[Healeys] Brake Fluid -- Silicone vs. glycol

Roger Grace roggrace at telus.net
Mon Jul 26 14:25:15 MDT 2021


Does anyone have an opinion as to the accuracy of those cheepo pen style
brake fluid moisture detectors ?
You dip the probes into the reservoir and they give led indication for
range % moisture present.
Just wondering ... ??
rg

On Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 4:55 AM bluehealey <bluehealey at gmail.com> wrote:

> Now that is a perfect checklist Simon. Captures everything you need to
> know.
> In addition I work on the basis that glycol mixtures, if neglected (not
> flushed) for more than 3-4 years, can cause minor problems with the
> hardware.
> Silicone, if neglected for a similar period, can cause major problems with
> the hardware.
> Guess which I choose to use.
>
> AlanB - iPhone message.
>
> > On 26 Jul 2021, at 09:57, Simon Lachlan via Healeys <
> healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
> >
> > 
> >
> > I was getting myself in a muddle over brake fluid once so I made myself
> some
> > notes. Probably pinched from Google; I don't recall:-
> >
> > 1)    All brake fluid is "synthetic".it's not a "natural" product.
> > 2)    Most synthetic fluids are NOT silicone. They are polyethylene
> glycol
> > ether based.
> > 3)    DOT 3 & 4, which can be mixed, are not silicone. They are glycol.
> > 4)    DOT 5, which cannot be mixed with 3 or 4, is silicone. Can't be
> > mixed with anything!
> > 5)    DOT 5.1 is glycol based and cannot be mixed with DOT 5.
> > 6)    DOT 5.1 can be mixed with DOT 3 or 4, as both are glycol based.
> >
> > The word "synthetic" began to appear when manufacturers worked out that
> it
> > made regular brake fluid sound more special ie they could charge us more
> > money for the same old stuff.
> >
> > DOT stands for Dept. Of Transport and relates to the fluids' boiling
> points.
> > If a car brakes at high speed, the brakes get hot. Some heat is carried
> away
> > from the brakes by the brake fluid. Bad news if the fluid boils! The
> faster
> > you're going, the higher DOT you need. Higher DOT numbers indicate higher
> > boiling points for "Dry" fluid (has not absorbed any water) and "Wet"
> fluids
> > (has absorbed water). ie, the wetter it is, the more problematic it
> becomes.
> > Mixing 3 with 4 lowers the boiling points and vice verca.
> >
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