Ian Carr

WELL if you have not seen my write up on my brake problem you might have to fill in the blanks. Basically i bleed my brakes and i kept getting air and then my brakes didn't really work.

WELL as it turns out i was cruising clarks-garage and found out i maid a pretty big mistake. Well more of my dad but w/e ill take the blame. I asked why we were not using super blue and he just said this is what we had. What i didn't check was that it was DOT3. And i just looked on clarks-garage and it says

"Make sure you use a good DOT 4 brake fluid. DO NOT use DOT 3 or DOT 5 fluid. For cars that are frequently tracked, you should use a brake fluid with a higher boiling temperature."

So yeah... Whats the worst that will happen? I just have to clean out the whole system and hopefully they will work

-Ian

MPD47

Worst that will happen? You'll boil the brakes and have no brakes. But I doubt you'll get anywhere near that unless you're on the track or driving tail of the dragon. It wouldnt be a bad idea to buy two cans of super blue though and flush the system.

testarossa_td

Just flush...should not be a big deal.
Might want to bleed it out of the clutch slave as well.

I am sure the trackers can be of more help.

Ian Carr

gotcha i took it for like one test drive and decided the car wasnt safe to drive cause it didnt want to stop all the way.

-Ian

MPD47

DOT3 will still work, if you have stopping issues, it is NOT your fluid. You either didnt bleed all the way or you're master is shot.

Jon Moeller

Agree with MPD47.

Ian,
you need to pick up some new fluid and make certain to bleed the system completely. A good pressure bleeder is a good start.
-J

TRWright

Ian said that the brakes do not fade or feel spongy, but they are very hard to push. (. . .as in no power brakes.)

I am willing to bet that the brake booster is not correctly hooked to vacuum.

Chris White

It is also possible that you toasted the master cylinder. When you bleed the brakes it is important not to depress the brake pedal all the way to the floor. THE extra travel is unfamiliar territory for the seals and the cylinder can be rough enough to damage the master cylinder piston seals – especially if you floor it hard!

You end up with leaky seals that allow the pressure to bleed back into the reservoir. If you can’t pump up the brakes with multiple pushes this is the probable answer.

Chris White

hosrom_951

That's a new one to me, or are yoy saying that because of the DOT3 fluid??

I have a new master cylinder in, pressed the pedal all the way down to the floor, flushed the system, fresh ATE Super Blue, and again, kept pumping the pedal and holding it all the way down to the floor....

That is untill i bought the mityvac, which should be a breeze to bleed the system next time.

MitchB

Not a DOT 3 vs. 4 vs. 5 issue.
4 is better than 3 because of a slightly higher boiling point. 5 is higher than 4. 5 is bad because it is a synthetic that has been found to have a high affinity for moisture, so requires very frequent flushing/bleeding to stay pure...

I think C. White nailed it...

evil 944t

well, I guess loss of life is the worst but I think you'll be totally fine j/k. Just flush with 4 or if doing DE's go with Super Blue.

User 41221

Ford Super Duty brake fluid makes a fine substitute if you are stuck on a weekend and can't find Super Blue, for what its worth.

Regards,

Jon Moeller

I had heard the same thing, but I talked to a Ford guy, and he told me to pick up Valvoline's Synthetic stuff.

http://www.valvoline.com/products/Va...ke%20Fluid.pdf

The numbers are almost as good as Super Blue.

If Ian is having problems with a stiff pedal, Ted might be correct. Ian's description of the problem was pretty vague.

-Jon

Chris White

[QUOTE=hosrom_951]That's a new one to me, or are yoy saying that because of the DOT3 fluid??

I have a new master cylinder in, pressed the pedal all the way down to the floor, flushed the system, fresh ATE Super Blue, and again, kept pumping the pedal and holding it all the way down to the floor....
QUOTE]

You are fine running a new master all the way, its an old one that might develop issues.
Nothing to do with the DOT3.

And I have had problems with synthetic before – at least when it first came out! The problem is that he synthetic is completely nonhydroscopic – it doesn’t absorb any water. Sort of sounds good until you realize that any water that does get in the system will stay as water – boils easy and helps the corrosion problem start. Maybe the modern versions have addressed that….but super blue hasn’t failed me so I will stick with it.

Chris White

special tool

me too