I have my 54 customline up on jack stands rite now with the rims off. I was wanting to bleed the brakes, since i havent since i have owned the car. I had a bottle of dot 3 brake fluid laying around-which i use on my work truck- i wanted to make sure the dot 3 wont eat anything up if i poured it into my stock system??? Any takers?
Well.... this is rather interesting... I'll just touch on a few things to consider before bleeding your brakes. What fluid was in it? Dot 3? If was anything else I would completely clean the system out before using any fluid other than what was in it. Some 'dots' simply don't mix. How long has the Dot 3 container been opened? Some fluids will absorb moisture after being opened. Not good for brake systems. Do you have stock brakes? master cylinder? Are you going to use the pump the brake pad method or vacuum at the wheels, or use pressure at the master cylinder? Lots of theories on how to bleed.... I use the pressure method at the master cylinder and that's the easiest for one person bleeding. Bleed the farthest wheel first, next farthest next and so on. get all the air out!!! Repeat until all air gone and good hard pedal.
Don't use old fluid once it has been opened as it absorbs moisture from the air, even if the cap is on tight. Dot 3, 4 and 5.1 brake fluid are polyethylene glycol based and can be mixed altho not recommended. The difference between them is their boiling points. Dot 5 is silicone based and can not be mixed with the others. Dot 5 will not absorb moisture but if moisture gets into your brake system it will settle in the lowest point (brake cylinders) and boil at 212 deg F., resulting in no brakes. This is why Dot 5 is not recommended for street use and car manufacturers do not use it. And of course I am way over simplifying this. My main point is I would use Dot 4 and buy small containers. Any opened unused brake fluid should be trown away after you bleed your brakes...
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