Technical How Flammable is Dot 3 Brake Fluid?

Trying to replace the leaky calipers on my '65 Vette. The mounting bolts are stuck, in danger of rounding the heads off. There's fluid from the leaks all around. Am I safe getting under there with OA torch?

 

Brake fluid is very flammable

 

Yuppers, you could actually use it for starting fluid to start a fire on anything you intended to burn. Anyone who has cut through a brake line with a torch can tell you a story or two too.
A good quality 6 point impact socket helps a lot in not rounding the head of a bolt off even if you don't have an impact. If it is an Allen head bolt better quality Allen head sockets help over cheap cad plated Allen wrenches.

 

It's not like gasoline, but brake fluid will ignite readily from the flame of a torch. Clean up as much of the fluid as you can and have a fire extinguisher close by. It might not hurt to have someone watching as you work to make sure nothing flares up while you are working.

Also, be advised brake cleaner is very flammable as well.

 

Disconnect the brake line and cap it off. I have had it explode a rubber brake line if the fluid gets too hot.

 

Thanks guys. I disconnected the line and douched it with brake clean. Going to let it dry overnight and shoot for a Thanksgiving fireball.

 

Be sure the brake clean is dry. Don’t rewet the area.
FYI.

Short term exposure to higher levels of Tetrachloroethylene ( brake cleaner) can cause build-up of fluid in the lungs, respiratory irritation, severe shortness of breath, sweating, nausea and vomiting. In extreme cases, short-term exposure to higher levels of this chemical can cause unconsciousness and death.

 

It's flammable (like fresh oil) but not volatile until mixed with something.

 

Now might be a good time to update your Last Will and Testament
I do quite a bit of welding in my garage and have read way too much about the dangers of some brake clean products. I absolutely refuse to use any form of brake clean product for anything.

 

This is a first-hand experience
https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html

 

Mission accomplished! A lot of heat and smoke, fortunately I was under the smoke. What should have been a one hour job took five, par for the course. Even smoking hot it took a long breaker bar. 7/16-20 bolts. I was probably the last guy on the planet with original brake calipers. The pads come out without removing them, so they had been on there for decades.

Almost Turkey time! Thanks fellas!

 

I read this earlier and was hoping for the best. Little bit of fire can be big real quick with a glass car.
Happy to hear all went well.

Let's see a pic.

 

Didn't take any pics of the mess but here is one of the offending bolts. I started with the usual 5/8" 12 point socket, then 6 point. Still sloppy, next step was hammering a 15mm 12 point on, which worked well for a couple of them, until the socket split. I bought a 15mm 6 point impact but it would not hammer on. Went back to 5/8 6 point impact with the torch and got the last two. I've heard of putting valve grinding compound on the bolt head, should have tried that too.

Painted the car a couple weeks ago.

 

Just for reference, in my part of the woods the parts stores sell both chlorinated and non-chlorinated brake cleaner.

I just use soap and water to clean brake stuff though, since brake fluid dissolves in water.

 

I haven't messed with corvettes since the mid 70's but when my 66 calipers started to leak, the solution was to send them in and they bored the cylinder and installed a ss insert.

 

And you're playing with a torch in the wheel-wells of your freshly painted car?

 

Yes, I was 'playing' with a torch, holding it against the fresh paint.

 

I wish I saw this earlier. May or may not have saved you some time. But I have a few sets of impact type sockets that that are made to wedge into the flat portion of the hex on the bolt/nut. They dig in. I’ve always just turned the pressure down on my impact, rattled it, the swapped to a 6 point, tightened it, and back and forth.
But hey, ya got it out and you’re on the way!

 

Those sound good, never seen them.

 

One set I bought years back can’t recall where. I bought another set at Auto Zone for metric sizes.

 

The autoignition point ranges generally 500-1000*F for DOT 3

For comparison:
50/50 EG coolant is 800-1200*F,
PS fluid 600-1200*F,
and 87-92 octane gas 1135-1550*F.

lots of scary stuff around heat in a car besides fiberglass. Its CF and fiberglass that surround me
that I'm scared of.

 

Can’t wait to see your car back together after the repaint! Oh, and glad you didn’t burn it up getting the caliper bolts loose.