I have my 54 customline up on jack stands rite now with the rims off. I was wanting to bleed the brakes, since i havent since i have owned the car. I had a bottle of dot 3 brake fluid laying around-which i use on my work truck- i wanted to make sure the dot 3 wont eat anything up if i poured it into my stock system??? Any takers?
dot 3 is the normal brake fluid used in most cars , dot 5 is silicone. do you know what is in it now?
Flush it out and put in fresh Dot 3 fluid. A bottle of brake fluid "laying around" can cause more trouble than it is worth because it absorbs moisture. That moisture can boil into steam under hard braking or if a line is close to a heat source like your exhaust. Plus! That absorbed moisture will rust the steel and iron parts fast. Technically you should flush your brake system fluid out every two years or so. If you live in a particularly humid climate I would recommend once a year. Brake fluid is cheap, don't risk it.
No I dont know whats in the system now. I wanted to actually flush it all out and refil it with the dot 3, if possible. I heard that there is dot 1, 2, and 3 didnt know which one to use. but if dot 3 works in most cars i guess ill use that. thanks for the help.
You would be fine with American made cars. Some euro bits used mineral oil based fluids that don't react well to the DOT3 stuff.
well i dont really want to bench bleed the master cylinder, would it be alrite if I just bled it through till i see good fluid coming out of the bleed valve? Or would I be missing things?
Here's a really good explanation of different types of brake fluid: http://www.afcoracing.com/tech_pages/fluid.shtml Personally, I use DOT 4 Castol GT fluid in everything I own, primarily because I usually have at least one old British car sitting around. I buy it in cases of 12 oz. cans so that I don't feel bad about tossing partial cans when I'm finished with a job. Be aware, though, that it's NOT a good idea to mix either types or brands of brake fluids, as different makers have different formulas. As per the article above, I don't recommend DOT 5 silicone fluid unless you have some really special reason for using it. At one time I had it in several cars and was really disappointed in its performance. As for not bench-bleeding the master cylinder: You're really better off flushing the whole system. But, if you can't do that, as a minimum I'd recommend rebuilding the wheel cylinders, primarily because there's almost always water-contaminated fluid trapped in them. Wheel cylinder kits are very inexpensive and good insurance! Even if you rebuild them on the car, in the process you'll also find out if there's any pitting or rust in the bores... knowledge that can save you from on-the-road brake problems.
Castrol DOT4 is good stuff! A very easy way to keep the fluid clean is to take a turkey baster & suck all the fluid out of the master cyl. refill it & drive do this several times & good as new. This works especially well on hyd.clutchs to keep them working like new.
I agree with rebuilding wheel cylinders to have some peace of mind. But, doing that or not, the method I have settled on for bleeding and/or refilling the brake system is as follows.........I bought a new pump oil can, one of the larger capacity models, and put on the tip a short section of clear vinyl tube. First, I remove the old fluid from the master cylinder reservoirs, then I fill the can with fresh fluid, put the end of the vinyl tube on the bleeder valve farthest from the M/C, open it slightly and pump away. I crack the fitting loose at the "tee" so I know when I have purged the line, then go to the next wheel cylinder bleeder and repeat the process until fluid appears in the M/C reservoir. Repeat for front brakes. I used to use one of those vacuum canisters systems with mixed results. I found the method described above to be faster and more certain of having gotten all the air and/or old fluid out of the lines...... Ray
Look at your brake lines. any rust replace them. With a single master cylinder you don't wont to take any chances.
There is also the lazy mans way but this only works if the master cyl is above the brakes. Pick the wheel cyl farthest away from the MC. Put a 2 foot or so vinyl tube, somewhat tight fitting on the bleeder valve and get a coffee can. With the top off the MC crack open the bleeder just so some fluid flows. Now go watch the MC and keep it full with new fluid. Check the Coffee can to see if clean fluid is coming out. When it does shut the bleeder and go the the next farthest one and repeat. But make sure you watch the MC and keep it full. This works well for me. and is simple as I like to work under the K.I.S.S principal
K.I.S.S Great Principal. Thanks a lot guys. Im going to have to bleed my brakes tomorrow while my brother(KomoG2) and my father are in town, so I can have a hand with this and a few other things. Thanks Again everyone!
I use a Gatoraide bottle and windshield washer hose. That way I can see what is going on in the bottle. Clear tube would be even better! You can keep you specialty bleed tools. Been working for me for over 30 years.
This is exactly the way I also do it. Dont ever need any help and can see whats going on in the bottle.
The best thing you can do is crack all your bleeder screws one at a time before beginning any bleeding. If one is gonna stick and ruin a wheel cylinder, now's the time to know before you've bled the other side. Actually, take them completely out so you can inspect the bleed hole. Sometimes they're full of rust. If it starts to trickle fluid during the minute the bleeder is removed for inspection, that's a good sign and will also jump start the bleed process. The second best thing you can do is rebuild your MC and wheel cylinders if it's had air and no brakes for a while. Otherwise, once you hit the road they'll all fail individually over the next few thousand miles. It's the nature of old brake systems that haven't been used for a while. If you can afford to replace the brake hoses, also a really good idea. You may end up doing it all anyway. This is a trail many of us have followed..... *Go to bleed brakes, twist off corroded bleeder. *Go to remove wheel cylinder so bleeder can be EZ outed, and the brake line twists off due to more corrosion. *Successfully replace brake line, bleed system, then notice that because you worked around the old hard brake hoses, now one is seeping fluid at a crimp. Brakes are one of those rare things on a car. Cheap. Do it once, do it right, you'll never regret it. The path you're currently on will be the first bleeding of many. Good luck
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