Add dye to brake fluid to mimic the late great ATE Super Blue?
 

I feel safer now that the fed gov banned ATE's blue brake fluid.

Anyone know of a safe dye to add so you can tell the new fluid is coming out when bleeding?

I looked into it once and all the dye I could find was water based so it was a no go. Hopefully some one has found something petroleum based.

I don't think the brake fluid is petroleum-based. Maybe you should look into that.

^ This.

DOT 3 & 4 are glycol-based. There are a lot of glycol dyes out there on the market, mostly in the refrigeration & food service industries. All seem to contain water.

I use powdered dyes in my penmaking. Dry, no water added. Search ebay.

Some people have tried Methylene Blue. No good data has been found by me.

Paul Yaw has a video up somewhere on brake fluid safe dyes, same premise, complained about the outlawing of ATE Blue.

Here you go

nice find!
Would it be compatible with Catrol SRF?

Gov't never banned ATE. That's a falsehood propagated by people who love to find fault with the gov't, whether or not such fault actually exists or is based in any truth/logic.

DOT-legal brake fluid is required to be amber. This is codified in federal law, FMVSS #116. It's been codified as such since at least 2005, and probably much earlier than that. ATE Superblue was sold in the US as DOT legal brake fluid, when in fact it was not DOT-legal brake fluid. As you might expect, it's not legal to say "it's DOT legal" when it doesn't meet the requirements for being DOT legal.

Lots of companies sell lots of non-DOT products for race cars. Two easy examples are non-DOT tires and non-DOT seatbelts. ATE could sell a non-DOT racing brake fluid if they wanted to. They simply choose not to.

Paul is a fuckin' Legend.

Dann

So why doesn't ATE then sell Super Blue as a "DOT 4 compatible non DOT legal" fluid?

This is what I could find that resembled what he described.
https://www.grainger.com/product/BRI...r-Liquid-8ACL5
However it seems to be for water, not hydraulic fluid.

Looking for something for hydraulic fluid, this is what I found
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rekhaoil-Re...-/260583807550
"These dyes are used as a color additive in petroleum products such as gasoline, aircraft and diesel fuels, lubricants, hydraulic fluids, wax and grease. "
Think this will work?

It's not a petroleum product. That's been discussed. If you add something meant for a petroleum product to your brake fluid you're going to have a bad day.

The purist in me wants to agree.

The pragmatist looks at the incredibly tiny amount of dye being used, and wonders if, at such low concentrations, it's capable of causing significant harm to either the brake fluid or the seals in the brake system.

Joe's got a point. I mean, if you have to add one drop (for instance) of water-based dye to a gallon (90,000 drops) of brake fluid to get sufficient blue-ness, is that a big deal? Your fluid would be 0.001% water...it's up to you if that's significant enough.

Why is anyone considering water or petroleum based dyes at all?

Dyes come in powdered form, suitable for dissolution in a variety of mediums. No oils or water necessary.

ATE's own specs say they have like .02% max water content. Just keep it well below that.

Maths:

1 L can
.2% of 1 L is 2 mL
google tells me "a drop" is 0.05 mL

so, sure, you could put a drop in and likely be OK.

Interestingly, if you look up the primary constituent of brake fluid, it's glycol ethers and if you look those up, they're used in dyes.

You could also get a ground up, non-reactive pigment powder that's miscible with glycol ethers. Not sure if something like Manganese Blue is an option.

sauce:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...0f98a76913.png

your doc say .2%, thats 10x as much, so I think a drop is well within a safe range. Or, just buy clear 1/4" tubing from Lowes so you can see the color difference between your old and new fluid.

oops. I fixed it. thanks. and you're right, it strengthens the point.

Here's a crazy idea: get some plain jane food coloring (which is water and propylene glycol) and try it out. A few drops should take care of a whole liter.

Here's an even crazier idea:

food coloring powder. super concentrated, no water.


@JasonC SBB I fully expect you to buy the cheapest dot4 available and test the options.

But your dye needs to be soluble in something. A dye that is water soluble may not dissolve in oil, and vice versa.

The particular ones I use are made to be soluble in alcohol. But that is not necessarily the one you should use. Dry dye powders are the way to go. Just have to be smart about it.

Many different choices on ebay. All types, all colors. If not there, then there are plenty of places elsewhere on the web. Liquid dyes are a ripoff, you're paying for dilution.

I don't see why this is so hard. Just do what I do: run the brake fluid until it's black. Then, while bleeding, once you see black stop coming out, you know it's all good. No dyes needed. When the new fluid turns black again, you know it's time for another flush.

^ That's what I did... until I boiled my 8 month old, 4 track day old Motul and bled it... and the damn color was clear like new.

"Glycol Ethers for Inks"

http://msdssearch.dow.com/PublishedL...romPage=GetDoc

"When used in ball point and felt tip pen inks, glycol ethers allow the free flow of resin pigment and dye preventing clogging or drying out. The result is good flow, leveling and print detail. The higher evaporation rate of DOWANOL™ PM, PnP, PnB and Butyl CELLOSOLVE™ products provides faster drying in writing pen ink applications.'

Hmm, does this mean you can just take some ink out of a ball point pen?

hi,
did anyone on here try using the Kingscote stuff? or powder dye?
any feedback?
thanks