Brake Fluid Swap

I use the Mityvac MV8000 - Automotive Tune Up and Brake Bleeding Kit. I have a few Mityvac pumps for different situations. They work wonderfully.

sonicc said:

I'm guessing that's just their general recommendation. If you track your car, 2-year old fluid is too old. And a fluid that has a higher boiling point needs to be changed out more often.

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To be fair I only started really tracking the car about 8 months ago but yes I agree it is overdue for a change.

An old Gatorade bottle and some clear plastic hose from Home Depot and you can make yourself a one person bleeder. [ame]

With the 5 spoke wheels on my Perf Pkg, I don't even have to take the wheels off to bleed or flush the brake fluid, although yes, it's easier if you do. I have a tendency to get brake fluid everywhere no matter what I do.

The Gatorade bottle works great because it has a large mouth and a wide base. If I put the Gatorade bottle in an old coffee can on top of a couple of bolts it makes it even harder to tip over.

I use the bottle with fluid in the bottom "one man bleeder" or gravity bleed, depending on what I have going on.

Which reminds me, I need to bleed them, lol.

I use the motive power bleeder with the red aluminum cap. I've had it for years for other cars. I've stopped putting any fluid in the motive power bleeder to reduce the cleanup. I just use it to pressurize the system and keep an eye on the actual reservoir and top off as necessary. It's always worked well for me.

I use Castrol SRF fluid. It's worth the extra money IMO.

[MENTION=14263]Brent Dalton[/MENTION]

do you have the part number for the red aluminum cap or a link? they have a few different ones that are all red.

It should be the 1109 adapter if I remember correctly. It's labeled as the black label European cap. I'll confirm when I get home if someone else doesn't chime in.

The first review in this ad says it works on the GT350, so I'm pretty sure 1109 is right.
https://www.amazon.com/Motive-Produ...21767&sr=1-5&keywords=motive+european+adapter

Sub'd. How much fluid does the PP take for a full flush?

Also always make sure to bleed from the inboard nipple followed by the outboard nipple on dual nipple calipers. Some just bleed the outboard which is not ideal.

jdub.csu said:

Well just bleed it in the order of distance from the lines to the master (shortest to longest). Then go run it and activate the ABS a few times and bleed again. That's the way I would do it if I didn't have the autel scan tool.

If you have the PP you have two bleeders on the front.

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Then you're doing it wrong. You start with the caliper farthest from the master cylinder, and work towards, so - PR, DR, PF, DF.

JR

Brent Dalton said:

I use the motive power bleeder with the red aluminum cap. I've had it for years for other cars. I've stopped putting any fluid in the motive power bleeder to reduce the cleanup. I just use it to pressurize the system and keep an eye on the actual reservoir and top off as necessary. It's always worked well for me.

I use Castrol SRF fluid. It's worth the extra money IMO.

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sonicc said:

[MENTION=14263]Brent Dalton[/MENTION]

do you have the part number for the red aluminum cap or a link? they have a few different ones that are all red.

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spiller said:

Sub'd. How much fluid does the PP take for a full flush?

Also always make sure to bleed from the inboard nipple followed by the outboard nipple on dual nipple calipers. Some just bleed the outboard which is not ideal.

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Yes it is this BLEEDER as Brent Mentioned. His method of using it as a pressure source only is the least messy method of doing a brake bleed. There is no need to bleed the ABS system unless you had it opened. The Ford method uses a pressure bleeder to flush and bleed brakes. No ABS actuation is required. 1 Liter of fluid will fill a system but 2 liters (or qts) will be enough to do a full flush.

Any DOT4 should be changed every 6 months for track use. SRF has a 500+F WET Boiling Point so it able to perform much longer than regular DOT4. We run OEM DOT4LV and have never experienced brake fluid issues. We run cooling and a proper brake pad. OEM fluid is good 500+F when it is fresh. We recommend a racing fluid for track use but we are testing, not trying to set fastest laps so we have stayed with OEM fluid to verify product performance.

Update: For anyone interested, I ended up going to a local Ford dealer and had them perform the flush. Total cost after tax was right arounf $160.

I will probably do this myself in the future but since I have been running the stock fluid for 25K miles and several track days I figured a complete flush of the entire system would be pertinent.

Just to weigh in on this thread; in the old days we would use ATE Super Blue to know when you had completely flushed the system. This year I tried G-Four 335 fluid, which has a greenish tint, to know that all the stock fluid was gone. You could do it with just a quart, but I ended up flushing just a little bit more than I probably needed to just to be sure.

Also, I would never, ever, do a track day with stock fluid, in any car. If you've ever boiled the brake fluid at the end of the fast straight and your pedal just helplessly goes to the floor, you'd agree with me. Not something I ever want to experience again.

lugz said:

Just to weigh in on this thread; in the old days we would use ATE Super Blue to know when you had completely flushed the system. This year I tried G-Four 335 fluid, which has a greenish tint, to know that all the stock fluid was gone. You could do it with just a quart, but I ended up flushing just a little bit more than I probably needed to just to be sure.

Also, I would never, ever, do a track day with stock fluid, in any car. If you've ever boiled the brake fluid at the end of the fast straight and your pedal just helplessly goes to the floor, you'd agree with me. Not something I ever want to experience again.

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The Stock Fluid in the S550 has a minimum dry boiling point of 509F. But we do recommend a racing type fluid. If you boil stock fresh fluid you need to look into brake cooling and better track pads.

lugz said:

Just to weigh in on this thread; in the old days we would use ATE Super Blue to know when you had completely flushed the system. This year I tried G-Four 335 fluid, which has a greenish tint, to know that all the stock fluid was gone. You could do it with just a quart, but I ended up flushing just a little bit more than I probably needed to just to be sure.

Also, I would never, ever, do a track day with stock fluid, in any car. If you've ever boiled the brake fluid at the end of the fast straight and your pedal just helplessly goes to the floor, you'd agree with me. Not something I ever want to experience again.

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I have heard/read this many times but have never experienced boiled fluid. It certainly sounds like something I would never want to experience.

I do not disagree with what you are saying but it seems the stock DOT 4 in the S550 works pretty well.

No more than 6 months between changes if tracking. Castrol SRF is the "gold standard".