Re: CAUTION ON THE USE OF SILICONE BKAKE FLUID IN ESAMATIC BRAKE SYSTEMS

Posted by BH On 2007/9/18 8:03:57

Peter -

I have two V8 Patricians with DOT5 silicone brake fluid running in their veins. The conversion on the first car was done by the previous owner, but I suspect it was merely a drain/flush and refill. I did the conversion on the other car, but replaced every piece of rubber in the system - including the compensator port valve stem.

Though the first Patrician has been in dry-dock for several years, I did drive it quite a bit, including a couple hundred interstate miles, but it began to exhibit some grabbing in front brakes just moving it in and out ofthe garage. The other Patrician did not see much road use as it went on the back burner when I acquired my Carib, but I can back the car in and out of the garage with no grabbing - unlike the other Pat.

The only ill-effect I noticed from the use of DOT5 was premature failure of the hydraulic brake light switch, though not consistently. It makes me wonder if a new run of switches produced with a more modern rubber might alleviate that, but I ain't holding my breath on that ever happening.

As such, I have to ask if you replaced all the rubber components - including that compensator port valve - when you converted to DOT5.