Brake fluid replacement

[Elaine]

Hello, has anybody else had a postcard from their dealer saying brake fluid needs replacing cos of age of car ? Belle was 2 yesterday,bless her. Dealer said it's Manufacturer recommendation , I queried it cos she's just had her 1st service n got green lights on everything. Was told brake fluid isn't replaced at service but level is checked n boiling point. Hers are perfect but they advise I get it done tho it's not urgent

[Bigfeet]

Surprised that the dealer didn't mention this at the time of the service you had (done at 2 years I guess) but yes it is recommended that you have it done.

It doesn't take too long to do.

[Elaine]

Thank u no it wasn't mentioned after the service tho did get well looked after , free coffee made for me n Belle got cleaned. I'm taking her next Wed at 11am, it's only 30 mins so gonna wait for her. Been promised coffee n can take dog if can't get sitter long as she's on a lead. Poor baby (Ellie) has Cushings n Seperation Anxiety n gets ill if she's left for too long..worse than kids are Cocker Spaniels lol

[Owd git]

Local dealer checked the moisture content of mine at 3 years old and told me it was within acceptable limits and didn't need to be changed!

[Chris_Blue]

Service manua says brake fluid change at 2 years- luckily its included in the service deal
What I didn't know, was that you can get different types of brake fluid, some for road and track use
No doubt it will cost extra, but the brakes don't half get hot, so will be enquiring myself

[heldersm]

hello, I make the bleed my brakes ds3 thp I would like to know the order to bleed.
It would be the front wheel first and then the rear wheels and lastly clutch?
thanks

[ed taylor]

Break fluid is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture). I have never changed my break fluid as recommended on any car I have owned. But as soon as I have needed to remove a caliper or "break into the system " I then replace all the fluid.
You bleed the wheel farthest from the master cylinder then the second farthest "etc".

[Bigfeet]

Break fluid is hygroscopic (absorbs moisture)...

Which is why you should have it changed every couple of years, the moisture in the brake fluid will over time change the boiling point of the brakes which is not good as the brake create a lot of fiction heat.

[ed taylor]

That's as may-be. But I have never had problems with the boiling point of the brake fluid. Perhaps I am not driving my cars hard enough.

[cyclone]

Water in the system also leads to corrosion inside the brake system components. Can anyone say leaky brake pistons. A common cause of having to replace a calipers on disk brakes or cylinders on drum brakes.

[SLC]

How does one check the moisture content of brake fluid?

[lfcrule1972]

I'm sure car shops used to sell a little glass pipette thing that told you, although I might be thinking of antifreeze tester

Nope here's the modern version - http://www.amazon.co.uk/PT-Enterpris.../dp/B005HVG4GQ

[cyclone]

There are a couple of different type testers. A conductivity tester, cheap but not very accurate can get them amazon/ e-bay for less than 20 pounds. The more accurate and therefore more expensive is a tester that heats the brake fluid sample to find it's real boiling point. Those go for a couple hundred and is what your workshop Should be using.

[lfcrule1972]

I'm cheap - I knew it lol

[cameron20020]

Couple of things to keep in mind:
-in order to completely change the fluid, you will need a lexia tool to tell the ABS/ESC/ARS ecu to open up all valves in the modulator. If not, when you change the fluid, what is in the modulator and its associated pipes will remain old fluid.
-more importantly, don't forget to change the fluid before it gets too "moist" I don't so much change it for braking performance, but more so for the sake of seals. Any water the fluid absorbs can be absorbed by the seals too, making them swell slightly.
This means when you DO change the fluid, the seals will shrink and leak, including the seals in the ESC actuator (causing it to throw a fault code and fail-safe offline).

Brake fluid is cheap compared to a new master cylinder, and clutch master/slave.
Not wanting to spread fear, but have others benefit from my bad experience.

A couple of my previous cars suffered these problems from their previous neglectful owners.