fluid, type/brand/amount?

[Bonnie_72_F100]

I got a $50 gift card so I'm going to buy some brake fluid for a thorough brake bleed! 72 F100 4 drums, what type/brand/amount do you recommend and/or do I need?

Thanks all,

[fitzwell]

couple quarts of dot 4 should do the trick. Soak up whatever is in the m/c before you start, and try to get any of the crud that has accumulated in the bottom out as well.

[Wes]

DOT 4 has a very high affinity for water. I tried it once. I would use a good quality DOT 3. Last I saw the Motorcraft
brand dot 3 had the highest rated boiling point. (almost dot 5 rating) Don't ever use dot 5 on street car. DOT 5 is royal pain in the arse, needs special handing and can't be mixed with DOT 3 or 4. DOT 3 and 4 can be mixed.
Good luck

[Bonnie_72_F100]

LOL BABY SNOT SUCKER! I happen to have a baby... so I know EXACTLY what you're referring to (no, I don't know the real name either)!

I'll just make sure not to suck snot after sucking brake fluid... that's bad parenting!

Thanks guys - Cooke.

[fitzwell]

DOT 4 has a very high affinity for water. I tried it once. I would use a good quality DOT 3. Last I saw the Motorcraft
brand dot 3 had the highest rated boiling point. (almost dot 5 rating) Don't ever use dot 5 on street car. DOT 5 is royal pain in the arse, needs special handing and can't be mixed with DOT 3 or 4. DOT 3 and 4 can be mixed.
Good luck

i did not know that about dot 3 vs dot 4

then i found this....


DOT 4 fluids are also glycol ether based, but have a measure of borate esters thrown in for improved properties including increased dry and wet boiling points. A seldom talked about characteristic though is that because of this chemistry, the DOT 4 fluid will have a more stable and higher boiling point during the early portion of its life, but ironically once the fluid does actually begin to absorb water its boiling point will typically fall off more rapidly than a typical DOT 3. By FMVSS116 standards, DOT 4 fluids must have a minimum dry boiling point of 446F and a minimum wet boiling point of 311F.

Does this make DOT 4 fluids better than DOT 3 fluids? Not always. Remember, the boiling points listed are minimums and there are DOT 3 fluids out there with higher boiling points than some DOT 4 fluids. The real differentiating factor should be that if you run a DOT 4 fluid you really should change the fluid more often than if you use a DOT 3, if for no other reason than the rapid fall off in boiling point with time.

We won’t even discuss DOT 5 fluids as they are completely unacceptable to the high-performance enthusiast, but we’ll include them in the following table for completeness.


PROPERTY DOT 3 DOT 4 DOT 5
Dry BP (F)@ 0.0% H2O 401 446 509
Wet BP (F)@ 3.7% H2O 284 311 356


looks like the 68 gets dot 3 when i do the brake system...and the rest of the fleet is in for a flushing.