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Hi,
Okay, things were going really well!! I had successfully replaced the rear rotors, front and rear pads, now all I had to do was bleed the brakes.
The Haynes manual says DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid, so as DOT 4 seemed to be scarce locally, I went with DOT 3. I was half way through doing this when I happened to read the grimy writing on top of the brake fluid reservoir (which was upside down) which says DOT 4 FLUID ONLY!!!
Panic time!! I originally intended to completely drain the old fluid and replace it with new. As jacking the car up at each corner was laborious (not ideal location to work on the car), I ended up following the standard Haynes procedure for a complete bleed - i.e. front right, front left, rear right, rear left. I drained the front right as far as I could by pumping the brake pedal (having removed the old fluid from the reservoir, first, using a syringe) and then filled the reservoir with DOT 3 and proceeded to do all 4 corners with a thorough flush through so that at completion I had a litre of fluid that I had collected i.e. approx a litre of fresh DOT 3 had been added.
What I would like to know is:
1. Is DOT 3 okay (I don't think so).
2. The Haynes manual says that if the wrong fluid is used, then it must be replaced, along with all of the internal seals - is this really necessary??
3. My thoughts are to flush out the DOT 3 and replace it with DOT 4. If there is any damage to the seals, then I will see how it goes and only replace these (???) if I (presumably) start losing brake fluid. If I want to do a complete drain to get rid of all the DOT 3 - what is the EXACT procedure that I should follow??
Any other advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks guys!!
posted by 65.95.14...
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