Guiness, porter, or brake fluid?
03-08-2002, 12:47 AM
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Guiness, porter, or brake fluid?
Uhmm...
Anyway, I decided to change the brake fluid on the shark today. I've owned it for 3 years, so I figured it was time.
Occasionally, when I have checked the fluid I have noticed that the reservoir had a small amount of black grit.
Really, I didn't want to know what it was...
Visions of dollar signs flying around and the fact that the brakes and clutch worked fine kept me sleeping well at nights. But I decided that there is no time like the present, just before a windows and sunroof-open trip down the Overseas Highway in the Florida Keys, to change the brake fluid.
Ok...so off I went. I started with the right rear caliper. What came out looked like a "porter", or a semi-dark beer. My brow furrowed....
Several of the small bottles full of fluid later, I had progressed to a typically watery domestic brew and moved on to the other side. It only required one bottle to come clear. Visions of three bullfrogs croaking "bud - weis - er" floated through my head.
Then the front left... a good dark beer, like Heineken Dark issued forth at first, transforming to porter and then finally after about 5 bottles full, the desired Anhueser hue was achieved.
The right front caliper was like the left rear...one bottle and I was done. Same result with the little bleeder on the master cylinder.
And then I moved to the clutch slave cylinder.
This bad boy screamed "St.JAMES GATE, DUBLIN" in a loud Irish accent! The fluid from the clutch was very very dark, like Guiness and it even contained small dark colored flecks.
mmm Hmm.....yeah!
[Incidently....NO, I DID NOT TASTE ANY! ]
So...does anyone have any idea what this all means? Is something bad going on is my car simply an alcoholic? I investigated and found that the cap on the reservoir seemed coated in some sort of black crap- I cleaned it out, but for the life of me I cannot identify it. The reservoir seems to have some inside...I didn't want to put a paper towl in there and possibly contaminate it, but...not good.
Here is a picture of the first bottle of fluid...
Normy! <img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" />
Anyway, I decided to change the brake fluid on the shark today. I've owned it for 3 years, so I figured it was time.
Occasionally, when I have checked the fluid I have noticed that the reservoir had a small amount of black grit.
Really, I didn't want to know what it was...
Visions of dollar signs flying around and the fact that the brakes and clutch worked fine kept me sleeping well at nights. But I decided that there is no time like the present, just before a windows and sunroof-open trip down the Overseas Highway in the Florida Keys, to change the brake fluid.
Ok...so off I went. I started with the right rear caliper. What came out looked like a "porter", or a semi-dark beer. My brow furrowed....
Several of the small bottles full of fluid later, I had progressed to a typically watery domestic brew and moved on to the other side. It only required one bottle to come clear. Visions of three bullfrogs croaking "bud - weis - er" floated through my head.
Then the front left... a good dark beer, like Heineken Dark issued forth at first, transforming to porter and then finally after about 5 bottles full, the desired Anhueser hue was achieved.
The right front caliper was like the left rear...one bottle and I was done. Same result with the little bleeder on the master cylinder.
And then I moved to the clutch slave cylinder.
This bad boy screamed "St.JAMES GATE, DUBLIN" in a loud Irish accent! The fluid from the clutch was very very dark, like Guiness and it even contained small dark colored flecks.
mmm Hmm.....yeah!
[Incidently....NO, I DID NOT TASTE ANY! ]
So...does anyone have any idea what this all means? Is something bad going on is my car simply an alcoholic? I investigated and found that the cap on the reservoir seemed coated in some sort of black crap- I cleaned it out, but for the life of me I cannot identify it. The reservoir seems to have some inside...I didn't want to put a paper towl in there and possibly contaminate it, but...not good.
Here is a picture of the first bottle of fluid...
Normy! <img src="graemlins/drink.gif" border="0" alt="[cherrsagai]" />
03-08-2002, 05:09 AM
#2
I wouldn't think that anything bad is about to occur. The dark fluid typicaly means that it hasn't been changed in a long time. Porsche says to change it every two years. I do mine every year, and some people who track their car do it a lot more often than that. Brake fluid is cheap, especially compared to replacing brake parts that have corroded from the fluid not having been flushed. What's even more expensive is what can happen when the brakes don't work because of having old fluid with a lot of moisture in it.
03-08-2002, 09:08 AM
#3
It means you were long overdue for a brake fluid flush. I believe factory recommendation is every 2 yrs. at least annually is better especially if you live in a humid climate as brake fluid absorbs water. Also a bleeding if not a complete change whenever hard use is expected. The water can corrode parts and when it gets hot it turns to steam which causes brake fade.
03-08-2002, 10:57 AM
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I did it the slow way- the little bottle [Autozone; $1.88]and tube attached to the bleeder nipple and pumping the brake pedal.
Then walk back around and see what it looked like, add fluid to the reservoir...repeat the process. Took forever!
Normy!
Then walk back around and see what it looked like, add fluid to the reservoir...repeat the process. Took forever!
Normy!
03-08-2002, 11:06 AM
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Normy - The stuff that came out is normal. I've bleed the brakes and clutches on lots of cars and usually get the dark fluid with flecks in it if it hasn't been done in a while. You should be fine.
Did you have to do anything special because of the ABS pump? Does it have a bleeder on it? Or does it get bled automatically using the regular technique?
Bryan
Did you have to do anything special because of the ABS pump? Does it have a bleeder on it? Or does it get bled automatically using the regular technique?
Bryan
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03-08-2002, 03:32 PM
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No special bleeding technique for ABS.
You might want to purchase a simple power bleeder or the speed bleeder screws.
<a href="http://www.928gt.com" target="_blank">www.928gt.com</a> has them both. Saves time for very little money. They also have ATE Super blue fluid at a good price.
You might want to purchase a simple power bleeder or the speed bleeder screws.
<a href="http://www.928gt.com" target="_blank">www.928gt.com</a> has them both. Saves time for very little money. They also have ATE Super blue fluid at a good price.
