I think reusing old, used hydraulic brake parts without rebuilding
before installation is insane. The cost of some of these parts isn't
even worth the labor to remove them especially rear wheel cylinders. If
the van is being parted out, most likely they are too old to even be
used where they are. No petroleum products should touch brake
hydraulics.  If you must, fill with brake fluid and seal or get some
"Brake Cylinder Paste" to coat the parts. Calipers will have to be
disassembled to grease the cylinders.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of Jonathan Farrugia
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2006 3:47 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Storing Hydraulic Brake Components

so i'm parting out a vanagon and i want to save the hydraulic components
and i don't want them to be rusty on the inside when i decide to use
them.
so i was thinking of draining the system and flushing it with some kind
of
oil/fluid that is not hydrophilic.  i was thinking hydraulic jack oil or
some other type of thin generic oil.

i mentioned this to reputable local shop and the guy there suggested
that
some petroleum based oils might cause seal swelling.  he suggested using
mineral based oil like the pentosin used in the audi power steering
systems.  we also discussed using silicone brake fluid since it
supposedly
doesn't absorb water and silicone paste is what you use when you build
hydraulic brake components and put them on the shelf.

any suggestions and comments on the issue would be great to hear.

jonathan