fabchef

Hello everyone, just a few quick questions. To confirm...does my 2009 rx350 take DOT 3 or 4 fluid? Would it be better to use dot 4? I actually have both at my disposal.

in terms of procedure....is it the standard.... rear passanger, rear driver, front passenger, front driver positions? Just pump out old fluid and that's all?

lastly...
if i want to change out the bleeders, i just untwist old and pop in new ones quickly?

thanks
fab

Oro

Dot 3 absorbs less water. Dot 4 has a slightly higher boiling point. They can be mixed. Dot 3 was factory fill in our 05 RX, not sure on later years. If you look on your reservoir cap, the factory fill fluid should be noted.

I live in a wet climate and no longer track or autocross; I use Dot 3 in everything and not Dot 4, regardless of what was the factory fill. You can use whichever based on your preferences, not what is stamped on the reservoir cap. Both are synthetic fluids and one is not “better” than the other - just engineered differently for different applications, with trade-offs.

If you do not suspect contamination in the system or air trapped in the calipers, you can simply drain/refill the reservoir a few times a week apart. It will remove most the water and any contaminants in the fluid, parallel to doing repeated drain/fills on a transmission. This will blow some minds, but yes it works and saves a lot of labor. Also, if you do not have a device like Techstream, Launch, iCarSoft, etc. to fire the ABS system, you will not truly bleed the system anyway.

Leeper

What Oro said. DOT 3 is fine however I do not agree with his assessment of not flushing the whole system in one shot, it will take 1 quart. Do this at least every 4 or less years, a syringe, cheap turkey baster or something to suck out the old fluid out of your brake resevior is very helpful
Procedure is as you mentioned. I used a Mityvac hand pump vacuum (works perfectly) I have a really nice Motive but don't have the Lexus fitting. You can also go with having someone pump the pedal while you loosen the nipple. Speed bleeders are fantastic not sure they're necessary. This is not expensive the cost of a quart of brake fluid is likely under $10 I believe

fabchef

Oro...I don't think i will be racing my rx...hahaha. At 15 years old and crappy roads here in Montreal, i'm trying to be easy on her. Hahaah.
as for the bleeding sequence... isn't it the one i mentioned in my original post??
thanks
fabs

Leeper

Procedure... yep

Oro

It absolutely does not matter; w/ABS it’s not like the old days. Each line has its own origin point at the module, so it makes no difference. Good litmus test for understanding ABS. Even if you wanted to do it “the old way” - it would not be correct as it would be based on module location, not Reservoir/MC location.


This is an RX330:

fabchef

Update...well, i decided to bleed the brakes again today, i also put on new bleeders, wasn't too bad. I used a "one-man" tool i had bought yeara ago (plastic tube with metal valve that opens). On the last pump, i used a rod to keep brake pedal down so i could close bleeder. Went for a drive after, i find that it is a touch better, abs didn't kick in as much.

oh ya..when bleeding brakes, i pumped the pedal about 5-6 times/ corner. Is that enough?

Leeper

Pump until the fluid is new/clear (purged of old fluid) and all the air is out of the line (pedal feels very hard) the number of times isn't significant