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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 feel safer now that the fed gov banned ATE's blue brake fluid.
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.
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 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.
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:
Last edited by y8s; 08-15-2018 at 09:18 AM.
Reason: fixed my transcription error.
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.
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.
08-02-2018, 02:13 PM
Add dye to brake fluid to mimic the late great ATE Super Blue?
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