2004 road glide. I confused slicone brake fluid with synthetic brake fluid. Put dot 4 synthetic brake fluid in. Noticed that as I was bleeding brakes that there appeared to be a lot of water in the fluid. When I went to fill the resevoir their seemed to be water in the resevoir. I ran a full quart of fluid through the bike. Road this weekend and saw the top of the brake master cap and realized what I done needs dot 5 doh!!. Pulled off the resevoir caps the fluid is not seperated but is not perfectly clear. Leave it in or do a complete flush with dot 5, thanks JL

 

DOT5 does not take up water, which all the other DOT types do. It is not perfect and later Harleys I understand have gone over to DOT4. Be aware that as well as DOT5 there is also DOT5.1 and those two are not compatible either. Someone in your DOT should be shot for doing that!

I didn't know that during the first years of owning my FLHS. After a few years I found the master cylinders and slave cylinders were full of the most repulsive gunk and badly corroded. I eventually replaced the lot, which is expensive!

Personally I would do a complete flush with DOT5, which is the designated fluid. Ride it for a while and do it again. If you find traces of muck then repeat. If you choose to stay with DOT4 the same advice applies, as you need to remove all traces of the 'wrong' fluid.

Best of luck from across the pond!