96 Ex. UH OH !! .. PLEASE READ accident with fluids

[mccoyxx]

Hello .. first off I have a 96 Explorer Sport with a 4.0 OHV ... I have .. well I may have a bad problem ... today I was running late for work and I accidentally poured in some power steering fluid into my brake fluid reservoir to top it off instead of brake fluid ... it wasn't a lot approximately 3 oz. ... I drove it for a few hours and someone told me it would damage the system ... so I came home and used my pump to empty the reservoir and filled it with brake fluid ... I searched it and have read many many dif. posts on this and some say it will ruin everything in the system and the lines and master cylinders and everything must be replaced and some places say the fluids are pretty much interchangeable and it won't hurt on some vehicles ... can someone that knows 100% the correct answer PLEASE tell me ... thank you very much for your time ... RSM

 

[Joe Dirt]

From what I've been finding, it's not good. Power steering fluid will attack rubber seals, etc... If you didn't suction it out immediately before using the brakes, then used the brakes after doing it, the fluid is past the master cylinder, so you're pretty much screwed.

Real honest solution is to replace and/or overhaul all of the hydraulic brake parts that contain rubber like the calipers, the wheel cylinders, the master cylinder, the hoses... Some try replacing just the master cylinder, but that doesn't really work, since the petroleum residue left in those other parts eats away at cups and seals, effectively ruining the brakes. After replacing the parts, your brake system should be flushed with denatured alcohol, or at least several cans of brake fluid. Sorry, but this may turn out to be a clusterf**k...

 

[mccoyxx]

Yes ... Big Uh Oh !!

I searched and searched nd like you found it to all be very bad !! ... however I talked to a few places locally and they said where I drained it and didn't put much I may be ok ... I was scared to death and I called a garage and told them my situation and was going to have it all replaced ... they said they would drive it and see how it does ... said they had never seen a brake system completely fail because of this and that it would get a spongey/soft pedal and more than likely start leaking at the rear wheel cylinders first ... so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and so far so good drove it all day yesterday and today as well drove and it has great brakes still ... for now anyways ... so wish me luck and thanks for the response ... RSM

 

[OneLever]

Keep an eye on them. This type of seal failure probably won't happen immediately. It will take time.

 

[G-96XLT]

As far as I know it will just make the rubbers go bad. If you got it out quick it shouldn't be that bad. Maybe a second flush might make it better. You will not have failure because of this and the brakes might just go soft on you later. I think it would be OK to drive.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Doubt any made it into the lines/hoses/calipers/ wheel cylinders. There is not that much fluid movement in the system over a hour or 2. If you sucked it out and added fresh you are gonna be good to go.

Brake fluid is something that is neglected and something that should be flushed out/changed every couple years nowemdays with our high tech and expensive brake systems.
An ABS pump replacement due to crud and water that brake fluid attracts makes brake fluid flushes look cheap.

 

[mccoyxx]

update ... brakes still workin fine ... a lil spongey, but full force stopping power still "thumbs up"

 

[Joe Dirt]

fingers crossed for ya!

 

[Gabe96Explorer]

Do your self a favor and flush with lots of brake fluid. buy a few large containers and flush it out to cover your bases.

 

[joker1457]

A little comforting for ya, I did this right before the Colorado Colors Run 2 years ago put 1200+ miles on the car and ran the trails with the group. When I got back from the trip I had the whole system flushed, till this day I havent ran into any issues. Maybe its luck maybe not but definatly flush the system