Interesting thread on brake fluid. I am not a trained mechanic, thus anything I type can be taken with a pinch of salt..
Over a few decades of bringing old sports cars back to life, had I read the contents of this thread, high on my agenda of trying to bring them back to life would have been to replace the brake fluid.
When my old Mog was subjected to a nut and bolt rebuild at circa 8k miles, the fastidious chap who re-built it used Automec DOT 5 brake fluid, which was still in the Mog some four years later having enjoyed quite a few thousand miles of HOT weather driving on Southern European road adventures which my good lady and I greatly enjoyed in the Mog. That same fluid lived in my Mog during the many years it was mostly laid up while I was deep into a self build home extending programme... My guess is that all told that same brake fluid was in my Mog for perhaps 18 years, and caused no issues whatsoever, the car being driven only very rarely during my home extension self build process..
I did however change all the brake fluid a couple or so years back when I decided to overhaul and clean the front callipers having initially spotted a hole in the dust seal of one of the pistons, and having removed the pistons to polish the surface corrosion off them, during that process much of the fluid was lost, thus requiring replenishment.
When touring I ever carried a 1/2 litre of Automec.... for as has rightly been pointed out, mixing silicone brake fluid with the more usual and seemingly readily attainable non- silicone fluids, seems likely to cause major issues, which may require a full brake system overhaul...? Finding just the right brake fluid spec if you are unfortunate to suffer a brake issue when out on the road could be more of a problem if using DOT 5 as opposed to DOT 4 etc..?
I do not disagree with any of the advice given, just sharing my Morgan experience to date, and no I have no financial interest in Automec or Halfords where I believe DOY 5 was a stock item last time I looked..(-:
I suspect regular brake fluid changes might also help to avoid the seemingly one time common issue around seized brake nipples, in the process of regular brake fluid replacement they will all have been in regular use and assuming the fluid flushing programme has been carried out correctly...?
Just to add, none of the nipples on my Mog had seized despite the length of time the DOT 5 had remained in the system. Perhaps those Automec claims relating to laid up NATO vehicles might have some truth to them after all...?
