Dirty brake lines

matty49

matty49

Sharpest Tool
Dec 8, 2017
239
Seneca Lake Oh.
First Name
Mathew
Willys Model
  1. Pickup
Willys Year:
  1. 1949
My brake lines have been sitting idol for who knows how long. I took them all apart and blew them out with the compressor. Only had a small amount of old fluid come out, maybe an ounce total. Question is, do I need to flush the lines with a solvent or brake fluid or leave them alone. They are copper lines so I assume there is no rust.

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Check with a magnet.. Assemble your brakes and flush.. Of all the components that make up your brake system the hard steel line
usually last the longest... Any part that has rubber in it... Wheel cylinder, master cylinder and the hoses need to be replaced every
so often.. Also, new hard lines may NOT be magnetic.. I forget the name of the material, but it is not copper and resists corrosion better than steel lines..
 
Ok, well they look like copper. I'll try the magnet tomorrow. I meant to ask in first post but forgot, is dot 3 what is recommended? Thanks to all.

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If you have stock drum brakes with fresh components use dot 5.

Fresh components because dot 5 isn’t compatible with dot 3/4. If you’re replacing dot3 with dot 5 in an existing system there is a pretty involved flush you can do.

Dot 5 because it doesn’t absorb moisture near as fast as dot 3/4 which cuts down on corrosion.

Drum brakes (and I could be wrong here) is because dot5 can’t take the heat generated by disk brakes.
 
DOT 5 is silicone brake fluid... It was developed for cars with disc brakes... It is expensive.. DOT3 is the correct
brake fluid for a Wagon or Pickup.. DOT 4 has a higher boiling point and can be mixed with or used to replace
DOT3... OEM manufacturers have moved away from using DOT 5 for decades.. I hope this helps..
 
Last edited:
BM thanks for correcting my DOT 5 disk brake error. It looks like it’s anti-lock brakes that should avoid DOT 5.
 
I'm sure there hasn't been any fluid in the lines for many years, so probably dot 3 was in it last. Thanks guys .

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