jhomer42

Hi all,

After using one of those brake fluid tester pens, it seems I need to change the brake fluid (I’m at about 189k miles, and it was changed at 172k).

I have never changed the brake fluid before. Anyone have any guide manuals or tips or videos or threads to share? Is this a professional job that I should reserve for the experts only? I’ve done several other jobs on my car, including changing the power steering line, changed the transmission fluid, oil and (most of) the spark plugs.

Also, how many 12oz bottles will I need for the job?

Thank you all

Oro

If the brake fluid was bled and fresh only 12k miles ago, it’s actually not strictly necessary to bleed them again. You can get fresh fluid in and water out another way.

Drain and fill the reservoir under the hood (siphon it out, extract it, etc.). Slowly, the fluid will fully mix throughout the system because of Brownian motion. You can verify this with test strips if you doubt it, but it’s true. If you can repeat it to increase the fraction of new fluid if you want/need to. So unless you need to get air or other contaminants out of a system, this is the EZPZ way to do the service.

I live in very wet western WA. I do this each summer to all the vehicles and the brake performance is high and it saves me a ton of time.

The fluids will communicate and fully mix. Some people initially doubt it, but it’s true.