Brake reservoir contamination

[texasscot]

Hi all
2003 5.4 RWD 240k miles

i decided to do a brake fluid flush today. I followed my usual protocol of empying the reservoir by suction into a mason jar.
I thought the old fluid looked dark and it seemed to have bits in it. The reservoir itself had a lot of gunk in corners and on the inner walls. I refilled with fresh DOT 3 and then sucked all that out to try to remove as much of the gunk as I could. The attached photo shows the new fluid with gunk after being sucked back out. It’s still full of particles. I then just refilled it and called it good not wanting to pull of it down the lines.
Has anyone else seen this and if so what if anything did you do to fix it? Any help appreciated, I couldn’t find anything on this forum about it.

 

[texasscot]

Edit: solved. I just bought a new master cylinder with reservoir.

 

[whtbronco]

That's one way to fix it, very effective.

Yes I have seen it, on vehicles that do not have the brake fluid changed frequently or that have a reservoir air leak. I flushed the reservoir on my sons Ranger a handful of times to get all the crap out from what I suspect was 13 year old brake fluid. Been fine ever since, 9yrs now. I flush and bleed the brakes every 2 years on each vehicle.

 

[texasscot]

That's one way to fix it, very effective.

Yes I have seen it, on vehicles that do not have the brake fluid changed frequently or that have a reservoir air leak. I flushed the reservoir on my sons Ranger a handful of times to get all the crap out from what I suspect was 13 year old brake fluid. Been fine ever since, 9yrs now. I flush and bleed the brakes every 2 years on each vehicle.

Thanks, sounds like a good plan. I’ve been guilty of flushing at the calipers and just topping up the reservoir. its pretty much impossible to get all the crud out of the corners and there‘s lots of inaccessible areas. The black bits concerned me too, looks like seal material. mostly it looks biological, although I’m not sure that’s possible.

 

[whtbronco]

Yeah it's from moisture in the air being absorbed by the brake fluid and then it makes that black flaky crap. It's sadly pretty normal if there's anyway for air/moisture to get into the brake fluid.