Why you should flush your brake fluid properly

[Isopedella]

Possibly a CYA approach based on worst case scenario I would guess.

Any problems - well you were informed.

 

[Knizar]

Possibly a CYA approach based on worst case scenario I would guess.

Any problems - well you were informed.

True, I agree, kind of like the side effects on a pill bottle. After reading the side effects that you could get makes a person second guess whether or not you want to take the pill!

 

[kj2364]

Just for another point of view, in 50 years of cars, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles, 4 wheelers, you name it, I have never changed brake fluid in anything and probably never will. Have many vehicles and toys from new to 30+ years old with 100K+ miles. Never had a brake problem with anything.(other than shoes/pads of course) Not saying it isn't a good idea to do it, just that's it's never been a problem for me.

 

[DaniBoy]

I just flushed mine. First, I removed the OEM bleeders and replaced them with Speed Bleeders on just the three wheels, and left the VSS alone. It holds such little fluid that it really can be ignored if you’re going to flush every two years. As per BajaRon, the fluid is NOT static. What little is left in the VSS will eventually mix with the rest of the system. Also, he said that if done properly, i.e. NO trapped air, that the VSS can indeed be bled without BUDS. I don’t have access to BUDS, so I’m just going to leave my VSS be. With only a Tablespoon or so, combined with a biannual flush, it shouldn’t make a difference that I can see.

 

[Knizar]

I'm all for getting the brake fluid tested, and then pursue the recommendations of the handbook.

 

[Jetfixer]

I've thru to post #15, and learned a lot .... Thanks ..... That bag has all the fluid from the Spyder. Does anyone know how much fluid is in the .... ABS unit ????? .... thanks ..... Mike :thumbup:

Mike I didn't actually measure how much came out from each point. Something to keep in mind is that the reservoir is quite a distance away from the master cylinder. Much further away on 2020 and up RT's and F3s than on the earlier models. For a complete flush you must move a lot of fluid through the system. The rubber hoses from the reservoir to the master cylinder might even be 3 feet long. What is interesting about the BUDS procedure is that it has you do a manual bleeding of each wheel first. Then when you've done that and told BUDS to start, it had me do the rear wheel first. It tells you how many times to pump the pedal and when to stop. It then had me go to the left front wheel and repeat the pumping. Then go to the right wheel. While doing the right wheel, it also actuated the abs unit many times! When it was satisfied there it told me to go to the abs unit. While doing that I noticed that the rear wheel section of the reservoir was being used at that time. So by using BUDS not only was it flushing all the system, but apparently the front and rear wheel sections of the abs are isolated from each other. Each step of the process required me to pause and refill the reservoir and then top it off again when finished.

 

[Cobwebs]

You're right about the 'Not 100% uncontaminated' bit, and while it does lower the overall total percentage of water present in your contaminated brake fluid, there's really no 'used to advantage' bit to it at all, cos once it's contaminated at all, it only gets worse from there... :sour: It's sorta like adding a dash of petrol to wine or to your beer; if it's a tiny amount, you might not spit it out immediately... but if you then start gradually adding more petrol in the hope of making it taste/become safer, it really doesn't :shocked: cos just like your Spyder's brake fluid is contaminated with any moisture in it & so degraded somewhat/not working quite as well as it should, once the wine or beer becomes contaminated with any petrol, then even if you don't spit it out immediately it's STILL unsafe and basically no good from there on in! :gaah: Make Sense?? :dontknow:

And Please, don't anyone try that, it really ISN'T safe, it's just an example of how once something that was once drinkable/useable gets contaminated, it becomes bad; and from there on in, no matter how much more contaminant you might add, it only gets worse!! :lecturef_smilie:

Good info Peter I'm becoming more Budswisered by the minute:cheers:
Just on the fluid, is it correct that the makeup of it (read it on a motorcycle forum so no guarantees :shemademe_smilie is designed to absorb water rather than repel, hygroscopic is the fancy name I believe.Why the hell would you want that and if you have to have it like so why not just add a dash of WD40 to counteract it?

 

[Peter Aawen]

Good info Peter I'm becoming more Budswisered by the minute:cheers:
Just on the fluid, is it correct that the makeup of it (read it on a motorcycle forum so no guarantees :shemademe_smilie is designed to absorb water rather than repel, hygroscopic is the fancy name I believe.Why the hell would you want that and if you have to have it like so why not just add a dash of WD40 to counteract it?

I dunno that it was a 'wanted' or 'designed' trait so much as it was something that just happened to come along with creating a liquid that had all the attributes they DID want - and once they got those attributes they DID want, which just happened to make the liquid hygroscopic, they rapidly discovered that they couldn't 'design' that hygroscopic bit out without losing some of the required traits... not even with a dash of WD40! :gaah:




And just as a gimme for those who might like to know this sorta 'weird & generally useless information', I am aware of a few instances (circumstances?? ...emergencies?? .... largely but not exclusively before the advent of universal ABS ) in remote areas & under extreme need, where beer has been used in lieu of brake fluid in a vehicle's braking system; and to a limited degree, it DOES work - just so long as you don't let it form a head as you fill & bleed the system! The frothy bit WILL compress, while the liquid itself doesn't; so if you can get the liquid beer into your braking system without it foaming &/or forming a head anywhere, there's a good chance that your brakes WILL work.... maybe...; for a short period; if you are going slow enough & so don't need to put very much heat into your braking system..... cos once the brakes do heat up, things deteriorate rapidly! :sour: Oh, and once you get back to civilisation, it's sorta imperative that you strip & replace the ENTIRE Braking system & refill/bleed with 'real' brake fluid before relying on on your brakes again, cos the corrosion & gumming up that beer rapidly causes in your braking system is not a pretty sight nor a functional enhancement! :yikes: I've since been told that it would've been better to have used urine - but that would've only been kidney strained beer anyway, so I'm not too sure 'bout that?! :dontknow:

And NO, while there may be extreme/emergency circumstances where you might get away with using beer (or urine) as brake fluid, there are NO safe circumstances where you can substitute brake fluid for beer that you might want to drink!! :lecturef_smilie: Again, I've been told that if you're forced to it, urine might be the better choice, but I'm still not too sure about that!?! :barf:

 

[Cobwebs]

I dunno that it was a 'wanted' or 'designed' trait so much as it was something that just happened to come along with creating a liquid that had all the attributes they DID want - and once they got those attributes they DID want, which just happened to make the liquid hygroscopic, they rapidly discovered that they couldn't 'design' that hygroscopic bit out without losing some of the required traits... not even with a dash of WD40! :gaah:




And just as a gimme for those who might like to know this sorta 'weird & generally useless information', I am aware of a few instances (circumstances?? ...emergencies?? .... largely but not exclusively before the advent of universal ABS ) in remote areas & under extreme need, where beer has been used in lieu of brake fluid in a vehicle's braking system; and to a limited degree, it DOES work - just so long as you don't let it form a head as you fill & bleed the system! The frothy bit WILL compress, while the liquid itself doesn't; so if you can get the liquid beer into your braking system without it foaming &/or forming a head anywhere, there's a good chance that your brakes WILL work.... maybe...; for a short period; if you are going slow enough & so don't need to put very much heat into your braking system..... cos once the brakes do heat up, things deteriorate rapidly! :sour: Oh, and once you get back to civilisation, it's sorta imperative that you strip & replace the ENTIRE Braking system & refill/bleed with 'real' brake fluid before relying on on your brakes again, cos the corrosion & gumming up that beer rapidly causes in your braking system is not a pretty sight nor a functional enhancement! :yikes: I've since been told that it would've been better to have used urine - but that would've only been kidney strained beer anyway, so I'm not too sure 'bout that?! :dontknow:

And NO, while there may be extreme/emergency circumstances where you might get away with using beer (or urine) as brake fluid, there are NO safe circumstances where you can substitute brake fluid for beer that you might want to drink!! :lecturef_smilie: Again, I've been told that if you're forced to it, urine might be the better choice, but I'm still not too sure about that!?! :barf:

:cheers: I have witnessed a guy that liked the taste of brake fluid:sour:, told him he was mad he just laughed it off:roflblack: said he could stop any time.


Just on the subject of cocktails I wonder how effective Buds is at clearing the bar so one could switch over to silicone fluid and avoid the hangovers associated with the old dot 4 juice.

 

[Freddy]

Changing to DOT 5 fluid would be easy. Changing all the rubber components to suit silicone fluid wouldn't be, as they haven't been made for a Spyder.

 

[Cobwebs]

Changing to DOT 5 fluid would be easy. Changing all the rubber components to suit silicone fluid wouldn't be, as they haven't been made for a Spyder.

Ah crap no wonder a bloke drinks!

 

[PJveetwin]

So when your pressure bleeding your system, does it not push fresh fluid thru the ABS?

 

[DaniBoy]

Many ways to check the fluid.
You can also use a Digital Multi meter.
The procedure.

Set it to volts.
Insert your positive meter probe into the brake fluid while avoiding contact with the reservoir itself. Negative to an earth.

Any reading over 0.30 volts is too much.

Why can’t the probe touch the plastic reservoir? So if I stick the red probe into a glass of water and the black one to ground, I will get a reading of 1.0, or 100% water?

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Why can’t the probe touch the plastic reservoir? So if I stick the red probe into a glass of water and the black one to ground, I will get a reading of 1.0, or 100% water?

The probes I saw on e-bay ( $ 2.00 ) looked to be approx. 1/2 in. ..... That will be enough for me to submerge without the plastic touching. ..... I dis-connected my gas shock about a decade so my seat ( RT ) opens 3 or 4 times as far as normal. This allows me great access to the reservoirs. It's not difficult to un-do the shock ..... good luck .... Mike :thumbup:

 

[pegasus1300]

I'd like to do the job properly but don't have access to BUDS. Is there anyone with the tools and knowledge to perform this within a days' ride of Salt Lake City?

Pete there are 4 dealers that close to you. Young Power Sports in Centerville, Moto United in Draper, Karl Malone in SLC, and Karl Malone in Provo. I have used Young's and was happy with their work, also used Moto United and been happy there. When Maone's in SLC was High Adventure, I used them a lot also but then they were the only one around, I don't know about now under the new management. Hope this helps.

 

[Isopedella]

Why can’t the probe touch the plastic reservoir? So if I stick the red probe into a glass of water and the black one to ground, I will get a reading of 1.0, or 100% water?

Why can’t the probe touch the plastic reservoir? - I guess the reading is from the fluid to the earth and not the fluid and the cup.

So if I stick the red probe into a glass of water and the black one to ground, I will get a reading of 1.0, or 100% water? :dontknow: Never tried it.

 

[UtahPete]

Pete there are 4 dealers that close to you. Young Power Sports in Centerville, Moto United in Draper, Karl Malone in SLC, and Karl Malone in Provo. I have used Young's and was happy with their work, also used Moto United and been happy there. When Maone's in SLC was High Adventure, I used them a lot also but then they were the only one around, I don't know about now under the new management. Hope this helps.

Hi Paul. Thanks for that. I just don't trust dealers any more. Never know if they're going to do it right and on time and for a fair price or not.

 

[Motorcycledave]

I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND CRAZY BUT....
If you do not have the proper tools to do a job DON'T do it.
Play it safe and have the dealer do it and assume the responsibility and liability
if they screw it up. How often do you change all the brake fluid on your car ? and
they have ABS as well. Some times Chicken Little is wrong, the sky isn't falling

 

[2dogs]

I think the brake fluid issue is/was more driven as a result of liability issues. I don't exactly recall but I think it may have started with Harley. I have been told that normal/regular vehicle service on police vehicles does not include brake fluid replacement. With that being said, I have been told that the fluid is replaced on a police vehicle after it has been involved in a prolonged high speed pursuit. The reason is that the high temps being reached by the wheel cylinders degrade the fluid from performing as intended. Because these vehicles are safety vehicles more attention is given to them than normal citizen's vehicles. The only time I'm aware of where normal citizen's vehicles receive new fluid is during a brake shoe/pad replacement. And then it's not a total replacement. Just police cars and race cars get a total replacement. But, everyone has their own opinion.

 

[ollicat]

So if my front brakes are constantly screeching, would I benefit from a brake fluid replacement job? 2021 RTL with about 5500 miles.