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Vitesse 6 Flexi hoses


Bobtaylor

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Hi, I am about to replace the flexi hoses on my Vitesse 1600, is it worth changing to Silicone Brake Fluid at the same time?

PS. I am changing the hoses as the existing ones are quite old and I am getting random brake binding on the rear wheels, I have checked the adjustment, pistons etc etc and all seems well so I am guessing that there may be a partial collapse inside one of the hoses. It won't do any harm to change them anyway!

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Watch out Bob..... can of worms opening time!!!! Silicone/dot3 (etc) is a very personal issue. I did exactly the same as you when I recomissioned my Spit and replaced all the brake rubbers and used silicone. No problems at all to date. Brake pedal may be a bit spongier but when changing from a modern with servo assist it's just a case of a bit more pressure on the pedal.

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If you are not replacing all the rubber elements within the braking system then stay with the normal, mineral, brake fluid. In some cases the seals that have been used with the normal brake fluid which are then subjected to silicon can lose their form. It may well be the seals are past their best in the first place.

I have used silicon for well over 20 years without any problems. But I only change to silicon after replacing all the rubber elements.

Dave     

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I've used silicon in all my Triumphs for thirty years. I haven't usually bothered to replace all the seals first and have never had any trouble. As to how much hassle the normal fluid has been... well, the reason I changed was because my (then recently acquired) first Vitesse suffered sudden loss of brakes (pedal to the floor with no effort and no effect) on a windy road near Newbury due to boiled fluid, which can happen when the (rather old) normal fluid absorbs too much moisture from the air. Yes, it was only one incident, and yes, regular maintenance should have avoided it, but once was enough, thanks.

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3 hours ago, NonMember said:

 Yes, it was only one incident, and yes, regular maintenance should have avoided it, but once was enough, thanks.

True, and by that logic, if you use silicon, and don't check it for years, and the brakes fail, you can hardly blame the fluid...

I was looking for a bathroom mirror recently and bought one off Amazon, which had 22 'excellent' reviews and one 'very poor'. The one very poor review was from an owner who fitted his beside a window, and the hot sun reflected off the concave surface and melted his window frame... hardly fair to blame the mirror for user error... same as brake fluid! 

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21 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said:

True, and by that logic, if you use silicon, and don't check it for years, and the brakes fail, you can hardly blame the fluid...

Indeed. The biggest benefit of converting to silicon may well be that it involves disposing of the previous owner's possibly very old stuff.

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By way of an update, I ended up changing the lexis with standard ones and sticking with the DOT 4 fluid. The existing hoses were dated 1976 !! It did not solve the sticky brake problem, but I discovered that the off side brake piston was the culprit.

I took it off and had trouble removing the piston as it was rusty. A quick clean with some emery cloth and some rubber grease and all is well.

I am going to replace both pistons though as a precaution.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Too good to be true!!! My brakes have started sticking again. The only thing I have not replaced is the master cylinder, is it possible that could be the problem. When the brakes are sticky the pedal is hard, when it is not sticking the pedal has more feel.

I have bled the brakes several times as i have done the various jobs, I guess that the piston in the master cylinder travelled further in the bleeding than normal and in to a part of the bore that might be a bit corroded etc, is there any logic to my thoughts here?

Bob

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Sound like you are getting a pressure build up ,caused by the Mcyl not fully returning or the reservoir blocking seal is  staying seated 

It has a fine crinkle washer to  bias its seating , , make sure the pedal spindle is not siezed  or the stop lamp switch is holding the pedal down.

There must be some slop free play on the pushrod  with foot off.  It should be a rattling loose fit , 

Pete

 

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I've had this effect not on my car but a motorbike and it was due to a disc brake piston(s) sticking. When this happens the pad is kept much closer to the disc causing it to rub (you might find it getting hot) and consequently there's less pedal travel....

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  • 3 weeks later...

By way of an update I changed the master cylinder today. It was in a poor state and almost impossible to push the piston in or out by hand, hence the sticky brakes!

got there in the end and now have almost complete new brakes!!!!

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