Brake Fluid Change Intervals

[Jim W]

NO!!! I don't, oh it is an automatic.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Anti-Lock brakes on a bike or dangerous....

I love how well the brakes work EBC's. But I don't like how the rear tire kinda clunks when antilock kicks in.

I have wondered about disconnecting the AL???

 

[Cummins12V98]

NO!!! I don't, oh it is an automatic.

Trucks have clutches???

 

[Jim W]

No they RATTLE!!

Have you seen how many OTR semis now have automatic transmission in the trucks? Even the Caterpillar tractors that I was designing between the 70's to 2009 when I retired, were all automatic transmission machines. Even the Caterpillar experimental On-Highway truck of the late 70's and early 80's was an automatic transmission truck.

 

[KATOOM]

No they RATTLE!!

Have you seen how many OTR semis now have automatic transmission in the trucks? Even the Caterpillar tractors that I was designing between the 70's to 2009 when I retired, were all automatic transmission machines. Even the Caterpillar experimental On-Highway truck of the late 70's and early 80's was an automatic transmission truck.

Over the last fifteen or so years I've seen three or four different versions of an "automatic" transmission in a class 8 truck. With and without a clutch pedal. I dont believe any of them were slush boxes either but rather a gearbox with servos controlling clutch and brake, or using a torque converter. Needless to say, they're complicated, and the early gen's would lock up if you shut the truck off while in gear resulting in a mechanic having to come out and get you going again.
The kicker was horrible resale as no one wanted used ones because of potential problems, unlike your basic manual.

 

[TFucili]

Over the last fifteen or so years I've seen three or four different versions of an "automatic" transmission in a class 8 truck. With and without a clutch pedal. I dont believe any of them were slush boxes either but rather a gearbox with servos controlling clutch and brake, or using a torque converter. Needless to say, they're complicated, and the early gen's would lock up if you shut the truck off while in gear resulting in a mechanic having to come out and get you going again.
The kicker was horrible resale as no one wanted used ones because of potential problems, unlike your basic manual.

Lots of confusion between auto-shift, and torque converter automatics. The early Eatons were really pretty bad. I remember Benjamin Moore had a fleet of Aeromaxxes with them, and they were continuously "on the hook".

 

[JR]

There's alot of dual clutch transmissions on the MD and HD market now a days. Eaton developed the first unit dubbed Procision (sp?) which was very new and un tested for it's time. Eaton now has DCT's rated for vocational service intervals of 150k miles or 10 years. They are at the top of the game. Losing connectivity to your truck through the third pedal vs the more plausible gray matter in between your ears is a debatable topic at best....

 

[Ozymandias]

My VW Jetta is the only vehicle I've ever owned with a published brake fluid change interval and it was 24 months.

I will generally flush each vehicle when I do a brake service.. thou that may not be often enough.

That's the standard in Europe, 24 months. All manufacturers have that same interval.

 

[Ozymandias]

There's alot of dual clutch transmissions on the MD and HD market now a days. Eaton developed the first unit dubbed Procision (sp?) which was very new and un tested for it's time. Eaton now has DCT's rated for vocational service intervals of 150k miles or 10 years.

Clutch hydraulic today is all I know sealed units that do not breath to the outside, so there is no contamination with humidity or dirt entering the system.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Just curious if all you guys also change the fluid in your clutch hydraulics too...

YES! actually in my Cruze Diesel (Manual) it is the same fluid reservoir for the clutch and the brakes. On my truck I changed out the clutch, and with it all new clutch hydraulics and fluid. Prior manual pick-up that I had long enough to need a change, yes, and on that one it had some strange floating rubber like substance in the reservoir and a weird squeak with the pedal. GM refused to fix it under warranty, as should have been done, so I flushed the fluid out with denatured alcohol, blew it out with air, and then filled with Dot 5 Silicone fluid to prevent further degradation of the rubber in that system and stop the squeak. It worked.

 

[KATOOM]

YES! actually in my Cruze Diesel (Manual) it is the same fluid reservoir for the clutch and the brakes. On my truck I changed out the clutch, and with it all new clutch hydraulics and fluid. Prior manual pick-up that I had long enough to need a change, yes, and on that one it had some strange floating rubber like substance in the reservoir and a weird squeak with the pedal. GM refused to fix it under warranty, as should have been done, so I flushed the fluid out with denatured alcohol, blew it out with air, and then filled with Dot 5 Silicone fluid to prevent further degradation of the rubber in that system and stop the squeak. It worked.

Weird that the brakes and clutch shared the same reservoir...

But that said, I've had master cylinder plungers squeak and stutter in their movement to the point of being annoying and concerning if it was going to be a problem. How I've always resolved the issue was to have someone depress the clutch pedal about 1/2 - 3/4 of the way down. Then pull the clutch safety switch up away from the base so that I can spray some PB Blaster into the backside of the master cylinder where the plunger slides. You have to use the spray straw otherwise you cant reach along side the pedal shaft going into the cylinder...

Then before your helper lets the peddle up, have them press the clutch pedal all the way down and hold it there for 30 seconds or so.
Its shocking how well this works to lubricate the plunder cylinder and your clutch pedal becomes silky smooth...

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Weird that the brakes and clutch shared the same reservoir...
.

It's actually becoming pretty standard in newer cars, well even in my 2004 Land Rover Discovery. All the US market vehicles were automatic V8s, as mine is.. but the ROW cars included the TD5 Diesel, with a 5-Speed manual transmission as an option. That version also shared the brake fluid reservoir with the clutch system, even mine has the blocked off hose barb on the reservoir that would be used for the clutch if it had one. If I had the time and money, I'd get that TD5 and manual transmission and convert mine, but that is a very expensive and time consuming project..a 30MPG SUV would be far better than a 12-16 MPG premium only V8 gas engine.. but I'd have to drive a crazy distance before the fuel savings ever added up to justify the project cost.

 

[lpennock]

Weird that the brakes and clutch shared the same reservoir...

My 06 Mustang GT uses the same reservoir for brake and clutch.

 

[Ozymandias]

Land Rover is no Benchmark sorry.
I've seen enough horrible problems with them just because of very bad Engineering.
...and they refused to correct that problems for decades and left it to the customers stranded along the roads.

Even now on our journey I met up with two owners that had defenders and both suffered from massive problems with their TD4 Defender. At very low milage of course.

I personally wouldn't touch a Landrover with a pair of pliers.

 

[MichaelOverfield]

Land Rover is no Benchmark sorry.
I've seen enough horrible problems with them just because of very bad Engineering.
...and they refused to correct that problems for decades and left it to the customers stranded along the roads.

Even now on our journey I met up with two owners that had defenders and both suffered from massive problems with their TD4 Defender. At very low milage of course.

I personally wouldn't touch a Landrover with a pair of pliers.

They certainly have had their issues, but I've had very few problems with the 2004 Discovery, most of the early issues were fixed under warranty, brake light switch, one ABS sensor, etc. Never broke down on us, and it was the wife's daily driver from 2004 to 2012.. with the break of several months to fix the roof from a tree strike.. long story. The one issue never fixed, that I recently fixed was they had a run of bad head gaskets, and mine was fine under warranty, then had a very slow external coolant leak that was mostly an annoyance. I recently replaced the head gaskets for a permanent fix, and it's been mostly in storage since 2012... when $5+ premium gasoline made it possible to make payments on a VW TDI Jetta for less than the fuel costs of the Discovery 2! The other factory defect, that was made moot from the tree strike and roof replacement was rain leak.. then the replacement roof wasn't sealed properly, and I also had to fix that too, recently. Ironically it's now in better shape in most respects than when new.. for going off road or in harsh weather, it's great.

I also have a 1962 Series 2A, it's been in the family since 1976.. I have it about 80% complete on a complete frame up restoration. The older one's were very simple machines known to be durable, easy to work on and fix, and if maintained, very reliable. The issue in the newer ones is they push to luxury and electronics galore, even the 2004 has 7 computers on board, I can only imagine what the newer ones have now. The Discovery had issues with ABS sensors and wiring, with some know how, it's a simple and inexpensive fix, but I can see it being quite frustrating to some who do not do their own work.

I should point out the the post prior to yours with a mustang sharing a brake and clutch fluid reservoir backs up my observation.. ironically 2004 was a Ford year for Land Rover.. as they briefly owned Land Rover. It's now owned by an Car Company in India, the name escapes me now.

I have learned over years of experience with various car brands that many of them use the same suppliers and components, and the difference is often in features, and build quality, but as to the key mechanical components, they are all pretty similar, parts are sourced all over the world on basically all cars. Just look at the Dodge/Ram. German and Japanese transmissions.. ECO Diesel engine from Italy, even the Cummins casting is from China. Nowdays Ford and GM often use transmissions that they developed in joint ventures, brakes, other components, same story.

Also, the TD4 was a Ford Diesel engine (never sold in the US, and not US legal, BTW, where did you see one?), the last Land Rover designed engine was the TD5, a much more reliable and durable engine. The Ford years did not help the Land Rover brand. My 2004 Discovery has the 4.6l V8 that was evolved from the all aluminium 3.5L V8 designed by GM for Buick, but sold to Land Rover because Americans wanted giant cars and big block V8s in the 60s. That engine is considered to be a rock solid engine that they ran for decades, it's only vice is it's thirst! That said, I'd love to have the TD5 engine, but that was never imported to the US, as it was not compliant with EPA emissions.

 

[Jim W]

Isn't Land Rover owed by an India company (TATA) and don't they use Lucas Electronics (Prince Of Darkness) in their vehicles? Just knowing that they could use Lucas Electronics is enough to steer me away!

 

[Ozymandias]

Also, the TD4 was a Ford Diesel engine (never sold in the US, and not US legal, BTW, where did you see one?), the last Land Rover designed engine was the TD5, a much more reliable and durable engine. The Ford years did not help the Land Rover brand. My 2004 Discovery has the 4.6l V8 that was evolved from the all aluminium 3.5L V8 designed by GM for Buick, but sold to Land Rover because Americans wanted giant cars and big block V8s in the 60s. That engine is considered to be a rock solid engine that they ran for decades, it's only vice is it's thirst! That said, I'd love to have the TD5 engine, but that was never imported to the US, as it was not compliant with EPA emissions.

Friends traveling with their Defenders have them, you see them a lot.
Also the mexican Ford Transits use this Diesel Engine, so it is closer to the US then you think.
Also in South America it is in use.

You are lucky that your Disco is so reliable, like said most of them suffer from several problems, mechanics and electronics.
One must really be a Fan of the brand to keep and love them.
Even nowadays in the US the only Landrovers I've seen are in the big cities east and west coast where the money is, driven by people that want to be different.

 

[Ozymandias]

....the TD5 suffered massive from oil leaks, the most interesting of it is the one where the oil creeps from the cylinder head through the wiring harness into the ECM (located below the passenger seat) and fries it.
Very unique.

 

[Ozymandias]

Anti-Lock brakes on a bike or dangerous....

I don't think so, what's the reason for this statement?

I met more then one biker that said it saved his life.

 

[dieselshadow]

I don't think so, what's the reason for this statement?

I met more then one biker that said it saved his life.

I have it on my bikes and see absolutely no down sides at all. All the high-end machines include ABS standard. Some can be turned off if you put them on a track or performance mode.