it any better. The next season I changed back to DOT 4 (Castrol LMA) and what a difference. Nice hard pedal and great feel.

I know lots of folks here use the DOT 5 and like it, I'm not trying to discredit any of them. This is only my own experience with the stuff, maybe there are differences from brake system to brake system. I'm not using the braided steel lines (yet) so maybe that helps. I did put the DOT 5 into a fully rebuilt brake system, so I know it was clean and in good shape. The pedal feel was just garbage with that stuff, I was really disappointed.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Is this a necessity in dry old Alberta (20 - 30% or less Humid.) , if the vehicle is stored in a (somewhat) heated shop?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've got to say I haven't done this routine.
Changed my fluid out (DOT3) 1-1/2 years ago and I haven't noticed any problems, of course I haven't dismantled the brake cylinders to have a look either.
IMHO, I think it's overkill in VERY dry Alberta.
 
Ten or fifteen years ago, when the temp droped to near zero in Atlanta, BMW clutch cylinders were blowing out all over the place because the water had collected in the system and caused a blowout. It was amusing to drive by a BMW shop and see a line of cars trying to get in the shop or dealer.
 
I converted to Dot 5 when I rebuilt the brake system on my TR250. Its a bit of a bugger to blead (you seem to get more iddy biddy bubbles in the fluid, which may be part of the "soft pedal" problem), but I used a steel rule to guide the fluid and avoid bubbles when pouring it in, and did several bleeds and its fine. The big advantage of Dot 5 for me is that it does not take the paint off when the master cylinder leaks (and eventually the master cylinder always leaks!). So far, no worries with silicone.
 
I have DOT 5 in my red TR3 -- did the switch after DOT3 ruined my paint under the master cylinder. Since TR3 brake pedals tend to be stiff anyway, I didn't mind the difference in feel -- which turned out to be minimal.

And I didn't mean NEVER worry about it again...more I just meant "a long time."
 
I am replacing the master cylinder this weekend. and want to change out all of the fluid. What is the best way to do this. I've never done a complete change out before.
 
On every forum I visit the DOT-3, -4, -5 debate surfaces.

My cars are street driven restorations given moderate use. I found no significant difference in pedal feel in my applications when using DOT-5. However, like RobT, I was very careful filling the reservoirs to make sure no small bubbles got in the system. Like Martyx-5, I flushed the old system with alcohol prior to filling with silicone.

Every racer or aggressive driver I know has commented that they won't run DOT-5.

My observation therefore is that if you're not too aggressive in your driving DOT-5 would be a fine way to protect your paint and not worry about corrosion (for a while). If you're a racer or hard driver, consider using DOT-4 LMA or DOT-5.1 (which is not silicone).
 
I have used silicone brake and clutch fluid in my TR3A since I did my body-off restoration from 1987 to 1990. I changed the fluid once in 15 years with over 87,000 miles since 1990. The only time I had a problem was at VTR in Breckenridge Colorado (altitude 12,000 ft) when I had to pump the brakes 2 or 3 times to get some brake pressure. With the help of a friend from Ohio, we bled the brake lines and since then I've had no further problems.

Don Elliott, Original Owner

https://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/trebor/don3a_big.JPG

https://www.britishcarforum.com/ubbthreads/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/1919/ppuser/4127
 
Back
Top