Re: Oil in my truck's brake fluid?

Posted by MarkB on October 31, 2003 at 17:34:39 from (64.79.81.253):

In Reply to: Oil in my truck's brake fluid? posted by Josh on October 31, 2003 at 16:40:50:

If your brake fluid is contaminated, the master cylinder and proportioning valve are probably already gone. At this point, you should probably replace everything and be done with it.

My son put power steering fluid in the brake reservoir of my 88 Chevy pickup (I was out of town.) By the time I figured out what he had done, the master cylinder, proportioning valve and antilock brake unloader valve were gone. I went ahead and replaced the rear wheel cylinders, but I dismantled the front calipers and cleaned them up good. (They were brand new.)

If your brake fluid is contaminated with oil, the tell-tale sign is that rubber parts will swell up. The rubber boot over the brake reservoir will probably be too big to fit into the reservoir.

Another possibility is contamination with DOT-5 silicone brake fluid. I'm told this won't attack the rubber, but the two fluids aren't compatible and will congeal into a gooey mass in the reservoir.

If you're sure you've got contaminated brake fluid and you're sure that the first shop is the source of the contamination, I'd go back and ask them to make it right. The parts alone will be several hundred bucks. You might ask them to split the bill, since on an '84 they'll be replacing parts that are probably shot anyway.

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