FLUSHING BRAKE SYSTEM
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Senior User
Joined: Mar 2007
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FLUSHING BRAKE SYSTEM
GOT 98,000 ON MY TRUCK AND NOTICED THE BRAKE FLUID IS GETTING DIRTY AND A LITTLE CLOUDY. WHAT IS A GOOD FLUID TO USE? I DO A LOT OF TOWING IN THE MOUNTAINS AND WANT TO GO WITH A GOOD HIGH QUALITY FLUID. ANY POINTERS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.
THANKS
THANKS
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 9
From: Wellington, Co
You can also use a turkey baster to suck out the old before you flush it.
Most folks would appreciate going to lower case for your text. All caps is like yelling.
Last edited by trekbasso; Mar 1, 2013 at 09:26 AM. Reason: deleted something.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,546
Likes: 9
From: Wellington, Co
For 99% of users DOT 3 works great. There are options, but sometimes what car makers recommend is what works best. I am not sure what the properties of DOT 5 might be, but one would want to be sure it is compatible with the other components, seals, etc..
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 870
Likes: 9
From: Carbondale, CO
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ake-fluid.html
I used Valvoline synthetic DOT 3 & 4 and used the gravity bleed method. I removed as much as I could from the reservoir, then filled with new and started bleeding passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front until fluid was clean.
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 5,373
Likes: 46
From: Palm Bay, Florida
DO NOT introduce DOT5 fluid into an older brake system!! its strongly asking for trouble!! get a good, name brand quality DOT4 fluid and flush the system yourself.
Get a 2 liter soda bottle, get a clear plastic tubing line that fits SNUGLY onto the nipple on the bleeder, drill a hole in the bottle cap so the line slips through tightly, put about 1 1/2" FRESH fluid in the bottle, make sure you get the line into the fresh fluid, open the bleeder and start slowly pumping full strokes, you should be able to do about 15 full pump strokes, close bleeder, move to the next making sure you keep tabs on the fluid lever on the m/c, always start with the bleeder furthest away from the m/c and work to the closest.no real need to syphon fluid out first.
Get a 2 liter soda bottle, get a clear plastic tubing line that fits SNUGLY onto the nipple on the bleeder, drill a hole in the bottle cap so the line slips through tightly, put about 1 1/2" FRESH fluid in the bottle, make sure you get the line into the fresh fluid, open the bleeder and start slowly pumping full strokes, you should be able to do about 15 full pump strokes, close bleeder, move to the next making sure you keep tabs on the fluid lever on the m/c, always start with the bleeder furthest away from the m/c and work to the closest.no real need to syphon fluid out first.
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Joined: Aug 2009
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From: Missouri
You CANNOT use DOT 5 in a DOT 3/4 system. 3 and 4 may be interchanged, but 5 may not be!
Here is a video I did when I did my brakes:
Here is a video I did when I did my brakes:
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From: joliet il
At work we swapped from dot3 to dot5 in the mail trucks i thought same thing we were going to see problems but we didnt thats all we use now. I would say if you are going to try it make sure you flush the hell out of the system and may want to replace the 3 hoses to calipers and rear axle just because our brake bleeder line is always wet from the dot5 silicone seeping thru and if any of the brake hoses have cracks in the outer layer/cover it may seep also. Also in the fleet maintenance field i havent really seen a difference in brake system just dont mix the fluids it turns cloudy and seams to sort of gel or get thicker hard to say but our dot5 has dye in it so people wont use in there own vehicles
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