Brake question

1) that depends on the state your rotors are, nobody can tell you yes or no with out actually looking and measuring rotors.

2) your safeset bet is to go with OEM. Different people will have different opinions and different experiences.

3.) Brake fluid is max 5 years or 50k miles. whichever comes first. Unless you did heavy towing then you may need flushing sooner. To be on save side you should probably not run fluid past 3 year mark.

 

Just because you never did it doesn't make you right. Cars and trucks a like are very hard to notice the differences between good and bad brake fluid because you have a brake booster between the input and the out put, but more than just a noticeable difference there is also the attraction of moister that corrodes the lines from the inside. I never thought this needed to be done until I started riding motor cycles. There are no brake boosters on motorcycles so the forces are more equalized and the feed back is in the lever/pedal is greater. I have a 2003 Honda vtx that has seen very minimal miles but when I got the bike in 2005 the breaks were absolute garbage My breaking options where very poor stopping power or straight to locking up the tires (not good on a motorcycle) after a year of dealing with the garbage brakes did a total brake flush and it made a total world of difference. The Brakes were so much improved that I actually looked forward to stopping more than I liked actually cruising on the bike.

I recently bought a 2000 Celica to use as a daily driver. The Brakes felt fine but with my experience with the motorcycle I decided to completely flush the brakes on the Celica as well. Even though it is harder to notice the difference the brake pedal did feel firmer and less mushy.

My Tacoma I have had since it was new but I flush the fluid every 15k. So far there haven't been any noticeable effects between changes but I drive the truck a lot less now so the fluid will have more time to age and I'm shore I will be able to notice the difference.

 

x2
Those who say no need for flush will quickly change their mind when one of those brake lines rusts from inside. Main line going to the back has labor price tag of over $1000.
Honestly, I would ask atleast $2000 for that work the number of bends that needs to be made and all the things that needs to be removed.

 

I have 56k on my fluid now, my brake pads are fine and have 30% left up front. I don't believe I need a fluid change yet. I was only ASE certified Master Automotive tech for twenty years, and a third generation mechanic. Maybe I need more training? Yes it is good to change the fluid once in a while, but every five years or 50K? You get that from the manual sold by Toyota? go ahead, not me.

 

Well its simple thing change fluid put in clear bottle and let it sit for a while for all the dirt to fall to bottom. If I knew we will have this discussion I would have taken a picture of mine.
Replaced my Tacoma fluid at 45000 but after 5 years. It was crap with a lot of water. If you feel you have no need to replace then don't but regardless what you think fluid needs to be replaced. I rather spent $10 on fluid every 5 years then $1000 getting brake lines replaced or worst ABS system replaced.

 

Any training you paid for that said you don't need to worry about changing your brake fluid ripped you off. After only one year brake fluid can soak up to 2% water which can lower the boiling point to 320 degrees from 460 degrees. Your brakes are only the most vital safety component on your vehicle. I wouldn't worry about changing it either.

 

x2. I did mine at 5 years, 70k miles when I changed out my pads and rotors. The fluid looked pretty nasty! Brake fluid, just like engine oil, ATF, gear oil, etc, is cheap insurance against costly repairs.

Leggo, you laugh at the 15k mile fluid change but I change my motorcycle brake fluid every 3k miles or less. You're the master tech, you of all people should know what hot/cold cycles do to fluids. I actually can't believe that as a master tech you'd be against preventative maintenance.

 

Everyone just needs to relax a little. I am just trying to point out that it is not as critical as most think.

 

the other tech seems to agree

 

Actually this made me go look at my brake res. and the fluid is clear as vegetable oil at 56K miles. However it is a little low, so I must be getting close to needing front pads.

 

If your brake fluid is black, then you have waited too long to change it. Do you wait until your engine oil is black and the engine is knocking to change it? Do you wait until your tranny fluid is black and it is slipping? You shouldn't be, you should be performing preventative maintenance. Why take the chance when it is so cheap to do? I can't believe that anyone would argue to not flush the brakes.

 

I am just saying it's not as critical as people are told. Yes it's good to do once in a while but not every two years. thats overkill. go ahead and change it every two years or 50K if you like. But don't tell me I have to do it or I will damage my vehicle, because thats not true, not in my climate.

 

Man....you try to be honest around here and get jumped all over. As a mechanic you cant win. People look at you as either a crook for overselling maintenance, or "you are not a very good mechanic" because you say certain services are less essential than others. In my experience, 99% of customers think brake flushes are a scam no matter what you tell them.

Yes, brake fluid does brake down and become contaminated over time and changing it out will prolong the life of the systems components and can improve braking. Most vehicle owners honestly never change it and how many people really have problems cause by dirty fluid? The most common things to replace beyond pads/rotors that I saw were seized calipers from people driving with pads/rotors metal to metal and rotted lines from all the road salt in the winter. Bad hoses, wheel cylinders and master cylinders were very uncommon - usually seen on vehicles with mileage near 200 K. Again, this was my experience.

I would never tell someone that changing any fluid in their vehicle is a bad idea. I just think that brake fluid can be changed as needed instead of at a set milage. Obviously, if it looks bad...change it. But brake system flushes are not customarily done with every pad/rotor change.

If you do decide to do the flush, just be careful not to introduce any air into the system as your pulling the old stuff out. As someone stated above, I usually just bleed a little fluid out at each wheel and then top off the master cylinder with fresh fluid. Good luck!

 

HEY!!! Knock that off!

The Internet is no place for a well thought out, reasonable opinion.

 

That's probably the best idea. No need to go full flush, and the idea of replacing rotors or drums when replacing pads is goofy. Both rotors and drums are designed to be ground down a little bit at each pad change to even out the surface and provide a clean, flat braking surface.

Certainly you need a good brake shop you can depend on to do the work right, and watch them like a hawk when they're doing it.

 

I think newer brake fluids are more hygroscopic the the older types so it is good to change it every so often.

 

you folks changing your clutch master and slave cylinder fluid too?