My power steering system was squeling so I figured it needed more fluid. I accidently topped off the brake fluid container instead of the power steering fluid container. I figured it would be fine since it wasn't that much...

A week later I am driving and my ABS and BRAKE lights come on and my braking becomes very sketchy so I took it to Midas yesterday since they did my brakes last time. Well I guess power steering fluid makes the brake seals swell very badly. They wanted 800+ to fix everything that got messed up from the power steering fluid.  I just decided to have them flush the fluid and replace the master cylinder cause that was shot.  It costed 270 for them to do that, I think the only other thing is the calipers since the fluid did not get to my drums.  Now I have to figure out how to replace the calipers and while I am at it replace my pads and rotors cause those are way past due.

by the way, my vehicle is a 2000 Dodge Durango.. Don't make the same mistake I did...

Ouch...  that's unfortunate.

Two other fluid mixing scenarios I've experienced:

1)  "buddy' suggested my weeping transmission seal would  be all better if he added a shot of brake fluid to the transmission fluid.  He was a car lot owner so I figured he'd probably tried this home remedy before.  Short story is it cost me $500 to tow it back home that week after failing the transmission seals real bad on the northern TransCanada highway in the middle of nowhere with my wife.  Lesson learned:  travel alone.  

2)  Transmission cooler on my late 90's caravan failed, which is integral to the main radiator.  Transmission fluid in the cooling circuit of the motor and coolant in the transmission (appearance of a strawberry milkshake throughout).  No problem...just flush & fill, right?   Not...  One week later the transmission puked.  2 weeks later the water pump and crossover coolant circuit puked.  Changing a water pump on a Mitsubishi 3L is a bear of a job, and the tranny wasn't even close to free.  Lesson learned:  Pressure test the rad occasionally, or just replace it on a routine basis.  Cheap insurance.

Horses were so much more reliable.

I found a step by step tutorial with pictures on doing my pads and rotors on a dodge durango forum. I also found just a word by word tutorial on how to do the calipers. I think I am going to do cross drilled rotors and performance pads cause they will only be another 40 dollars. I also gotta do brakes lines since they have rubber inside of them.

It all comes out to 290 shipped for a set of calipers, brake lines, rotors, and pads. It would be 250 if I did OEM rotors and pads. The shop wanted 800 to do this so by doing it myself I can atleast cut the cost in half. Now I just gotta find time after this to drop my lower unit on my Merc so I can get back on the water.

Joey_Z3R0 wrote on 07/31/09 at 19:57:08:


If you do lines and calipers yourselfthe lines will have to be bled to properly work and I would suggest either have a mechanic do it for you or have one check it over after so if you happen to (God forbid) have an accident and the result is due to brake problem it would be the mechanic on the hook not you. Be safe.  

Well this week during school, my brakes started making some awful noises so I figured I can't wait anymore. I went to auto zone and got some pads and rotors for $145.

I got ceramic pads since they are low noise and low dust.
I went with just the standard rotors.
I also got some brake cleaner and a c-clamp.

The driver's side took about two hours because I had to figure out what I was doing and I had to go to the store to get a 7mm alen socket. I did the passenger side in like 15 minutes.

One of my driver side pads was worn down all the way to the metal (the cause of my noise) and it did some pretty good groove digging in my rotor.

My calipers and rest of my braking system seemed fine so I didn't have to replace anything else. I am happy that my mistake only ended up costing me a master head cylinder replacement.

My one hour drive back to college was a lot better having functional brakes. It was raining though and the only thing I could think of was please don't warp the brand new rotors....

Joey_Z3R0 wrote on 09/21/09 at 07:49:29:


The key to not warping rotors is to make sure they are torqed to spec with a torque wrench and not done with an air gun like most garages do. Heated rotors and uneven torque = warped rotors.  

Possiblly the start of warped rotors. It will feel like a pulsing of the brakes when you apply firm and steady pressure. Torque wrenches can be picked up on sale very cheaply and are well eorth the investment. I use the adjustable clicking one myself all the time.