Brake Fluid Change

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#1 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:32 pm

Just a reminder to change your brake fluid at least every two years. My bike will be 2-years-old on the 31st so I just changed mine today and it was pretty nasty - a lot worse than I expected, at least. What was really surprising was how much worse the rear caliper was than the front two, especially the front cylinder. What came out could only be described as dark ale mixed with cigarette ashes. I switched over to Valvoline fully synthetic which is so transparent I wouldn't be surprised to be asked why my reservoirs are empty.

Anyway, better to take an hour every couple years and flush the system than wait until a caliper freezes or ruptures and leaves you stranded or worse.

VermilionX · Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:41 pm

thanks.

mine says to inspect every year and change every 2 years.

but then the estimate miles is only 6000/year so i have to check it earlier since im sure i'll be doing more than 6000 a year.

sharpmagna · Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:46 pm

Yup, definitely a good tip. I wish the previous owner of my bike had followed it. 3 days after owning the bike, the front caliper locked up on me after a spirited session of riding. I parked the bike and when I went to move it a few hours later, I couldn barely move the bike. When I pulled the caliper, the piston was stuck pushed out. When I opened up the master cylinder the fluid was a consistency and appearance of warm chocalte ice cream. I drained the fluid, cleaned out the master cylinder, flushed it with new fluid and then bleed the brakes. It's been working great for the past 2.5 months and 2800 miles of spirited riding.

What DOT rating did you use Zoo? How much was the bottle of syn?

#4 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:46 pm

VermilionX wrote:thanks.

mine says to inspect every year and change every 2 years.

but then the estimate miles is only 6000/year so i have to check it earlier since im sure i'll be doing more than 6000 a year.

Yeah, I have in the neighborhood of 18,500 miles on the ticker, so about 50% more mileage than your manual's assumption. After seeing what came out of my calipers today, I'll probably start changing the fluid every Spring just to be safe. A bottle of brake fluid is only $4.00, whereas a caliper is much more!

sharpmagna wrote:What DOT rating did you use Zoo? How much was the bottle of syn?

I used this stuff from AutoZone which was about $4.00 for the small bottle as I recall.