Guess what percentage of water in a car’s brake fluid could lead to brake failure? Is it 27.9% or just 3%? Well? Here goes a second question: How does water even get into the hermetically sealed brake circuit? And a third one: What benefits do you gain from purchasing our new and extremely affordable BW05 brake fluid tester?
Few people know this: There is a risk of brake failure even with a water content of just 3% in the brake fluid. Since the boiling point of the brake fluid slowly decreases at this point – it overheats when heavily loaded, forms vapour bubbles and the brake pedal fails completely. At that moment, it becomes life-threatening for car drivers and motorcyclists. But how does the brake fluid actually accumulate water little by little? Brake fluid is hygroscopic – although it is located in a closed circuit system, it absorbs water from the air humidity. In the process, the moisture diffuses through hoses in the brake system that are not always absolutely tight or comes into contact with the brake fluid when the brake cylinder cap is opened and slowly dilutes it.
The regular, digital testing of the brake fluid with a professional measuring device like the BW05 is recommended for all types of vehicles or machines that have a hydraulic brake system. With the BW05 brake fluid tester you can quickly and accurately check the water content in the brake fluid of vehicles both in the car repair shop and at home in the garage. In particular for old vehicles and those that are only rarely used, such a recurring control measure is indispensable. Incidentally, did you know that the increased water content also causes an increased risk of corrosion within the entire brake system – up until the ‘seizure’ of the brake?
How it works
The compact BW05 measuring device serves to check the three most important kinds of brake fluid, DOT3, DOT4 and DOT5.1, and is extremely easy to use. After selecting the test mode for the respective kind of brake fluid, the sensors of the digital measuring device are immersed in the brake fluid. Within a few seconds three colour LEDs signal the results of the water content, which are based on the three-stage spectrum of a traffic light:
- Green here also means travel freely, since the water content is below 1.5%.
- Yellow means continue driving, but perform regular checks, since the water content is already between 1.5 and 3%.
- Red means change the brake fluid immediately as the water content has gone above 3% and could lead to the hydraulic brake system failing.
After the check is made, the BW05 is switched off, the sensors are cleaned with a dry cloth and the measuring device is stored in a dry place for its next use. And if you forget to manually switch it off – no problem: the tester shuts itself off automatically after 20 seconds.
Four of the many advantages that I particularly like:
- The suitability for cars, motorcycles and lorries
- The capability of checking the water concentration in brake fluids of types DOT3, DOT4 and DOT5.1 in only a few seconds
- The self-explanatory status display via three indicator LEDs according to the traffic light principle
- The extremely easy use
