Posted by cgrey8 from ? (68.208.14.2) on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 at 7:02PM :
In Reply to: Oh yeah and I forgot posted by Malcolm [Boardmaster] on Friday, November 19, 2004 at 7:08PM :
Registered Ranger
I've worked on a number of vehicles that had age at the mechanics shop I worked at through college. Any brake fluid older than about 3-4 years is typically going to have a dark brown tint with black particles in it or at the bottom of the reservoir.
The only time I've ever seen a brake line as crudded up as you are describing is when someone had a busted seal (the black rubber that dips into the fluid reservoir). That's generally a problem on GMs because they have huge caps that cover the Master's Reservoir and a stupid bar that you have to push ontop of the cap. People that don't know better wind up damaging the seal getting it installed and that causes water, dirt, and a crap-load of other contaminants into the system that will give you exactly what you had there.
Much of the black crud you found was probably from the rubber seal. If you haven't figured it out, brake fluid is quite corrosive. It'll do a number on paint. I'm actually surprised the rubber seals they use last as long as they do. However, what makes it worse is brake fluid attracts moisture. Brake fluid mixed with moisture is even more damaging ESPECIALLY to rubber. Therefore, a busted seal unnoticed/ignored for a while will likely be swollen, bloated, spongy, and deformed. The same thing happens to the seals around the brake piston in your calipers and rear cylinders.
However, if your Ranger is like both of mine (89 & 97), then you only have a 2-3" dia. cap with a black seal. It was either left out for a long period of time or contaminants got into the line through some other un-natural method. Did it come from Salt Country like your 2wd Ranger did?
Chris
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