Left open brake fluid

[SabrToothSqrl]

yea; so I put new pads on my TJ the other day; and when I pulled the brake fluid cap because it over flowed because the new pads were WAY thicker than the old....



anyway, i left the damn cap off the brake fluid resivore 2-3 days now.



I have to call the dealer to find a cap.



but do I replace all the fluid because it was 'open' and exposed to air (it was brand new a month ago, synthetic) or just drive it and hope all is well?



thanks!

[BLKRUBI]

Brake fluid attracts moisture and water in your brake system could be very bad. Your best bet is to replace all of it, but if you are a gambling man, you could leave it and see how it is. The problem is that it may act fine under normal conditions, but when the brake fluid heats up, say in a hard braking incident, the water will not expand like the brake fluid which could cause anything from a spongy pedal to seemingly loss of brakes.

[azdesertrhino]

I know this is kind of an old post but did a quick search and found this article that I found interesting.


I was not aware of the recommendation of replacing fluid at specified intervals!

It does make sense if brake fluid is Hygroscopic. Long term it could cause serious brake system problems.