This is what brake fluid can do to your plastic.

[raybear71]

My mother in-law passed away in March and my wife went to Michigan to take care of things. The first week of May I went to bring her and everything from the estate home. Before I left for Michigan I went for a nice long ride and when I parked the bike I noticed a drip of brake fluid on the right upper fairing. As far as I could tell it was coming from the back side of the plunger. No big deal right? I would look into it when I got home. Bad idea. I arrived home three days later and found the master cylinder had emptied out. I cleaned it the best I could, but it was too late. Over the next hundred miles or so pieces would just fall off as I rode down the road. My bike was previously laid down on the right side so the spidercracked fairing didn't help. I guess this is one of those lessons I learned the hard way. At least the left side still looks good.

[Flyinfool]

OUCH!!

Rough way to learn that lesson.

 

Most of us already know that lesson.

 

I hope your pain helps someone else avoid the same issue.

 

Loctite is almost as bad for plastic too.

[Trader]

Jayceesfolly had the same thing happen on his newly painted bike.

 

OUCH.

 

He posted some pics on here from his experience last summer.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Yeah we should sue the manufacturers. What other consumer product can bleed acid on itself?

 

[JohnMidnight]

yep... it'll do it... The Lady's left and right terminals are damaged because of brake fluid. We didn't get the fluid on the right quick enough so it caused damaged. The left side... the "spy hole" blew out

[raybear71]

On a positive note, the right side plastic needed replacement anyhow.:rotf:

[saddlebum]

On a positive note, the right side plastic needed replacement anyhow.:rotf:

I wonder if the new synthetic brake fluid is just as bad -----anyone willing to give it a try and do a report.

[gibvel]

Not just your plastic either. It will do a royal number on the paint on a steel tank also!!

[timgray]

I always wondered why the sight glass was plastic and not "glass" like it is supposed to be.

 

I guess Yamaha was hoping all these bikes would have been melted down as scrap by now.

[Gray Ghost]

I wonder if the new synthetic brake fluid is just as bad -----anyone willing to give it a try and do a report.

DOT 5 is silicon based and will not harm plastic like the glycol based brake fluid will. There are other factors though. Glycol will absorb moisture and spread it throughout the fluid mixture. Silicone based will not absorb moisture. Problem with that, from what I have been told, is that you can end up with pockets of water in places you don't want water. Also that could end up causing corrosion in your system that wouldn't be present with the glycol based.

 

If someone wanted to switch between the two, since they are not compatible, they would need to switch out all the rubber parts in the system and do a total flush.

 

For further reading: http://www.motorcycleproject.com/motorcycle/text/cows-brakefluid.html

[BradT]

On a positive note, the right side plastic needed replacement anyhow.

 

That is not "positive" it is a gentle way of kicking your ass to get r done. Still sucks.

 

Good luck finding the parts the right colour match or a good painter that can paint parts that look faded.

 

Brad