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| | | | Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 39 Member | | Member Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 39 | In preparing Cloey for a parade next weekend, I need to do a quick cleaning of the brake hydraulics and refill the system once it is flushed of the moisture. (I will be rebuilding the entire sysyem soon so I'm not concerned about the pits in all the cylinders).
Can I use alcohol for flushing the system? Open all the bleeders and pressurize the system with compressed air? | | | | | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 | Denatuered alcohol will work fine, the shop manuals suggest using that to flush the brake system. Just fill the m/c after you remove as much of the fluid as possible, and then have a helper gently pump the pedal as you open the bleeders. Pressurizing isn't necessary. Do this 2-3 times to get the lines cleared out, then fill with clean fluid and bleed the system. You will have to go around and bleed it 2-3 times to make sure that you have all the alcohol out and have only clean fliud at the wheels. Also do not use DOT 5 fluid. I tried it and I had problems with leaks in the master cyl. and front wheel cylinders. I had to flush the system to get it all out and put in DOT 3 fluid.
Bill Burmeister
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,068 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2004 Posts: 3,068 | I would just bleed it out with new fluid. You're opening a can of worms messing with that old of a system with "other" chemicals, especially if you want to use it in the near future. Just bleed the brakes like you normally would and you won't have to worry about air in the system either. Just my 2 cents,
Scott | | | | | Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 687 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 687 | I agree with 48, flush is a good thing but if the system is dirty enough to require a chemical other than brake fluid to clean it its time to replace parts. Just blead the system with clean fluid until you get all the nasty out.
I didn't do it, no one saw me do it, you can't prove anything! "Bart Simpson"
| | | | | Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 687 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 687 | Ya know guys and gals if we did flush our systems out (as GM would have us do) we would hardly ever have to replace rubber parts.
I didn't do it, no one saw me do it, you can't prove anything! "Bart Simpson"
| | | | | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 | Where's the fun in that? Seriosly though, the shop manual does suggest denatured alcohol as a flushing agent, but just bleeding with brake fluid should be fine, maybe save the alcohol flush for later, when you're ready to change the rubber parts. And as I stated earlier, stay away from DOT 5 silicone fluid, it's bad ju-ju.
P.S.-GM and Chrysler do not suggest annual bleeding of the systems anymore, even though they have much more parts than can be messed up by water contamination of the fluid.
Bill Burmeister
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