Truck's 6 years old, 100,000km, never been done. Looks clean though.

Should I get it flushed?

How much should the dealer charge for it?

Thanks

 

Is the brakes starting to be soft or you just doing preventative maintenance ?

 

preventative. brakes work just fine.

 

A RESOUNDING NO!!!!! My brakes have 300,000 miles on them, and I've never added a drop of fluid to the resevoir. If they're working good, leave them alone.

 

I thought I saw a write up on here how to do it, it's easy to do.

I just sucked the old stuff out of the reservoir with a turkey baster, put in new fluid, then had my daughter pump the brakes while I bled them, starting with furthest wheel from the reservoir.

 

Do you need to flush your brake fluid? Sort of depends on 2 things.

One, if you're having issues with your brakes, such as a soft pedal or your brakes fade during heavy applications, such as towing. Then, absolutely you should (assuming you don't have some other issue).

Two, if your plan is to keep your truck for many more years, then flushing your brake fluid is a good idea. This will remove some of the water that has been absorbed by your fluid and reduce the chances for a break line to rush thru (from the inside out).

But these trucks can go hundreds of thousands of miles without flushing the brake fluid, so it's one of those deals where you could just flip a coin to decide.

 

I forgot the exact percentage, but something like 2% water every year contaminates your brake fluid. I believe the class said it's from condensation. Flushing your brake fluid is a very good idea, expecially if you work where you have a machine. Would i pay to slush it on a beater truck used on a farm, or yard truck? Prolly not. Would I flush it on a truck I drive everyday and have my family in? Absolutely.. I don't know what places charge for it, but if done properly and completely, it's money well spent..

 

I am taking an automotive training course for my new job where we are getting a crash course on everything. This question came up yesterday, and he said that the fluid should be replaced every two years to be on the safe side. Also All he does is empty the brake master cyclinder with a turkey baster and thats it. Put your DOT3 back in and your good to go.

jrbhc8

 

Every time I replace pads and/or drums (old school days), I bleed the whole system with new fluid. But I brake late and hard all the time, (dc traffic) so the pedal is normally spongy, and the fluid black by that time.

I always do it myself though, so couldn't guess what someone would want for it.

I just got a $115 dollar estimate for a fuel filter change and $220 for a trans flush, so that's normally why I do as much as I can myself.

 

If that's all you're going to do you might as well not do it, IMHO. If you're lucky, you're diluting the contaminated fluid in the lines but it's not a circulating system. The funkiest fluid is still gonna be at the calipers/wheel cylinders (where the most heat is generated) with the fluid getting less contaminated looking all the way back to the master.

Turkey baster, replace, then bleed & refill like phatbak mentioned is the cheapest way. A hand vacuum or a power bleeder can be pretty cheap too and definitely worth it if you have several vehicles. Like kp02-150 mentioned if it's dark/black and/or the pedal's gotten soft/spongy then you should be flushing the brake system.

But hey, you can choose to be lazy/cheap and I'll be scraping you off a guard rail sooner or later...

 

Like some of the others mentioned, brake fluid is hydroscopic (fluid's natural ability to absorb water). Cycling between hot and cold, condensation occurs. Anyways, if you want to add longevity to your brake system, especially your master brake cylinder, bleed the brakes line with new fluid every couple of years. If your budget allows, use the synthetic brake fluid (better performance, less hydroscopic).

 

It's one of these things people try and sell you at shops because "technically" they are right. Do you have to do it? No, unless there is a problem. It's cheap and easy enough to do but not necessary. I've got 220 000 km's on mine and just changed the front 2 calipers. I ended up fraining a bit more than a bottle of fluid out and bled it, so basically got a half *** flush by another problem.

 

actually, its Hygroscopic...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygroscopic

And just cycling hot to cold will not create condensation... you need moist air from which the water can condense out of.

The brake system is basically a sealed system, providing you keep the cap on. There is a tiny slit in the EPDM diaphragm of the cap that allows air to pull through under vacuum as you wear your brake linings. But that small amount of air won't bring much moisture into the system.

How will bleeding the brakes add longevity to the master cylinder? The seals are EPDM, the pistons are Aluminum, and the body is Aluminum. The only thing that could possibly rust is the springs. But you would have to drive around for a long time with the reservoir cap off for it to suck up that much water. The only way you could trash the MC is if you get contaminants into your reservoir, which is more likely if you take the cap off all the time to flush the system. So I could probably make a decent argument that frequent flushing will reduce the life of the master cylinder.

But I won't go there...

svt2205 was pretty much on the money with his comments... but even with his Point #2 you could probably go 100K miles or more before bothering to flush the system.

 

I think it's a good idea to leave your brake fluid alone. It is an easy way to introduce dirt, make the calipers bleed holes leak, get air in the system, and **** away money. Besides, the owner's manual doesn't say to replace it.

But to each his own!

Now I RELIGOUSLY change my blinker fluid every 3,000 miles.
And I change the air in my tires every time I grease my muffler bearings!