[Mg-t] Brake Fluids - DOT 5 / DOT 5.1 Mixtures (dont do it!) What happens?

[Clive Sherriff]

>From another group:-

>>>   DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 are all glycol-based fluids and can
>>>   be mixed successfully.
>>>   DOT 5 is silicon-based and is not compatible with
>>>   any other type of  fluid. DOT 5 must not be mixed
>>>   with any other type of fluid!!!

>>>   There is often confusion about this because people
>>>   sometimes think DOT 5 and DOT 5.1 are the same
>>>   thing, but in reality they are not. It's simply an
>>>   unfortunate numbering system that should have been
>>>   done differently to avoid this confusion. <<<

Aware of this DOT 5 / DOT 5.1 situation from quite
some time ago, I decided a survey was needed & asked
in a number of Autoparts shops around here, when I was
buying other stuff, whether the two could be mixed
safely.

Without exception I was told there was no problem!

Now I'm aware that one should not mix them, but from
this survey, I'd guess that there are a lot of vehicles
around with a mixture of DOT 5 / DOT 5.1 fluids.

Now a survey is one thing, but I'm not going to do the
experiment <G>  So does anyone  know what the actual
effects are on the braking system of such a mixture?

Clive
Oxford UK
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