What would you do? Dot 4 in a Dot 5 system
#1
What would you do? Dot 4 in a Dot 5 system
Having not owned my FLHTC very long adn not knowing the complete history, I decided to flush the brake fluid today and discovered that someone had previously used Dot 3 or 4 fluid instead of the recommended Dot. The fluid is clean and the brake work fine at this point. Should I flush the system and switch to Dot 5 or just stay with the Dot 4 fluid?
#2
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#3
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I think in the long run your better off with DoT5. I was having rear brake issues. I would have to pump the brake the first stop. I bought rebuild kits for the MC and caliper, fully expecting them to be junk, as I had not changed the brake fluid, or even opened the top to look at it in 15 or 20 years. Hey, it's hard to get to, OK? When I took the caliper apart, it looked brand new inside with just a few marks from the piston wearing. No corrosion at all. MC was fine. The problem turned out to be a connection in the line. If that had been DoT3, the whole system would have been trashed from that abuse.
#7
I didn't know the difference. Added 4 to my front m\s when I first got the bike 10 years ago. The gas from the master cylinder was leaking out the top and stripping the paint off my master cylinder. After about a year, I wasn't having problems but I thought I'd check the fluid. My whole brake system was filled with green jelly. Flushed the system with denatured alcohol and back to 5. They don't mix weel!
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In a another thread just posted yesterday i believe i stated the difference. one is silicon base and the other is glycol-based that's why you can't mix 4 & 5. the following link has some good information that all of us could read. Silicon based fluid is better for the seals in the system over the glycol based....
http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/re...1-brake-fluid/
http://www.epicbleedsolutions.com/re...1-brake-fluid/
Last edited by 98hotrodfatboy; 11-16-2015 at 03:03 PM.
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