Brake Fluid question

badbrian

Hi. Not very car savvy so I thought I would pick the brains of Boards!

The wife has a Citroen ZX 1996. The brake fluid light has come up. I understand you shoudn't mix brake fluids (from a previous post) and I had a look at the cap. It says "use only dot 3 or dot 4 brake fluid".

My query is two fold. Can I buy fluid from any garage/car shop or do I need to bring it to a Citroen garage to get fixed.
And if I don't know what the brake fluid currently in the car is will it matter if I get either Dot 3 or Dot 4?

Cheers

Brian

Mr.Diagnostic

Hi,

Dot 3 and 4 can be mixed no problem. it would be no harm to top it up if the level is low but the most important thing is to find out where the fluid went. if you have a leak then it is dangerous and should be looked at asap.

Seth Brundle

As Mr.D said that there is something causing the fluid to go low and the light to come on. It may be as simple as your brake pads wearing down (needing replacement?) but get a mechanic to look at it.

yoink

Hi, I sell this stuff in work, afik dot3 just has a lower boiling point than dot 4.
I would sit in and pumb the hell out of it for 5 min's and if there's no leaking I wouldn't worry about it as it probably just evapourated.
As above theres no problem mixing them, but if you can stick to dot 4 as it's better shtuff;)

Canis Lupus

Also isn't it important to insure no grit or dirt goes in when yur filling it up?

skyhighflyer

Canis Lupus wrote:

Also isn't it important to insure no grit or dirt goes in when yur filling it up?

yeah, that's why you always give the reservoir a good clean before topping it up and only use brake fluid out of a new container for each top up

Seth Brundle

yoink wrote:

I wouldn't worry about it as it probably just evapourated.

It more than likely has gone because the OPs brake pads have worn down. Whether the level was high enough to start with is unknown but in case the pads are dangeroulsy low and because the OP is not mechanically savvy, I would seek a professional opinion on it.

Gary ITR

I'd agree with KBannon here, the one place you want things to be 100% is the brakes, specially in your wifes car. You probably don't want anything to happen to her:p

badbrian

Thanks very much folks for the replies.
On considering what everyone has said I think the best thing is just to get it serviced. We got the car late last year and the log would suggest that it wasn't too regularly serviced (it only has 85k on it). It's ran fine with no trouble so I don't think the service will be wasted as we hope it will run for another year or two.
Again thanks very much.
Brian

Mr.Diagnostic

yoink wrote:

Hi, I sell this stuff in work, afik dot3 just has a lower boiling point than dot 4.
I would sit in and pumb the hell out of it for 5 min's and if there's no leaking I wouldn't worry about it as it probably just evapourated.
As above theres no problem mixing them, but if you can stick to dot 4 as it's better shtuff;)

Irresponsible and downright dangerous advice!

It is not possible to check properly for leaks without dismantling. A leak today could be a brake failure tomorrow.