"Turkey Baster" question.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,302
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
"Turkey Baster" question.
As I get ready to put the C-5 back on the road, after it's winter hibernation, I'm planning on changing the brake fluid. And as usual, I was planning on using the turkey baster to draw the old fluid from the master cylinder. But lo and behold, when I dug the baster out of the tool box, I found that time had taken it's toll on the "bulb" part of it, and it wouldn't seal tightly to the tube.
No big deal, I thought, I'll just get a new one, and as coincidence would have it, my wife and I went to the grocery store today. Boy, what a shock, the $1.25, plastic basters were nowhere to be found. All they had, was a "high falootin", stainless steel deal, for $10-11. I find that a bit expensive, as well as overkill, as I'm sure that the bulb on this one, will lose it's shape, from the brake fluid, just as quickly as the cheap ones, leaving it just as useless.
Anybody know of a source of the "cheap" ones??
(FWIW, the 'Dollar Store' website lists them for $1.25 each, BUT you have to buy a case of 48!!
)
No big deal, I thought, I'll just get a new one, and as coincidence would have it, my wife and I went to the grocery store today. Boy, what a shock, the $1.25, plastic basters were nowhere to be found. All they had, was a "high falootin", stainless steel deal, for $10-11. I find that a bit expensive, as well as overkill, as I'm sure that the bulb on this one, will lose it's shape, from the brake fluid, just as quickly as the cheap ones, leaving it just as useless.
Anybody know of a source of the "cheap" ones??
(FWIW, the 'Dollar Store' website lists them for $1.25 each, BUT you have to buy a case of 48!!
)
Popular Reply
Apr 2, 2023, 08:05 PM
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 815
Likes: 533
From: Miami, Fl
No one has said that it's a replacement for bleeding. You should always get rid of all the old fluid in the master before bleeding.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 4,786
Likes: 425
From: North Georgia, USA
Dollar tree usually has them for $1.25 each.
You can also use a marinade syringe. Or if you have a Might-T-Vac hand pump (I use one to vacuum bleed brakes), you can use that with a hose. Even the "topsider" vacuum gizmoes that suck the oil out through the dipstick tube will work.
You can also use a marinade syringe. Or if you have a Might-T-Vac hand pump (I use one to vacuum bleed brakes), you can use that with a hose. Even the "topsider" vacuum gizmoes that suck the oil out through the dipstick tube will work.
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2017
Posts: 4,786
Likes: 425
From: North Georgia, USA
The turkey baster doesn't flush the lines. It takes the nasty old fluid out of the reservoir first. Then fill the reservoir with fresh fluid. Then bleed/flush the lines until you see clear fresh fluid at every caliper, starting at the furthest away, and working to the cali[per closest to the master cylinder.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 815
Likes: 533
From: Miami, Fl
No one has said that it's a replacement for bleeding. You should always get rid of all the old fluid in the master before bleeding.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,302
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
Dollar Tree usually has them for $1.25 each.
You can also use a marinade syringe. Or if you have a Might-T-Vac hand pump (I use one to vacuum bleed brakes), you can use that with a hose. Even the "topsider" vacuum gizmoes that suck the oil out through the dipstick tube will work.
You can also use a marinade syringe. Or if you have a Might-T-Vac hand pump (I use one to vacuum bleed brakes), you can use that with a hose. Even the "topsider" vacuum gizmoes that suck the oil out through the dipstick tube will work.
Yeah, I have one of those big "tank-like" extractor pumps, which I could use, but the hose on it isn't all that flexible, which makes it somewhat awkward to use, and I do NOT want brake fluid splashing around. For this particular job, the turkey baster happens to be ideal.
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Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,302
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
TURNS OUT THAT ALL 'DOLLAR TREE' STORES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL!!
Was out running some errands with my wife, today, and in the same strip mall that the chocolate candy store we went to, was a 'Dollar Tree' store. She suggested that we check out this store, just for grins. Wouldn't you know it, they had some of the basters, at $1.25/ea, so I grabbed three of them.
Was out running some errands with my wife, today, and in the same strip mall that the chocolate candy store we went to, was a 'Dollar Tree' store. She suggested that we check out this store, just for grins. Wouldn't you know it, they had some of the basters, at $1.25/ea, so I grabbed three of them.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 3,762
Likes: 937
From: Orlando Florida
Bear in mind that pretty much all synthetic rubbers revert over time -- that 'sticky' feel rubber coated Harbor Freight tools eventual develop. Had a baster in an overhead drawer, brand new, in the package, and it turned over the coarse of a couple of years. Kind of welded itself to the wrapping. Not pleasant.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 87,302
Likes: 1,583
From: Western NY
Bear in mind that pretty much all synthetic rubbers revert over time -- that 'sticky' feel rubber coated Harbor Freight tools eventual develop. Had a baster in an overhead drawer, brand new, in the package, and it turned over the coarse of a couple of years. Kind of welded itself to the wrapping. Not pleasant.
