Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

I need to bleed the brakes on my 38 super 8, and I was wondering if I need to fill the reservoir with some extra brake fluid are there any do's & don't's? Also is there a specific brake fluid I need to get?

What you need to do is to prevent the fluid level from falling so low in the master that you ingest more air as you bleed. So a good practice is to fill to near the brim when you start and check regularly. Keep the cap on between checks and fills at least loosely to prevent splatter.

As to fluid type, you really need to know what's in there now as conventional fluids are incompatible with DOT 5 (silicone). You can tell silicone from conventional by a smell test (silicone is essentially odorless and conventional fluids have a distinctive and rather strong odor). Personally, I use DOT 4 which really doesn't have much of an advantage over DOT 3 except for a somewhat higher boiling point - I just use it because that's what I have handy. DOT 3 and DOT4 are compatible with each other.

If you have an old partially used can of DOT3 or DOT4 that has been sitting around for a while, discard it and buy fresh stuff!