Painful trip to the dealer today

Because brake fluid is hygroscopic, the moisture collected in the system can rust and corrode the braking components, as well as freeze in the wintertime.

 

Basic good explanation right there. The same goes with power steering fluid. Over time moisture will build up in the fluid and cause internal rusting. I have seen plenty of brake lines, especially high mileage cars and those near the coast (High humidity), that had metal brake lines rust from inside out.

No "magical flush" with the machine. It uses a special cap for your reservoir, and then uses a low pressure to force fluid through the master cylinder, down the lines, and out each bleeder valve. You don't want too much pressure or it won't bleed through the ABS valve controller properly. It's not like you just connect a machine and go. The technician has to hook up the machine, then go to each bleeder at each wheel one at a time and bleed out the system until fresh fluid comes out. Typically it can take up to 30-45 minutes from pulling the car in to pulling it off the rack to complete the job. The machine itself is typically around $4000. Maintenance on the machines and repairs on the machine average around $250-$350 a year. So there is still overhead and profit you have to consider here.

Just because you can take an hour under your car in the driveway to drain your brake lines and do it for the cost of a can of brake fluid and the time it takes you to clean up afterwards, doesn't mean a shop can operate and stay in business for that same $5 can of brake fluid. Now if you want to keep doing things the way you want to do them on your truck, by all means, go for it. I'm not telling you that you have to do anything. What I AM telling you is that if you want to get the kind of mileage out of your vehicles like I have, and keep repair costs down, you should do proper maintenance on them. I have seen cars and trucks and vans with over 750,000 limes on them owned by people who religiously do every bit of general maintenance that should be done. And I have seen others with 150,000-200,000 miles on them that get traded in or junked out because of lack of proper maintenance caused a major failure that was too expensive to fix.

 

Everyone wants a good deal when they buy a new truck from the dealer so the dealer has to make money on parts and repairs to support the sales department. They don't negotiate the price of repairs.