Has anyone noticed that many of our favorite brake fluid is gone?(Valvoline Synpower)

[DanDombrowski]

The last 2 times I went into the autoparts store, I've been meaning to pickup some brake fluid to flush my brake system. I've always used the Valvoline Synpower 5.1, which for $5.50 a quart, had excellent properties, even for the track. The dry BP was somewhere near 513°F.

It seemed to never come back in stock, so today I googled it and indeed found that Valvoline discontinued the synpower brand and all they have is regular DOT3/DOT4 fluid, with a dry BP of 480°F, and it costs $5.99/qt.

Sure, I can order the ATE Blue/200 stuff, but the beauty of the valvoline was that it worked great on the track, was 75% of the price of the ATE, and you could mosey down to any auto parts store and pick up 2 bottles. Anyone notice this stuff is gone, and have you found a substitute? I've heard that the prestone synthetic has a dry BP of 500, which is pretty close, but after seeing all of the signs on their coolant that say "Safe for all cars", I just can't help but not trust their advertising.

[ryan roopnarine]

it is no consolation to you, i'm sure, but anywhere that sells synpower product will likely have it on clearance right now. k-mart is running an unadvertised clearance on synpower oil with discounts running from between .50 and $4 quart. my local kmart had the synpower for 3.25 a quart, but i'm going to wait a while until it hits rock bottom. as for the brake fluid dealie--prestone seems to be the only game in town right now, napa wants too much for dot 4.

[DanDombrowski]

Ooh, will definitely have to check out Kmart. I'm actually going to have to use some sort of web-locating service, as I have no idea where there are Kmarts around me anymore.

Yeah too bad about the fluid though. I may break down and buy the prestone if I can't find anything. Too bad too, I like the valvoline.

[zhandax]

After stopping at Autozone and Wal-Mart today and finding they did not have any, I bought 2 quarts at Advance. After reading this, I will go back and buy the rest they have.

[Dave M]

Is this the stuff in a round gold colored bottle? I have two bottles of synthetic valvoline fluid in the garage, I wonder if I should get more.............

Dave

[zhandax]

That is the stuff in the gold round bottle. If you want more, get it while you can.

[Jon K]

FWIW I have a local ... no two local shops that carry both Motul and ATE fluids - I guess I am spoiled. truth is I don't flush my fluid but once a year - its worth mail ordering it at that point.

[zhandax]

I just flushed mine with the new pressure bleeder I built as I had installed new brake hoses. The first version I used on the other car leaked around the fitting to the brake fluid revesoir cap. I drilled a new replacement cap and used silicone sealant on the threaded end of a tubing barb through the hole before tighting the nut and it works like a charm. It is just a gallon bug sprayer with an extra 3' of tubing on the hose (so I can set it on the floor to pump) with a revesoir cap at the end. Put fluid in it, pump it, and back out the drain cocks one at a time. Whe the stream out of the drain cock gets weak, pump the sprayer and repeat until clear fluid comes out. I put an extra piece of tubing over the drain cock so I can more easily aim the sludge into a plastic pop bottle, which I can cap and dispose.

Before starting, I intalled the new rubber grommets where the revesoir pipes enter the master cylinder so I had no air leaks. This is way too easy, but don't forget (I didn't realize this until later) when you finish bleeding, to start the car, pump the brakes a dozen times, and then top off the revesoir with brake fluid.

It took a quart just to get clean fluid out of the front two brake lines. I assume it flushed the master cylinder but I am not pulling the new grommets to find out.