Date:         Wed, 21 Apr 2004 10:24:38 -0500
Reply-To:     John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         John Rodgers <jh_rodgers@BELLSOUTH.NET>
Subject:      Re: Brake Fluid Dot 3 & 4?
Comments: To: "Bill H." <starfinder88@YAHOO.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <20040420231909.91233.qmail@web60904.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed

Sorry, having DOT 3 put in your van is a BAD!BAD!BAD! by the mechanic.
Can he not read??

Right on the fill cap it says DOT 4 only!!!!

I would suggest the system be drained and refilled, and the brakes bled,
then the tank again refilled. It if hasn't been done all the way around
on every wheel in a long time, it needs doing anyway. I did mine after
several years and there was more dirt, water and crap in the fluid than
I really like to talk about. My BAD for not taking better care of my
machine. Correcting this DOT 3 mistake is a good time to take care of
the entire system.

Since the brake fluid tank also serves as the clutch fluid tank, there
may be clutch cylinder issues involved also as the result of putting in
the wrong brake fluid. I don't know that there are, but it's possible
that if you so some more research you may find it so. And if you are
replacing any brake or clutch system parts, you certainly want to get
this right.

If you have a receipt that shows that the DOT 3 was put in, the you can
hold their feet to the fire to get it corrected at their expense,
materials and labor.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Bill H. wrote:

>Was having a mechanic take a look at my brake master cylinder/clutch master
>cylinder area for a leak I'm having (couldn't find it myself). He found a
>slow leak in the clutch master, topped of the system with Dot 3 and bleed out
>the lines to keep me going until the new part shows up. My question is with
>the brake/clutch fluid. I think the system may have had Dot 4 in the lines
>and although the books say Dot 3 or 4 would be ok, it doesn't say anything
>about mixing them. Would adding Dot 3 on top of what may be Dot4 be a
>problem? Thanks in advance.
>
>Bill H.
>88 Silver GL
>Pittsburgh
>
>
>
>
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