I was talking with Roy, and he was talking to someone about this...
it got me thinking...
canola oil begins to burn around 450°F... I know there may be some residues and possibly other issues, but what do you think the results would be?
total replacement of all brake fluid components on an annual basis?
would the calipers gum up and fail quickly?
there's a ton of "GREEN" nuts out there, but tinkering with brakes seems just crazy to me...

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Seems to me that placing an organic fluid into a critical safety system would just be a bad idea. Once the canola oil degraded or other organisms begin inhabiting your brake lines it would only be a matter of time before the inevitable happened.

Why go "green" on brake fluid? It's not like lots of people are driving around leaking brake fluid all over the place. If you leak brake fluid you lose your brakes and you either quit driving or get the leak fixed. Again, it seems to me anyway, that this should be the last thing eco-friendly folks should be worried about - and the last thing they should tamper with if they care about their lives and the lives of others.

Interesting question, but I consider myself "eco-friendly" (in the sense that I am all for conservation and reducing pollutants) and this would be at the bottom of my list of things to be concerned about.

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

canloa oil as a brake fluid...

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Woahhhh sounds like a bad idea to me..

The rubber brake likes would fail prematurely because of the oil. This is why greasers have to switch thier fuel lines over to Viton..

Fuel lines are hardly under pressure too, so imagine when you really need to stomp the brakes and the compromised rubber parts fail from the pressure on the lines. Sounds like a risky thing to do to me.

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http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m...73378_30-1.jpg

tankowner made two great points. Firstly, I don't think that your brakes would be a very wise testing ground for an experimental fluid. Secondly, of ALL the fluids in the modern automobile, brake fluid not only make up the least volume of fluid in your car, but also the least leaked and the least changed requiring disposal.

Also, I am not a Chemist. Of the sciences, it is definitely my weakest area, but I think that brake fluid is mostly alcohol and glycerine, niether of these are a threat to the environment.

This thread brings to mind a story on the news a year or two ago. It seems that the wife of some Hollywood loon was suffering severe, clinical depression due to worrying about global warming. I think it's time for the poor lady to start looking for some perspective.

The man who does substitute f-r brake fluid is mark Bardenwarper Sr, he has a couple websites.

Guys who have the oldest Citroens with hydropneumatic suspension use a mix of rapeseed oil and other stuff instead of Dot 3 because that mix more closely approximates the all vegetable hydraulic fluid used in the Citroens through 1968. It's a substitute for LHS, which was the Cit vegetable-based fluid before Citroen went to non-burning mineral based LHM in 1965-69.

Bardenwerper's website is free and named something like CanDo technology

He's a very froiendly guy

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

The best way to "Go Green" with brakes is to keep them working at their best and properly recycle the old brake fluid.

A diesel mercedes wrapped around a big tree is certainly not green!

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=296386

I may be remembering this wrong, but the old style English (Castrol Girling ?) brake fluid in the 50's and 60's was incompatible with the Lockheed type, and I was told it was because the English was organic based and the Lockheed type was mineral based.

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1984 300 D runs, interior
1984 300 D light hit in front, RUST, mint/perfect dash, decent interior (see above), parts car
(hate to kill one)
1998 Dodge diesel

Yeah, from what I read the LHV (vegetable oil) was replaced by the LHS (synthetic hydraulic fluid) for use in the Citroens, both of which were later replaced by the LHM (mineral hydraulic fluid) because the LHV and the LHS were both hygroscopic. The Citroens were innovative in their use of hydropneumatic systems throughout the car, but the problem still remains in brake systems today. Any hygroscopic fluid will eventually accumulate water, which can lead to internal deterioration but, more importantly, lower the boiling point of the fluid. Most brake fluids are glycol ethers which technically are organic compounds - so that would seem to somewhat counter my original argument against using an organic in your brake system. Also, (as you are probably aware) Canola oil is rapeseed oil - so using Canola oil as brake fluid would not actually be a novel approach. I guess the question is why did manufacturers move away from vegetable oil to synthetic fluids. Without knowing for sure, I would have to believe that it was because vegetable oils are less chemically stable and therefore deteriorate faster.

Nevertheless, the main point is that I don't see much use in going against the recommended brake fluid (and there are certainly more issues involved than have been touched on here) in an attempt to be eco-friendly. Sure, vegetal oils are more biodegradable, but brake fluid simply isn't a major source of contamination or pollution. Why risk it?

Incidentally, I suspect that nearly everyone here is using (per manufacturer’s recommendation) a brake fluid that is hygroscopic (DOT 3 and DOT 4). Therefore, flushing the brake fluid at least every other year or so is a good idea. See this link for more info on why:
http://www.aa1car.com/library/bfluid.htm

PS. Strelnik, did I mention that I am jealous of your collection?

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
______________________________________

"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

The GREENEST BRAKE FLUID IS THAT WHICH KEEPS YOU FROM RUNNING INTO ( and killing ) ANY TREES.

Just use the best recommended brake fluid you can find and try to be green on something else if you are inclined that direction....

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1980 240d ,

chain elongation, cam marks reference:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=10414

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/305365-9-degrees-chain-stretch.html

evap fin cleaning:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=156207&highlight=evaporator

A/C thread

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/297462-c-recommendations-mb-vehicles.html

Brake fluid is NOT something you want to experiment with!! Anyone who puts canola oil into their brake hydraulic system is a darwin award candidate.

It's not just the unknown properties of canola oil as brake fluid, it's also unknown how the brake caliper seals and master cylinder seals will hold up to this untested fluid. Remember - oil causes rubber to deteriorate. Rubber seals that contact oil have to be formulated to specifically endure contact with that particular oil.

Brake fluid is already eco-friendly since it's fully recyclable. What do you want to dump it in a storm drain or something?? I take my used brake fluid, engine oil, coolant, to the county recycling center and they have separate containers for all these things.

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'98 E300 turbodiesel

I was told by Citroen Co reps that the original decision to use brake fluid /Dot 3was because LHS was not available in the US

Half of my collection is for sale because it's gotten too big.
E-mail me off line. My (thinks he knows it all) son doesn't want the Benz 240D that just got rebuilt before I got sick, so I'm selling that too with an extra perfecto interior for 2500 firm.

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

i remember seeing a show about all of the american cars in cuba. they used shampoo for brake fluid.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it