Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I'm thinking the lack of recommendation might be that mfgs expected cars to be driven, brakes and fluid heated so any water would boil off and old fluid would also be periodically topped off with new. Doubt if the proverbial little old lady only driving to church down the block on Sunday low mileage car ever crossed their mind.

The cars that sit long periods or over the winter and only go on short trips would think to be the worst about collecting the water. Would bet that pretty much covers most of our cars today & probably contributes a long way toward having the chunky fluid and rusted lines.

Also wonder how todays fluid compares to yesterdays. Maybe there is a brake fluid equivalent to high fructose corn syrup substitution as compared to sugar going on that hasn't helped.

IN over 40 years of near daily reading of various automoitve manuals such as Motors, CHiltons, Factory Service manuals, owners manuals, etc etc i have never seen nor heard of anything that vaguely resembles a specified periodic recommendation for anything that would resemble purging or replaceing of any brake fluid. Maybe i just missed it.

I've never particulary looked for it either, but I did see a recommendation for flush and change in a BMW service bulletin or manual a while back, and I'm told Mercedes-Benz also has such a recommendation though I haven't bothered to look that up.

The point is well-taken however that it is much more likely an important maintenance item in intermittent-use vehicles.

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I've never seen any such thing in any of the manuals for domestic cars, either. (I've never owned or worked on imports, but it may soon come to that.)

However, what manufacturer ever expected their products to still be in use decades later? Some probably wish they would turn to dust shortly after expiration of the warranty - LOL!

Seriously, perhaps the manufacturer(s) expected that a wheel or master cylinder would be replaced before the fluid would need to be purged. Why else would they stock those replacement parts in their warehouses for vehicles beyond warranty?

I do feel that the problem of water contamination is more likely in vehicles that are driven seasonally or occasionally.

If you want an earful about the damage that occurs in DOT3 systems, just ask anyone who ever owned a Corvette from the 60s or 70s that was equipped with disc brakes. Remanufactured caliper with stainless steel sleeves have been a staple for those cars for decades - in spite of having master cylinders that were sealed to atmosphere.

Although I've never owned a Corvette, the appearance of the fluid that comes out when bleeding a wheel cylinder or caliper, in the course of repair, on any of the daily drivers that I've owned and worked on, over the course of 35 years, just reinforces the need for a periodic purge and bleed. It's cheap insurance.

Peugeot used to recommend periodic bleeding. Why I don't know because the cars are junk and rot away well before any brake fluid would ever need to be changed.

The only brake trouble I ever had with my modern car was when I decided to test a pressure bleeder on it. Well, the fluid wasn't so great and it corroded the master cylinder. The rebuilt I got from Autozone (Laughs allowed) was junk and I ended up buying a brand new unit from the dealer. I do not plan to bleed those brakes at all unless I replace parts.

I think the biggest problem is that when the cars sit the wheel cylinders rust and then when the brakes are used the rust tears up the rubber parts.

Today there are some good brake parts lubricants that will not affect the natural rubber parts and these will help prevent such problems.

If a car is sitting I suppose depressing the brake pedal once a month might help a little.

Finally, I think modern DOT 3 is pretty rough on old rubber parts. It just seems to me that once you start messing around with bleeding old systems the whole thing goes out the window. It wasn't like that 30 years ago. I remember bleeding brakes as per the owners request on a 1942 180 and the fluid was like tar. But by golly, those brakes worked alright.