Brake Fluid type confusion - help needed please
Road Warrior
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,899
Likes: 8
From: Aurora, IL
Name calling? Come on, grow up.
Last edited by redrubicon2004; May 14, 2010 at 07:59 PM.
Thread Starter
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3rd Gear
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Devon
Just thought I'd do a follow up as an appreciation for all your help on this.
I've just spoken to my friend in Norfolk and he tells me that the machine had DOT5 in it last time it had a fluid-change. He was sold 5.1 by an ignorant peasant! He put that into the system hoping to flush through all the 5 in front of it.
Then when he chickened out discovering that 5.1 doesn't mix with 5, he flushed it through again but only by putting a load of DOT5 in behind that and pushing all the 5.1 out of the bleed nipples. He took the front calliper off and turned it upside down to make sure it drained as well. Couldn't get the back one off as it involved a wheel-out job.
So I think he's really sailing close to the wind on this.
I told him to look for lumps in the system periodically and definitely do so if he notices any reduction in braking efficiency. It did say use DOT5 in the embossed warning on the lid of the reservoir, but being a bit of a dork he didn't even check that before he bought the 5.1
He may have got away with it providing left over traces of 5.1 aren't still lurking in the system. I told him to be aware that he may have totally knackered the system at worst or at best he may have to clean it all out with a volatile spirit and get it absolutely spotless inside.
So that's the state of the saga. Again my grateful thanks to all contributors who solved my problem of not being able to help him out of his own mess!
Cheers and Beers
--
Plado
I've just spoken to my friend in Norfolk and he tells me that the machine had DOT5 in it last time it had a fluid-change. He was sold 5.1 by an ignorant peasant! He put that into the system hoping to flush through all the 5 in front of it.
Then when he chickened out discovering that 5.1 doesn't mix with 5, he flushed it through again but only by putting a load of DOT5 in behind that and pushing all the 5.1 out of the bleed nipples. He took the front calliper off and turned it upside down to make sure it drained as well. Couldn't get the back one off as it involved a wheel-out job.
So I think he's really sailing close to the wind on this.
I told him to look for lumps in the system periodically and definitely do so if he notices any reduction in braking efficiency. It did say use DOT5 in the embossed warning on the lid of the reservoir, but being a bit of a dork he didn't even check that before he bought the 5.1
He may have got away with it providing left over traces of 5.1 aren't still lurking in the system. I told him to be aware that he may have totally knackered the system at worst or at best he may have to clean it all out with a volatile spirit and get it absolutely spotless inside.
So that's the state of the saga. Again my grateful thanks to all contributors who solved my problem of not being able to help him out of his own mess!
Cheers and Beers
--
Plado
Thread Starter
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3rd Gear
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: Devon
Yes the guy started with DOT 5 already in it, but the folly was he went to a local vehicle or bike dealer that sold Brake Fluid and was given DOT 5.1 and told it was the same, by the cretin who was selling it. Once he'd put it into the system without cleaning out first he suddenly realised that he shouldn't have done it. But he didn't know whether it was really ok to use DOT 5.1 at all so at that stage he asked me to go and ask on the experts forum. Ask the riders of the marque themselves they'll know. And true to form you did. So that was why it was a smart move to come here and ask you lot. Harley Owners tell it the way it is (mostly!)
All's well that ends well (we hope!)
All's well that ends well (we hope!)
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 23
From: Summit, Mississippi
Plado......you can also have some fun listening to all of us fuss back-n-forth with each other.
I can't imagine why they would pick a number like 5.1 that will mix with 3 and 4 but not 5. This is a sure-fire method to get some parts house clerk with a weeks worth of training give bad advice. This is not a version of software we're taking about....it's a totally different fluid.
I know there is a version SL.6 out there, but it is just a better 4.....so they say. I sense government involvement in here at work somewhere as yet another plot to fool the tax-payer!
I can't imagine why they would pick a number like 5.1 that will mix with 3 and 4 but not 5. This is a sure-fire method to get some parts house clerk with a weeks worth of training give bad advice. This is not a version of software we're taking about....it's a totally different fluid.
I know there is a version SL.6 out there, but it is just a better 4.....so they say. I sense government involvement in here at work somewhere as yet another plot to fool the tax-payer!
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 6,642
Likes: 48
From: Ogden, UT
Oh come on man, our government loves us and only wants what is best for us....
.
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Elite HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,871
Likes: 4
what he said you might try just taking it to a h.d dealer i have a hard time believing they do not know what type of brake fluid to use, and if you are that confused just flush it out and start with the best possible most exp bottle you can buy like someone stated aboive whats a few bucks when your talking about 4 $ versus12
4
4
Road Warrior
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,301
Likes: 24
From: Minden LA
LOOOOOOK on the lid and put in what is called for. A friend of mine walked into a parts store and just got BRAKE FLUID----WRONG--- Put in what it tells you to put in because otherwise you might be replacing all the soft parts in the system as I had to do for my friend. All his rubber parts looked like they belonged to the face of a 100 year old wrinkle faced grandma, who spent 30 hrs a day in the Arizona sun, and would NOT work. I educated him by showing what was written on the LID. Different fluids require different rubber compounds that are not affected by the different chemicals in each kind of fluid. Some may be compatible but do you want to take that chance without the proper research to back it up? I try to live by the KISS method, things seem to work better that way.