I have the original brake master cylinder from my donor c/w reservoir. I have replaced the cylinder with a new item but have been totally unable to source a new reservoir.

The reservoir I have is full of sludge and appears to be devided into chambers internalls so as to make it very difficult to clean...

SO... any suggestions on how to clean the reservoir to a suitable degree?

or alternatively - where to buy a new one?

Cheers

Squirty carb cleaner will shift the crud

i would just search for a emulgator for water and for the brake fluid..

should be one.. high pressue water jet could also be practical..

Tks

Meths, put a load in it then shake it up and pour it out.

hmm fine in theory but how do I get in to clean the front reservoir? I only have the very small opening where it connect to the M/C....

there appears to be so much crud in there that ideally I would like to get a bottle brush or similair in there....

Will meths really do a good enough job?

[Edited on 4/12/06 by DaveFJ]

On occasion I get mould growing inside bicycle dirnks bottles that cannot be removed with a bottle brush. What I do is put in some grains of rice, water and detergent and shke it like hell - the grains help to scour it clean, with some success.

So maybe you could you something similar - small ball bearings rather than rice?

dishwasher?

hmmm - just thinking what joy a grain of rice in a brake pipe could cause....

but good idea... will have to look and see what i can find...

cheers

thought about the dishwasher (we have one in the kitchen at the office) but I can't see how it would clean inside the front chamber - as I say it is a very small opening.....

The heat and steam might help

I've used fine gravel (like fishtank type) to good effect, but obviously same caveat applies as with the rice, make sure you get it all out!

Only use brake fluid.

Water - will take forever to fully dry and if it's not fully dried it will be absorbed by the brake fluid that the reservoir contains and will give a spongey pedal.

Meths etc... - be very careful not to use any Mineral oil based fluid inside the reservoir. Mineral oil based fluids will mix with the final brake fluid (when it's on the car) and it will slowly but surely destroy every seal in the brake system.

BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU USE

Stick it in the dishwasher, as said earlier

All my crappy items , from carbs to cylinder head, have been thru my dishwasher, including fully built nitro engines (r/c aircraft ones)

some parts will need a squirt of oil after

and on the nitro engines I give them a blast of high pressure air thru them. and a squirt of transmission oil in them, then fire them up, never had a rusty one yet !!

tried last night...

couldn't find any bearings so i used 3mm nuts and filled the thing with brake fluid.

20 minutes vigorous shaking and it came up lovely...

thanks for all the advice

now I just have to work out how to get it sit down properly in the M/C seals!

My reservoir's also full of sludge - how do you flush it all out successfully?