master cylinder cleaning
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 298
Likes: 0
From: Albany NY
I Googled 'silicon brake fluid' and found a lot of good information. I was expecting mostly adds would come up. I need to decide whether or not to convert to DOT 5 so can get on wth my brake job. Reading this stuff I've flip-flopped on the issue about 10 times.
DOT 5 seems to be a good product and has definite advantages especially in older vehicles. Two issues with DOT 5 pursuade me to stick with DOT 3/4. I read where silicon fluid can be harmful to engines if sucked through a leaky vacuum booster. But more pursuasive, I'm guessing that in a few years there will be a silicone product on the market that is miscible with DOT 3/4 so it can be flushed into old systems, and it will perform well with ABS systems. New cars will use it. In ten years what we now call DOT 5 Silicone might get hard to find. And I'm not sure but the only good way to change from DOT 5 won't involve rebuilding the system again.
Regarding master cylinders. Is there a spec. as to how much you are allowed to hone them. The rust spots in mine aren't going to clean up with a little honing.
DOT 5 seems to be a good product and has definite advantages especially in older vehicles. Two issues with DOT 5 pursuade me to stick with DOT 3/4. I read where silicon fluid can be harmful to engines if sucked through a leaky vacuum booster. But more pursuasive, I'm guessing that in a few years there will be a silicone product on the market that is miscible with DOT 3/4 so it can be flushed into old systems, and it will perform well with ABS systems. New cars will use it. In ten years what we now call DOT 5 Silicone might get hard to find. And I'm not sure but the only good way to change from DOT 5 won't involve rebuilding the system again.
Regarding master cylinders. Is there a spec. as to how much you are allowed to hone them. The rust spots in mine aren't going to clean up with a little honing.
