Inexpensive Vacuum Test Tool & Brake Bleeder

[GAHorn]

The practice of not using already opened hydraulic fluid or engine oil is widespread in aviation but does not apply to the individual operator/owner. In the airline or FBO environment picking up a container that has 5606 written on it and using it when you have no earthly idea how old it is, what other chemicals have been mixed with it etc. is just asking for trouble. That is what I believe the practice is intended to prevent. I once knew a color blind mechanic that picked up a container marked 5606 and proceeded to service the hydraulic resivoir. Turns out someone had put Alodine in the bottle. It contaminated the system requiring every single hydraulic line and component on the aircraft to be changed due to corrosion.

The abhorrent behavior (to my mind) was the person who put alodine in a 5606 container without clearly marking the container otherwise!

A gallon can of "Hydraulic Fluid - Mil 5606" which has been opened and the contents not exhausted... should be closed up and placed back on the shelf for future use. The only reason to toss it into the trash would be if an FBO wanted to charge each customer for a full can of fluid! I'm tired of seeing "misc" charges on repair invoices, supposedly for the purpose of covering "shop materials" such as hand-soap and LPS-1 and paper towels. As far as I'm concerned. those are shop supplies and are the cost of doing business...same as electricity, water, and toilet paper in the bathrooms. I NEVER pay those charges and demand they be deducted from all my invoices lest shops be encouraged to continue the practice. (Would you accept it if a restaraunt charged you for napkins, salt/pepper, or catsup?)

A shop once charged my employer for 100 ft of 18 ga. wire simply for installing a new Hour Meter (which required about 8 ft of the wire.) When they told me they had to obtain a new roll of the wire in order to service the request with the appropriate 18 ga. wire.... I made them hand me the roll of the remaining 92 feet! (They couldn't find it of course, so I made them provide me with another.... I ended up with a full roll, of course! They got the point!)

I have a few gallons of Hyd 5606 for similar reasons. I don't let them get away with that cra.... stuff!

[N2255D]

I find it terribly hard to believe that someone would work on a general aviation aircraft brake system and not know that it used other than an automotive brake fluid. What in hell are they doing dipping into something they obviously know nothing about? What other things have they been working on without basic knowledge? How in hell did they acquire an A&P license, or are they just screwing around blindly like they do on their VW Bug?

Helped with an annual on a 170 in the mid 1990's. It was the first time we had worked on this airplane and found the owner had been using ATF in place of 5606. It's red so it must be alright . Took 3 weeks to finish that annual.

[bagarre]

I find it terribly hard to believe that someone would work on a general aviation aircraft brake system and not know that it used other than an automotive brake fluid. What in hell are they doing dipping into something they obviously know nothing about? What other things have they been working on without basic knowledge? How in hell did they acquire an A&P license, or are they just screwing around blindly like they do on their VW Bug?

To my defense, I've never worked on an aircraft's brake system and I'm not an A&P.
If I was to ever service the brakes on my plane, I would certainly find out what the proper fluid is before grabbing anything off the shelf, the same way I research everything I do before I do it.

My comment was about "most brake fluids" absorbing water and if it could be left on the shelf. I was not recommending someone use DOT anything in their brake system.

[blueldr]

Hey, Walt Weaver,
That ATF was a lot closer than DOT 3 or DOT5 to 5606.