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Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder 

 

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 Post subject: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 12:01 am 
Getting Side Ways
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The other day I adjusted my handbrake brake shoes to remove squeals and noise in general. I went to bleed my rear brakes and topped up the master brake cylinder when I noticed something weird happen.

I poured clean brake fluid into the master cylinder and noticed it came back up slightly jelly looking and a different colour.

The new brake fluid is almost clear, pale yellow, the master cylinder fluid seems to be a mixture of dark green and black to some degree...it was not that colour about a year ago.

The question is I now think my brake fluid is contaminated and needs to be flushed. I'll be doing that sometitme this week

Does anyone have an idea what would cause brake fluid to go / behave like that?

Peter
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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:07 am 
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It has absorbed water.
Brake fluid is hydroscorbic and does that.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:38 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Matt-jew,

Thanks for that. Out of curiosity, does brake fluid go off or deteriorate if its not used within a certain time?

Reason I ask, about 12 months ago or so I purchased half dozen bottles of brake fluid (Ford AUII) and left sealed in a cupboard that's exposed to the afternoon sun.

Would they be safe to use or toss them out and get a fresh batch?

Cheers
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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:38 am 
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Should be okay if they're sealed.
Dot 4 are they ?

Shouldn't have needed to bleed the rear brakes, not for a handbrake adjust.

If you are bleeding to replace with new fluid, Syringe out the master cyl, leave fluid in the port holes you see at the bottom, clean the reservoir with a clean cloth and metho (if req'd). Fill with fresh fluid.

 

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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 4:57 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Location: Crestmead
QLD, Australia

snap0964,

They are sealed. They are DOT4.

I make a habit of bleeding brakes to be safe, I did notice there was some air coming out, the brakes felt a bit spongy previously.

I will be bleeding to replace with new fluid. Been a long time since they were done, brake fluid is like very dark green to black at the moment. Brake fluid when first went in was a see through light yellow.

Thanks for the tip about port holes.

I'll bleed the furthest brake shoe, rear drivers, front passenger and front driver last.

Also will need to take rear passenger calliper off vehicle, bleed valve has rounded out, will put in bench vice, remove old bleed valve and replace with new one.

At least I have all day spare to do the job.

Cheers.
Might take about 3 or 4 bottles.
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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:41 pm 
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Crack the bleeder with vice grips on the car - have your replacement ready to go in.

Pinch the flex hose with the spring clip tool, or vice grips with some protection in the jaws so you don't damage the rubber.

Otherwise, By the time you bring the caliper back, you'll have lost a lot of fluid, and let a s**t of air in the system.

 

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96 XH Longreach 'S': LPG, Alarm, 3.23:1 LSD, Cruise, Trip Comp, ABS, Power Windows, Mid Series Dome Lt, Climate Ctrl
97 EL Futura S/W: LPG, Alarm, LED int Lts, Trip Comp, F/Lane Dome Lt, Climate Ctrl, T5 Conversion

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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 12:14 am 
Getting Side Ways
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snap0964,

I think it will be a lot easier to remove the calliper from the vehicle and remove the bleed valve using jaws from bench vice.

Not enough swing room / clearance to use vice grips on vehicle, tried doing that before on a different vehicle.

Flex hose will be closed tight as possible to prevent excessive air ingress. Calliper brake pads and pistons will have minimal disturbance.

All good, I'll let you know how it went, Hopefully this Thursday job will be done.
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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:46 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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QLD, Australia

Hi,

I've done the job and everything went ok until today. I stared the car and got this weird red light staying on.

I have no idea what this red light mean or indicate.

I would like to drive my car today but not with that red light showing.

I did try to upload a photo but FordMods site wont allow it. Must be a problem with the server somewhere.

The redlight is best described as a round circle with a broken circle on each side of the first circle and an explanation mark in the centre


This is the message I receive when trying to upload a photo

"Forbidden " You don't have permission to access /posting.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/2.2.27 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.27 OpenSSL/0.9.8e-fips-rhel5 mod_bwlimited/1.4 Phusion_Passenger/3.0.7 Server at www.fordmods.com Port 80

Cheers, Peter
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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 7:45 pm 
Technical Contributor
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Location: South Coast
NSW, Australia

Take off the brake fail plug on the underside of the mast cyl.
Undo the sensor, screw it back in, put plug on.

Light should be out.

 

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96 XH Longreach 'S': LPG, Alarm, 3.23:1 LSD, Cruise, Trip Comp, ABS, Power Windows, Mid Series Dome Lt, Climate Ctrl
97 EL Futura S/W: LPG, Alarm, LED int Lts, Trip Comp, F/Lane Dome Lt, Climate Ctrl, T5 Conversion

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 Post subject: Re: Brake Fluid and Master Cylinder
Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2014 10:38 pm 
Getting Side Ways
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Age: 65

Posts: 1128

Joined: 13th Sep 2010

Ride: Ford Falcon AU 2000 Series II

Location: Crestmead
QLD, Australia

snap0964,

Thanks for your help, it did the trick.

I still have issues with uploading pictures, Unfortunately I cannot use the contact form as it too comes back with error.

Cheers, Peter
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