Brake fluid life

[steveww]

I know that the brake fluid should be replaced every 2 years.

Now I still have some left over in the original bottle, lid tightly screwed down. Is it safe to use this or will it too be off after 2 years on the shelf?

[mct340]

Don't even think about it..... you'll end up having to replace/rebuild the master cylinder due to corrosion.

[Jason1]

Hi

I got one of these on Ebay pretty cheap:

http://www.gunson.co.uk/item.aspx?cat=664&item=1807

I have used it a few times and lent it to lots of friends, great little toy.

Jason

[steveww]

Thanks for the tip on the Gunson tester. I just picked one up from flea-bay at a bargan price. I never could resist a new gadget tool

[alan71]

I was wondering how useful it is to test the fluid in the master cylinder reservoir ?
If you have recently topped up the reservoir it would pass the test but the fluid in the brake callipers could be a lot older.

Alan.

[freddy22112211]

As I reported once before - on removing and taking apart my (dual) master cylinder I found some very watery 'liquid' in it - although I had previously pumped tons of new fluid through the system on several occasions (trying to cure the 'no brakes' syndrome)!
Gordon

[Jason1]

I was wondering how useful it is to test the fluid in the master cylinder reservoir ?
If you have recently topped up the reservoir it would pass the test but the fluid in the brake callipers could be a lot older.

Very true Alan.

I test the fluid in the reservoir if this fails then you know you need a fluid change as this will be the best fluid.

I used this tester after I paid the Ford main dealer to change the fluid, it was not cheap about ?50, it failed!

If you want to be sure your fluid is good then you need to bleed off fluid from each caliper and test it; but if you are doing this then you may as well change it all anyway. It's good for testing bottles of brake fluid you have laying around. I think I paid ?7 on Ebay, I thought it was just an interesting gadget, worth ?7.

Jason