diy servicing options

[jackwalton]

When you say "bleed", did you actually change all the fluid ?

[jeyaar789]

Originally Posted by jackwalton

When you say "bleed", did you actually change all the fluid ?

Yeah, I would say I dumped maybe 1.2 litres of old fluid.

[jackwalton]

Well done in 60 mins. I assume you used air press on top of reservoir rather than pedal pumping.

[RichardTK]

Originally Posted by jeyaar789

Talking about servicing, at 35K I thought I better bleed the brakes after I'd heard some reports
of the caliper pistons having a tendancy to rust and seize [ Ah, fond memories of the trusty old Cortina MK3 ]

With 20 inch alloys the job is made rather easy and the bleeding can be done
without removing the wheels, just work through the spokes if you have wee hands.

The DOT 4 gloop is acceptable if you can't get DOT 3

The old fluid was thick, rather dark and dirty [ unless that's what DOT 3 looks like ]

60 minutes was all that was needed.

DOT 3? Really? Surely that is just a minimum spec, I didn't think it made the slightest difference to viscosity.

Anyone running DOT 5.1 silicone fluid, no hygroscopic degradation? (ah, 5.1 isn't silicone, and DOT 5 is bad for ABS, so that's that question answered).

(Also, where to get 5W20 oil from? The dealer says Chrysler told them to use 5W30 in the Hemi...)

[jeyaar789]

Old fashioned pedal pumping with a " one man bleed kit ".

Pedal is nice and firm and no probs.

Seeing it was a nice sunny warmish day I adjusted the park brake star wheels,
a bit fiddly, but now the pedal travel is minimal and the park brake is holding
the car on the steepest hill in town.

[Pappajohn]

Originally Posted by RichardTK

DOT 3? Really? Surely that is just a minimum spec, I didn't think it made the slightest difference to viscosity.

Anyone running DOT 5.1 silicone fluid, no hygroscopic degradation? (ah, 5.1 isn't silicone, and DOT 5 is bad for ABS, so that's that question answered).

(Also, where to get 5W20 oil from? The dealer says Chrysler told them to use 5W30 in the Hemi...)

Dot 5 is silicon fluid whereas Dot 5.1 is the same as DOT 3 and 4.

the main difference being the boiling point.



Boiling points

Minimal boiling points for these specifications are as follows (wet boiling point defined as 3.7% water by volume):


Dry boiling point Wet boiling point
DOT 3 205 °C (401 °F) 140 °C (284 °F)
DOT 4 230 °C (446 °F) 155 °C (311 °F)
DOT 5 260 °C (500 °F) 180 °C (356 °F)
DOT 5.1 270 °C (518 °F) 190 °C (374 °F)

[UK CHRYSLER 300C]

Our braking system does use the minimum spec brake fluid, look in the handbook, it's all in there, 5/30 oil is fine as long as its the right MB spec,the 229.whatever oil is for the DPF and no other reason no matter what anyone says, that was told to me by a MB technician and not a mechanic ( there is a difference) now that MB diesels including the 3.0 V6 have gone FAPS ( they call it bluesummatorother.. lol) they don't need that spec of oil any more.. To me I think MB have gone backwards if they've gone to the FAPS system

[RichardTK]

Yeah, I got the DOT spec - on my cruder (but driven hard) Capri I'd gone with DOT 5. There is a difference between silicone and glycerol based fluids though in that conventional fluid is hygroscopic, hence needing frequent changes regardless of usage.

Mine's not a diesel. Chrysler specced 5W20 for it for the MDS system; I want the engine to last. I gather most people are just using 5W30.

Dealer quoted £450 to do oil, filters, brake fluid change, sparkplugs (says mine comes up for copper plugs and thus frequent changes). Seems reasonable but I've been burned so many times I hate handing my car over to people - plugs, oil and filters I can change at home and I'd only worry about brake fluid because I hate the thought of snapped bleed nipples. Plugs I'd consider the cost worth the saving in sheer tedium undoing the coils, but I'd do it with a cold engine at home - again, really not into changing plugs in a hot alloy head.

[UK CHRYSLER 300C]

I should have looked at your specs,sorry mate, auto thought you had a CRuD,5/30 fully synth is good for our motors and the MDS will still work, plugs don't need changing for 60,000 miles, my car is nearly 8 years old and done just over 30k and still on original champion plugs and still flies like its new.£450 seems an awful lot, I know someone near me who could look after your car but it all depends how far away you are from him..,,
Don't worry about taking plugs out, it was 5 years before I took mine out to check and they flew out as if they were put in the day before, the Hemi is pretty bulletproof

[badgx]

Mobile 1 ESP is 5w-30 probably the best oil you can get for the hemi Eurocarpart you can pick up for £39 with the savercode. I normally get 2x 5litres, use about ~ 6 litres and save the rest for next service when I would only need just 1x 5litre bottle plus use the remaining spare oil left from the last service.