May I switch to silicone for clutch?

[flyingtoaster]

I'm on my second clutch master cylinder at 62k miles and it is starting to drip into the footwell. On my replacement, I have never gone more than 2 months without doing a gravity bleed. The fluid (ATE SL.6) kept getting dark within 2 weeks of bleeding, so I switched to a quality DOT 3. It still got dark and began to drip. After I replace this MC, can I switch to silicone fluid without replacing the lines or the slave cylinder? Honda specs dot 3 or dot 4.

 

[SubLGT]

Why? Silicone is more compressible, and will give you a softer clutch pedal. But if you still want to do it, you must very thoroughly flush out all traces of the old brake fluid.

 

[SteveSRT8]

In a hydraulic clutch the pressures are so low that I seriously doubt anyone could tell which fluid you use.

Brakes, maybe in a very aggressive usage, but never in just a clutch.

 

[Lead Shoes]

ATE .6 is their low viscosity fluid for use with ABS systems, I would stick to using ATE super blue after you replace this cylinder.

 

[sasilverbullet]

Wow, second cylinder on your S2000? That sure seems weird...

 

[dailydriver]

Are you sure that the DOT 5 will not eat the seals/bushings in the master and/or slave cylinders??

I'm with Brenden on this, use the Super Blue, or Type 200, alternating (like people do with their brakes) between the two for each flush.

 

[2003GPW]

I've used nothing but Farm and Fleet $.99 DOT 3 fluid since 2004 when I got my S. Neither autocrosses nor HPDE's have phazed this miraculous nectar of the gods. I'd humbly suggest sticking with DOT 3 and leaving the fancy experimental stuff for someone else.

 

[mechtech2]

Use cheap DOT3/4.
Fix teh leak by an actual repair.
Every 2 years is more like it for fluid flushes.

 

[artificialist]

Many brake system elastomers that are compatible with DOT3 and DOT4 are not compatible with DOT5, and the use of DOT5 will swell the elastomer parts until the master and slave cylinder are useless.

Just replace your master and slave cylinders with high quality units, then fill with some DOT3 or DOT4 fluid.