Suspension & Brakes - brake fluid

well i had the brake calipers off to re-paint them, and i need to obviously bleed the brakes when i put them back on, my ? is though, the car (98 T/A) uses DOT-3 fluid right? and secondly will it hurt to go with synthetic fluid? the have both, just reg. fluid and synthetic, and i dont think that synthetic is in it from the factory, so i didnt know if mixing the two would be a bad situation? thanks!

If it's for a daily driver or weekend warrior, I'd just put in the regular DOT 3 stuff. Be sure to bleed them good.

I bled mine with Castrol LMA. Pedal seems a little stiffer, but that could just be due to new fluid. The old stuff was good and DARK.

When was the last time the fluid was changed? This may be a good time to flush and fill the system.

I'm not sure when it was changed last, probably never....... Is there a procedure write upp on flushing and filling the system? I heard that it was not a good idea to run the resevior dry....

You don't want to run the system dry. Check the master and top it off as you bleed the system. Some fluids are colored like ATE Super Blue, and make it easy to tell when the line is flushed. Do a search, I'm sure you will find a guide to help.
Hope this helped.




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Go to a local auto parts store and get a cheap vacuum pump. They work the best for bleeding your brake lines. Start with the rear brakes. Make sure the master cylinder does not run out of fluid. You will be able to tell when the new fluid is coming thru the lines. If you do any racing or autocrossing this is critical.

Check out this link:
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/tech_white_papers.shtml

It was in the Brake FAQ.

There is plenty of good info there.
There is a white paper there about fluid too:
http://www.stoptech.com/tech_info/wp_brakefluid_1a.shtml

Its long, but a good read.

Most people on here recommend Castrol (dont remember which formulation and the search feature isnt working) or ATE Super Blue (which I have on my shelf, but have yet to use -- other stuff has delayed me installing it).

If you read the article it talks about both and other fluids as well.