So awhile ago I topped off the brake fluid in the truck, maybe 2 weeks ago. Start the truck up this afternoon and the pedal is hard then goes to normal, move the truck around the yard a few times doing mulch with the pedal being hard every time it's started.

Run the truck up to the in-laws this afternoon to drop off the trailer (around 1.5 mile trip) and on the way home I start smelling brakes burning. Pull in the driveway and both front wheels are smoking.

Pop the hood and pull off the caps on the master cylinder and the seals are swelled up, head into the house and check the bottle of 'brake fluid' I used to top it off, you guessed it Power Steering Fluid.

SO tomorrow I get to spend the day replacing the Master Cylinder, calipers and front hoses. I'm hoping the rear wheel cylinders are ok since they don't seem to be heating up, regardless I'm going to back flush the rear lines first with air to get most of the fluid out then brake cleaner to hopefullly clean up any remnants of petroleum and one more of straight brake fluid to clear it a little more.

Moral of the story make sure you read the damn bottle and only use brake fluid unless you want to spend a few hundred $$.

 

LOL! Damn that sucks. We all make mistakes, thank God I didn't do that YET!

At least it wasn't worse like completely fail on the highway ect.

 

Sorry to hear about that, but at least it is fixable.

 

bright side is that now you won't have to wonder how your front brakes are doing
i think i'd do the rear to though. would suck if you lost em while towing.

 

I'll be doing one side in the rear anyway just for more fun the bleeder on the passenger side snapped off. Then the brake line broke when I tried to get it off. So just more fun tomorrow.

 

oh damn that sucks...glad you can fix it though...

 

if you got to swap the fluid then throw silicone fluid in it. i swear by the stuff. couple bucks more but worth it. i had a problem with front calipers and rear wheel cylinders seizing until i used it. my girlfriend has the truck now and no problems (she delivers pizzas). i swapped fluid about 6 years ago.