Pentosin Super DOT4 Brake Fluid

[JHZR2]

Hello,

I have some Pentosin Super DOT4 brake fluid fr doing a brake flush. It lists the components of the brake fluid, they are all glycol ethers except one that is a borate ester of a glycol ether. Something along the lines of this:
http://webbook.nist.gov/cgi/cbook.cgi?Struct=C23783428

The bottle actually gives the full chemical names of all of the components and their CAS numbers. Interesting.

Anyway, of interest, on the package it states "suitable for all hydraulic brake systems, except those running on mineral oil".

Key word being mineral oil. What gives? I assume that standard DOT3/4 brake fluid is some sort of mineral oil, isnt it?

I just dont know much of anything about brake fluid. It is a standard DOT4 fluid, its not a silicone-based product like a DOT5 would be. Need I have any concern?

Thanks,

JMH

 

[tom slick]

"mineral oil" is mineral oil. it is used in "environmentally friendly" applications. I know for sure that magura bicycle brakes and hydraulic clutches specifically use mineral oil.

 

[unDummy]

You thought wrong. Brake fluid is not a mineral oil. Alcohol!

 

[tom slick]

Where did I mention brake fluid is mineral oil? I stated that mineral oil is mineral oil, meaning that is all that mineral oil is.

 

[Tones]

Mineral oil comes from the refining of crude oil. I am not aware of any passenger cars that use it for brake fluids. No worries.

 

[JHZR2]

Yeah, that kind of was my point... I never really knew what brake fluid was...



I wonder what applications mineral oil is used for, as a brake actuation fluid.

I cant really imagine that the alcohols are more thermally stable than a mineral oil, though perhaps they have more consistent flow or force transport properties?

JMH

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

All light aircraft use a mineral base brake fluid. It's tinted red, looks a lot like ATF...