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Posted by Hemimech [71.10.56.227] on Friday, September 09, 2011 at 21:24:52 :
In Reply to: Lets add a question... posted by Clint Dixon [74.206.62.94] on Friday, September 09, 2011 at 20:03:23 :
My initial thought on your question is that a silicone based fluid would be better suited to working in wet environment than a water absorbing fluid like DOT3-4. We all know seals tend to weep ever so slightly over time. So if you are running a synthetic fluid that is silicone based (DOT5) then you would expect it to repel water away from the seal/ component joint. Conversely Dot 3-4 being hygroscopic will attract moisture therefore slowly wicking the moisture past the seals & contaminate the system. I have an 85 Yamaha FJ1100 that I installed DOT5 fluid in the front system back in 1995 so the bike was 10 years old at the time. The original DOT3 fluid was nasty brown & the master was leaking due to the piston & bore corroding away. New master & braded lines were installed to the original calipers that were flushed with DOT5. Fast forward 16 years & my rear master finally drops dead to corrosion. While I changed out the system on the rear of the bike I decided that it was probably a good time to flush out the front system even though it worked fine. Open up the master cylinder fill cap (not easy to do requires impact driver) to find that the fluid looks just as clear as it appears in the sight glass. Cracking open the bleeders at the calipers a small amount of black was mixed in with the clear fluid….probably just residue from piston seals. So did I fill the rear system with DOT5?…you bet!