Kailuahawaii

The brake fluid did not look right! Significant sludge...

Replaced MC, brake bleeder thing coming Monday. Should I be doing more than just major flushing the lines? Do I need to flush clutch line as well? (pressing the grey colar on clutch line to brake fluid reservoir frees it).

Clearly will be setting reminder in 2 years to flush brake fluid again

Could the sludge alone cause the issues I had?

Carreralicious

In your original post, you said your brake fluid looked clean and fluid level to the top. What happened to make the fluid all of a sudden look dark and sludgy?

Petza914

It almost looks like someone mixed incompatible fluids like DOT 3 or 4 with DOT 5 or 5.1 (whichever isn't compatible with the former). Yes, thick brake fluid could certainly prevent the caliper pistons from releasing. Based on the photo, you may have to take apart and address everything in that hydraulic system. Clutch slave bleeding is fine just above the transmission and should be done on the .1 cars. On the 2s it's self bleeding.

I came up with a pretty good clutch slave bleeding rig using a pass through ratchet, some silicone tubing, and a collection bag. Let's you loosen then tighten the bleed screw without having to remove anything.

Wayne Smith

Given your description of the fluid I'm wondering about degradation of your brake lines connecting to your calipers. If these are causing the fluid to look bad they may have swelled and are causing problems with the caliper release.

Both at the same time? I don't believe in simultaneous failures but stranger things have happened.

Kailuahawaii

That is a really cool clutch bleeder tool! Fully inspired to make a look alike

I was fooled by the pretty green fluid (no floater / bubbles / obvious discoloration) when looking with reservoir cap open, only when I used a syringe to remove some did I see the sludge at the bottom. Easily seen from this earlier picture of MC / reservoir, though it was not on my radar to look for (it only registered later ). * I am dumping the old fluid into an old oil jug, not the other way around!! *

The last fluid change was by the local P dealer (though probably 4 yrs ago), I don't think anyone 'topped it off', I certainly did not, weird.

Hope the stuff clears, the motive bleeding is arriving tomorrow but now I feel my 3 liters of ATE gold will be far too little! Will try to source some locally...

MrMoose

Great googly-moogly: that's not at all good! I'm wondering if someone accidentally put DOT 5 (silicone) in there at some point? Because they must've added something wrong to the reservoir.

I'm no expert on dealing with that, but I think you'd need to flush the whole brake and clutch system. It might be best to consult a pro at this point.

If you want to YOLO it, I believe denatured alcohol should be compatible with all the brake seals. I'd flush the whole system with denatured alcohol using the pressure bleeder, and I'd probably install the new MC regardless. Then you'd probably need to dry the lines (compressed air, probably) and then fill/bleed with brake fluid a couple times, including the ABS module. But like I said, no expert here, so suggest doing some research.

dgjks6

Sorry I'm late to the conversation. Weird it is on both sides. But I have had similar problems in the past. I have made every brake mistake you can make.

I would take the pads calipers off and clean them. My bet is the pads are not retracing. Either stuck caliper or the pad is frozen on the caliper from dust/rust/dirt.

My personal bet is that the person that did the odd last did not clean the caliper at all and both pads are frozen on the caliper. They will look fine on inspection but you won't be able to get them off or press them back.

WPOZZZ

That look like Vaseline! If in need of ATE, try Hawaii Import Parts on Ilaniwai off Ward.

Kailuahawaii

YOLO indeed Mr Moose , I followed your advice -

Flushed lines with denatured alcohol, followed by compressed air and then ample flushing with fresh ATE gold... The rubber cover on clutch bleeder is a real challenge to get off (finally ended up using a string to laso it).

Test drive - near perfect, calipers do not heat up Pedal is a little more spongy than before (but will engage ABS without pumping), durametric did not seem to do anything for ABS bleeding. Perhaps next rain I can engage ABS some, and re-bleed?

Dealer is only place it has been serviced (yearly), they changed flushed brake fluid when I got it ~4 years ago, it seems unlikely they would have topped it off with silicone fluid, still a mystery...

Will be checking that brake fluid a lot more often

MrMoose

YOLO for the win! Maybe? I'm not a professional, lol.

So make sure you download the latest software version of Durametric. The bleed mode was not working for me in 6.6.1.2, supposedly it was fixed in 6.6.1.6 or later. If that still doesn't work, you should still be able to trigger the pump in the actuations page. You can try either doing that for a few seconds and re-bleeding, or driving and actuating the ABS as you said.

When I replaced my MC, what seemed to help was the secondary bleed procedure in the service manual. Hook up the pressure bleeder at 29 PSI, and while bleeding each wheel press and hold the pedal to the floor for 2-3 sec. Repeat the pedal thing a few times, bleed about 250ml total, close the bleeder, and move on to the next wheel. It took a bunch of fluid but I eventually got a firm pedal.