Accident waiting to happen?

[Toploader]

So I have not changed(flushed) the brake fluid in my Tudor in over 15 years.
I have no leaks, the master remains mostly topped off with almost zero loss..........so, should I plan on getting to my buds place to completely flush and refill the entire system?

So am I "skirting" death???

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Brake fluid absorbs moisture. Water content in the brake fluid lowers the boiling point of the brake fluid, which means brake fade could occur sooner and if you’re really hard on the brakes where that issue would be occurring, you could lose your brakes for a moment.

However, many folks have really old fluid. The ‘97 went almost 20 years before I flushed the system. I was experiencing brake fade in bumper to bumper traffic with a sinking pedal. After changing the fluid, the pedal feel was improved and I haven’t experienced noticeable fade.

[gadget73]

change it. Even if you do nothing more than use a turkey baster to swap out what is in the master cylinder, its overdue. The bigger problem is that the moisture tends to make the other parts deteriorate so you'll end up with sticky calipers.

[slack]

Wouldn't hurt to replace it. Like the previous messages say, brake fluid holds moisture. On my '78 the lines to the rear brakes rotted out because of moisture in the brake fluid and had to replace the whole run of it. My '89 also had the lines to the rear replaced as well before I bought it.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Plus one for keeping up with Preventitive maintenance, brake fluid is very cheap and easy to replace. A brake system that has been neglected can get costly to bring back up to par.

As everyone here has mentioned Brake fluid can wick moisture from the air, which is why you should always use new brake fluid from a sealed bottle.

Brake fluid that is contaminated with water will have a lower boiling point and can cause issues with brake peformance and even cause your brakes to drag.

More importantley contaminated brake fluid turns corrosive and will eat your brake system parts from the inside out eventually leading to a possible sudden loss of fluid from a external leak or loss of brake pressure from a internal leak.

Corrosive contaminants from this nasty fluid will build up inside of the master cylinder bore wheel cylinders and calipers this will eat tiny to large pot holes in the cylinder bores which can allow seapage or severe leaks. During bleeding and flushing or a panic stop situation the master cylinder piston and seals can roll past this normally unused part of the master cylinder bore that has this sometimes hardened up sludge and cause the seals to get damaged or roll over which can lead to a sudden loss of brake pedal.

My point is flushing a system may not be good enough to make your brakes safe and reliable, because you can flush all the old fluid out but the sludge will remain the damage from the corrsion will remain.

So in short yes you should be concerned, but before you start trying to flush the system, be prepared to inspect the entire brake system first.

I like to remove the bolts holding the master cylinder on and inspect the back side for leaks while also looking at inner bore of the brake booster.

On the GM I just purchased the brake system and fluid was also neglegted and is very obvious, As you can see in the picture I uploaded the brake fluid in the master cylinder is black and nasty also there is obvious seapage which has blistered the paint off the brake booster.

This means I am in the same boat as you, however I will be replacing the booster and master cylinder plus I plan on replacing all the rubber brake lines and rebuilding the entire brake system if my inspection proves that I need to do this work.

I will start after the inspection by soaking down each brake line connection and each bleeder screw with penatrating oil before attmpting to mess with them.

[Tiggie]

I try to “super bleed” all my brake stuff about every ten years. The 94 Mustang and 95 Ranger have been treated this way since I got them in 2002 and 2007, and both are still on original brake systems other than pads/shoes. Ten years is still a long while though.

[Salty Dog]

This was mine a about a week ago. No telling how long that had been in there.



If it looks like this change it.



Pretty sure it ruined the booster.






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[Toploader]

Ok, looks like I'll have to pay my bud a visit, while there I'll get a LOF as well............thanks for the candid comments!

[turbo2256b]

THE more and harder the brakes are used the sooner it should be flushed. for those that auto cross, open track, even drags can destroy the fluid