Well I flushed my brake fluid out today. I've been needing to do it for a long time, I'm sure my fluid was original and I boiled it last time I was at the track. I used more than one of the huge bottles of the Valvoline synthetic DOT 3 & 4 fluid.

I'll get some speed bleeders next time. It's not that it was hard to do the brakes without the speed bleeders, but it would just go faster with them as I could bleed all of them at once.

It's good to finally see that good clear fluid coming through the tube. I'll make it a point to do this every year now, I don't want to take any more chances. It's a little nerve racking to have the brake pedal fall to the floor when you cross the traps doing over 100.

I'm curious exactly what the boiling point was for my old fluid, being that it was 10 years old? I'm guessing it was something like 212 degrees :) Now I should be back up to around 513.

 

That is what happened to me too. At the track the brakes would feel really soft and gritty (for lack of better words) when they got really hot. I actually had to downshift to get enough braking power. Now (with new heavy duty fluid) they feel great. That black old stuff was probably the original fluid!

 

Any issues bleeding with ABS? I've got speedbleeders sitting here waiting to go in, along with a brake fuild change.

 

At least you had some warning. Mine were doing fine until I crossed the traps on like my 6th consecutive pass and the pedal just fell to the floor and every light on the dash related brake came on. I was fixing to try and downshift and negotiate with the parking brake when my pedal came back somewhat. I had about half pedal, and it felt soft, but it got me stopped. I pulled back around to the pits and did a quick WTF. I found out that all my brakes seemed fine so I let it cool for a while. I was fine from then, but I let it cool a little more between passes.

In my case I was just excited. I was so close to that 12 second pass I could taste it, so I kept trying without even thinking about the brakes. Coolant and oil temps were fine, guess I'm alright. WRONG.

 

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you only need to bleed the ABS if you have air in it? Here's my reasoning. The brake fluid goes from the master cylinder into the ABS unit where it then gets distributed to all of the wheels. Now if I pour in clean fluid into the master cylinder and pump the pedal, when I eventually get clear fluid at the wheel I had to go through the ABS unit and remove the old fluid there as well.

What I did is jacked the car up and put it on stands and removed all the wheels. I just started on the left front (with the ABS more or less in the middle the distance's should be pretty much the same) and bled it until I got clear fluid. This took quite a while, but it did eventually happen. Then I moved to the right front and did the same, it didn't take quite as long. I then move to the right rear, took a while, but not too long. Then I finally did the left rear, it really didn't take so long.

I then went around them all again and made sure I got clear fluid. Right when I opened them up I did get a small slug of brown fluid again, but then it all went clear. I might not have got it all 100% out, but if I keep it up as a yearly maintanence I can be ensured that it won't get as bad as it was.

The brakes feel really good this morning, although I haven't got on them real hard yet. I'll save that for the trip home, that's when I take the back roads. :blueangel:

 

I do pretty much what Nathan described. SpeedBleeders are God sent. I don't know how I ever worked without them.

Neal

 

I got a friend to help me. After he pumped it about 5 times he said "this is gonna take a while isn't it?" I just told him "Yep, keep pumping" It didn't really take that long, but his leg was probably about to fall off.

 

Nate - brake fluid should be changed about every 30k miles or so...

I doubt your boiling point is really THAT high... 450* seems more realistic. I did some reading on it, and there are only a couple of high $$ fluids that will really deal with over 500*... these are like $80.00 a gallon!!!! Motul makes one that is cheaper, and Castrol makes the really expensive stuff...

 

True boiling point aside, it is rated on the same scale as all the other brake fluids out there. The scale may be skewed, but it's GOTTA be better than 10 year old 60k mile fluid :) 400-500, what's the difference :cheers:

 

I did a little agricultural racing myself at Texas Motor Speedway my last time out. I need to flush brake system and have speed bleeders ordered, what fluid is best? Anyone used the DOT 5 Silicone Brake Fluid?

 

Absolutely don't use DOT 5!!! It doesn't work with ABS systems, it's meant for show cars, things that are rarely driven. It doesn't really absorb moisture that much but it's real spongy and not recommended for anything that is driven hard.

 

OK, thanks for the input!

 

Than I should fluish mine with 96,000 miles on it????????????????

 

Well, because J-C-5 put the grand sport calipers on my fronts, my guess is that he put new brake fluid in when he did them, BUT who knows. I might change mine over summer when the temps start going up.

 

It's very much possible that he just added enough to get the air out. If the fluid is nasty and brown, do yourself a favor and change it. Not a bit of fun to have your brake pedal fall to the floor at a critical momenet. The brake fluid I got wasn't even that expensive and is supposed to be fairly decent. Not as good as the top brand, but cheap enough that I can change it more often to make up for it's lack of long life like the REALLY expensive stuff.

I consider it very cheap insurance. Personally I'll be changing mine as part of my yearly pre season maintanence routine.

 

If your looking for really good fluid, go to Ford. I know you didn't want to hear that but, Ford makes a heavy duty DOT 4 fluid for their trucks. It's better than regular DOT 3 or 4 and isn't silicone Dot 5. Dot 5 works great in race cars because it's designed to work in extreme temps hot or cold. The problem is when you take the car off the trailer and the brakes are cold it don't want to stop. so you can forget using it on the street. It don't really effect ABS systems, but they were not designed to use it. (vicosity difference) At my shop we recommend changing your brake fluid once a year, but 30,000 miles is correct. I would change it sooner if you put hard miles on your cars.
Joe

 

I like the Ford HP DOT 3 fluid. Jadedvette, has Ford come out with a DOT 4 rated fluid?

Anyway the Ford HP DOT 3 is very good if changed often, it has a very high dry boiling point. Rumor is that Ford developed this fluid to deal with the Grand Vic, Lincoln drivers that kept toasting the cheapo fluid laying on the brakes. Good cost effective fluid if you intend to flush a lot!

As for DOT 5 silicone fluid, it has problems with ABS brakes. It tends to cavitate / aeriate around the actuators leaving the driver with a really poor, or no brake pedal in the worst of circumstances. The other problem with DOT 5 is it allows any water that gets into the system to puddle, and may lead to rust out in low areas in the fluid piping system.

Two years is about as far as anybody should go on DOT 3, and really less if you want good performance. Some fluids will go somewhat longer, but the cost is quite high. DOT 4's may go a little longer, and the Valvoline is readily available and a reasonable value.

And for JM, I think in 7 years and the trap speeds you have been making, that brake fluid does not owe you a dime! :eek: Actually, I would start to worry about internal corrosion at this point, and Ford DOT 3 is cheaper than lines and calipers. :p:

 

The Ford fluid is supposed to have a higher dry boiling point, but a lower wet boiling point. I'm sure that won't be an issue if you change it every year. I don't think I can justify going to the Ford dealership, I'd never live that down ;)

I'm sure any fresh brake fluid would be fine for me. I don't do any endurance races, just a few 100-0 stops at the strip.

 

no doubt!!!!

DOT 5 is not good... but DOT 5.1 is great!!!

 

WTF is dot 5.1?

Please inform those of us who don't know.