clutch resevoir

[Azwngr]

I was out for a ride and about 10 miles from home.
I started having a problem shifting. Luckily I pulled into
a service station that sold brake fluid. But only Dot 3.
I only needed about to refill the resevoir 1/2 of the way to top it off
to get it to shift ok again. My question is should I drain the system and
refill with Dot 4 or is Dot 3 ok to use?
Thanks
Gene

[Guest]

dot 3 and dot 4 are compatible, dot 4 can handle higher temperatures, in a dot 3 system you can use 3 or 4, but if it requires dot 4, thats all you can use. dot 3 boiling point is 369 degrees where dot 4 is 446 degrees. This is the best of my knowledge

[Azwngr]

thanks for the reply! It says to use only Dot 4 on
the resevoir cover but in an emergency situation all I
could buy was Dot 3.
So I guess to play it safe I'll replace the fluid and bleed the system.

[Ed Z]

Kinda reading between the lines here, but how did the resevoir get that low on fluid.?? Is there a leak somewhere (possibly the slave cylinder).???

It couldn't hurt to charge the fluid making it 100% DOT 4...

While your changing the clutch fluid, you might as well repalce the brake fluid as well...
These fluids should be changed every couple years anyways...

[Azwngr]

Thanks Ed,
Yeh, it set in the garage for the past six months while I was healing
from a ventral hernia surgery. I finally got brave and took a short ride to get the emissions done.
That is when I found out the clutch resevoir was low and probably the brake level is also.
That will be my project this week!
Gene