Ok so I know that old fluid can come out looking like motor oil, and I've read the don't mix DOT 4 and 5. The question I have that I couldn't see when searching is if they are mixed would it make the reservoir have a cloudy look to it in spots? So here is the back story. Got the bike outta storage, and dealer bleed front brakes to get me passed my safety inspection. I had to go back down a few days later to get the sticker. While riding I notice the back brake feels soft, to where I gotta push down hard to get it to feel like it's doing anything other than putting slight drag on the rotor. So I decide to shell out the $50 for the mighty vac system, and pick up a small (only size at that store) bottle of DOT 5 (2002 standard, reservoir cap calls for DOT 5 I checked). So about a week later (today) I decide what the heck let's bleed the brakes. Get the scoot leveled out as much as possible in the front yard (no garage), and pull off the reservoir lid. Looked brownish in color so figure it's a good thing to get swapped out. Hook up the mighty vac, and discover that as soon as I crack the bleeder I gotta keep pumping the friggin thing to keep even 5 inHg on it but it holds fine before cracking the bleeder. Any way get it about half empty, and decide to top off a bit. That's when I noticed the little cloudy spots in the reservoir. After that I bleed it almost all the way empty, and filled up. Bleed down more, and topped off before putting the cap on the reservoir, and pumping the pedal then holding it and putting vaccum on the bleeder before cracking it and closing it. Anyway after typing all of that I want to know. Does anyone have a good trick for getting a good seal with the mighty vac? Also in your opinion do you think some knuckle head put DOT 4 in the system (due to the cloudyness)? I have to dump the little mighty vac cup, and get more fluid tomorrow so I can flush some more of that old fluid out, and get a warm and fuzzy on the brake bleed. Maybe see if they have speed bleeders at the parts store while I'm spending $$

Oh and for any grammar ****'s yes I probably use poor sentence structure, and/or not spell some words right. If you want to give me a free engrish lesson by all means go ahead.

 

You should have capitalized Engrish! Sorry, I can't help with the brake question.

 

Alot of guys on the forum have very good luck with the Mighty Vac. I for one did not. Ordered the Speedbleeders and I could not tell you how easy it was to bleed your brakes. Quick as hell to. I am not here to dis the Mighty Vac, just giving my .02 cents on the Speedbleeders. Good Luck.

 

It's always possible when purchasing a used bike that someone previously swapped a brake system from dot 5 to dot 4 or vis a versa. I once saw a bike with a dot 5 system in the front and a dot 4 in the rear. Recently did a lot of research on this issue. Many manufacturers add a purple coloring agent to their dot 5, but not all. Dot 5, that is colored purple, will turn color after time resembling the amber color of dot 4 making it difficult to distinguish its type when looking in the reservoir.

I once mixed a 50/50 solution of dot 4 and 5 in a container and left it on the work bench for a couple days. It resembled watered down tapioca pudding.

If you have any suspension that both dot 4 and 5 have been introduced into your system, I would recommend that you completely dissemble, clean and flush the system with denatured alcohol.

As far as your brake bleeding tool, can't help you there brother. I've found it easier to use a large medical syringe and reverse fill from the bleeder screw.

 

Speed bleeders all the way.

 

with a mity vac, you won't be able to pull a high vacuum with the bleeder open. once you open the bleeder its not a sealed system anymore. most likely your losing a portion of vacuum through the threads of the bleeder and the rest through the open system. a 5" pull of vacuum will do the job, but so will a gravity bleed into a empty can.

 

Yeah once opening the bleeder I had to keep pumping it up to maintain the 5". I guess I just wanted to try a new gadget. If I head into town tonight I'll swing by the store and see if I can nab a speed bleeder, but if not I'll just pick up more fluid, and flush out all the old motor oil looking crap until it looks purple'ish. Thanks for the replies.