front brake reservoir

[Tapartacus]

Hello everyone, I was changing the front brake fluid on my 92 fj and when I opened the reservoir cap and pulled off the rubber gasket I found a thin notched aluminum plate sitting lengthwise in the reservoir. It runs the length of the reservoir and is notched to fit around the cap screw channels and is about a half inch wide. Any ideas what this is or to be more specific what it does?

Thanks
Andrew
PS the bike is from California. I've checked microfiche and there is no reference to it in the diagram of the front master cylinder.

[Pat Conlon]

It's a anti splash plate.

With the cap off, (like when you are bleeding the brake) without the plate, when you squeeze and release the lever you will see a little fountain of fluid squirt up from the piston from the return stroke.

I took them out on my '84 so I could clean the gunk out from underneath the plate. I never put them back, no biggie 'cause I use DOT 5 fluid so if I get a little splash now and then, no worries.

HTH  Pat

[Tapartacus]

Thank you Pat! Thats funny because when I bled the brakes I used a Mityvac so I only pulled on the brake lever to seat the pistons in the calliper but when I did that the fluid did exactly what you said (I had removed said plate) Luckily I had wrapped a towel around reservoir and under to protect paint.
Cheers
Andrew