It's time for a flush. Pedal is looooooong and vague. Builds good pressure after a pump. Mountains and random lights with idiotic drivers with Ohio plates and tendencies abound, which is a bit much for 5k pounds moving at 80mph....
What say ye kind folks? I have normally gone with the ATE blue, but I have no more.
I usually default to ATE typ 200 (same stuff as the blue, but without the blue dye). Not too expensive and good enough for just about anything that doesn't need exotic million-degree boiling point fluid.
This is one of those things that seems like voodoo but it really isn't.
Its glycol fluid. Kinda hard to screw up. The Ate is really good stuff and a bit purer (higher latent boiling point), but there really isn't anything wrong with yellow bottles of Prestone brake fluid.
My guess is that if your braking problem is solved by pumping it a few times, it isn't the fluid, its the master cylinder.
Curtis said:This is one of those things that seems like voodoo but it really isn't.
Its glycol fluid. Kinda hard to screw up. The Ate is really good stuff and a bit purer (higher latent boiling point), but there really isn't anything wrong with yellow bottles of Prestone brake fluid.
My guess is that if your braking problem is solved by pumping it a few times, it isn't the fluid, its the master cylinder.
This. If it's fresh, it's better than what 99% of people on the streets are using. I use the Valvoline Synpower because it's cheap and I can get it anywhere.
Tom_Spangler said:Curtis said:This is one of those things that seems like voodoo but it really isn't.
Its glycol fluid. Kinda hard to screw up. The Ate is really good stuff and a bit purer (higher latent boiling point), but there really isn't anything wrong with yellow bottles of Prestone brake fluid.
My guess is that if your braking problem is solved by pumping it a few times, it isn't the fluid, its the master cylinder.
This. If it's fresh, it's better than what 99% of people on the streets are using. I use the Valvoline Synpower because it's cheap and I can get it anywhere.
I use synpower on green student's hpde cars. Its great fluid for anything that stock pads will survive.
I do have to chuckle a bit at the "synthetic" brake fluid though.
Brake fluid is all synthetic. Its not like regular glycol comes from crude oil.
Sounds like your MC is on the way out
Personally I wouldn't use ATE in a daily driver, it's trading off too much lifetime for high temperature ability that I won't use for that role. For DDs I just use whatever quality brand name they have at the auto parts store -- lately it's been Valvoline.
I have good results with the cheap motul Dot 5.1 Seems like about as much overkill as would help. Any stronger and you will have a shorter service life on the fluid for most, and or more cost with decreasing benefit. Just my 2c.
It’s not a mc going out, I have to replace rear pads and the fluid is been in since it was new in 13....
Thx y’all!
I just use regular Prestone or whatever. As long as it's flushed periodically I don't think it matters much. I tow 5k+ regularly with a Sequoia (which already has so-so brakes to start with) and properly-set trailer brakes, and never have any problem with stopping or fade.
I run Valvoline in everything.
My opinion, and opinions are like shiny happy people after all:
Brake fluid is a good thing to have.
Actually, I'm pretty rigid on this, it's good for ALL vehicles not just tow vehicles.
Pull the front calipers and check the brake pad shims. I've seen the inner shim of double layer shim setups rust and expand, causing a funny spongy pedal and poor initial bite.
I use the Carquest DOT 4 for the higher boiling point than OTS DOT 3.
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