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How long does brake fluid last?
- Thread starter Big Jim
- Start date
biminiLX
Hard-core CEG'er
Wow Jim thats a great read and very ironic timing, since I stopped in to scheduled a brake fluid flush yesterday. I need to get my winter tires installed so I asked the local Ford dealer. They do have a machine that flushes the system so I thought $59.99 seemed reasonable :shrug:
My car just past 30k and the brake fluid looks great but I was planning on having it done as its almost 10 years old.
I've never had a brake system flush before, what are your thoughts?
Is the fluid they'll use at the Ford dealer good?
Thanks, J
My car just past 30k and the brake fluid looks great but I was planning on having it done as its almost 10 years old.
I've never had a brake system flush before, what are your thoughts?
Is the fluid they'll use at the Ford dealer good?
Thanks, J
todras
Pretty fly for a white guy *cowbell*
$60!!!!!! Have fun.
very intersting timing. I just flushed the brake fluid in my SVT this afternoon. I took a turkey baster to the resevior and repalced the fluid. I then bleed all four wheels and the clutch. The fluid that came out of the rear calipers was pretty nasty looking.
also on my mystique a few years ago the fluid was so bad that when the abs kicked in the pedal turned to a brick. after changing the fluid in the reseivor it was alot better.
also on my mystique a few years ago the fluid was so bad that when the abs kicked in the pedal turned to a brick. after changing the fluid in the reseivor it was alot better.
Big Jim
Hard-core CEG'er
Great price. You should ask what fluid they use. Many dealers use the fluid provided by the company that loans them the flush machine. Sometimes that fluid is better than Ford's, sometimes it isn't. The DOT 4 fluid provided by both MOC and BG is very good.
Ford's fluid is a very high quality DOT 3 fluid with a dry boiling point of 550 degrees F. It's wet boiling point isn't very good so that is why it is classified as DOT 3. Dry & wet refers to fluid with no moisture content and fluid that is saturated with moisture. Personally I prefer to use a high quality DOT 4 fluid, even if the dry boiling point isn't quite so high.
And I think that at 10 years you are overdue.
biminiLX
Hard-core CEG'er
Thanks for the info., I definitely planned on asking what fluid they used, but I doubt there will be a choice :shrug:
I hear you on the 10 year comment. I just bought the car last Nov. and it had been very well maintained. It may not be 10 years old and looks fine but I have no idea, so it was on the list.
-J
biminiLX
Hard-core CEG'er
Thanks as usual for your large contibution :nonono:
-J
todras
Pretty fly for a white guy *cowbell*
No prob. Have fun getting raped.
todras
Pretty fly for a white guy *cowbell*
Are you running ATE super blue?
I also bleed the brakes again on my mystique. I had changed out the fluid a few weeks ago. again the fluid from the rear brakes was nasty. didn't take long to get better looking fluid to the brakes.
CSVT1214
Addicted CEG'er
Same situation on my brothers Mystique.
The fluid from the rears, especially the drivers side
shrug was nasty. It was coming out with tons of bubles, crap floating around in the fluid, and just a dark nasty color. After all corners were bled, it felt like a totally different car.New pads, rotors, rear disc swap, and all corners bled.
No. It's too expensive. It's nice that it turns clear to let you know when to change it. I just used the last bit of valvoline syntech. They don't seem to make it anymore. It has a good dry billing point. Wet is meh though. I'll be switching to some super 600 stuff soon. I forgot who makes it, but I can get it locally.
Scratch that. It's US brake Ultra HTX. It's the same price as the super blue, but it comes in a bigger bottle. It's boiling points are 618 dry and 421 wet compared to super blue at 520 dry and 396 wet. The only brake fuid that I know of with a higher wet boiling point is castrol srf at $79 a liter. It's boiling points are 590 dry and 518 wet.
Silver Bullet
CEG'er
The ATE is not so expensive. You can find it for $12 a liter and about 2 liters is all that's needed for complete flush. The blue color really makes it easy to tell when lines flushed good. And then the next flush switch to the ATE TYP200 for same reason. It is exact same formula as Super Blue just Amber in color.
Dyoel182
Addicted CEG'er
I did the color change thing once but then just kept using the silver bottle dot 4 from autozone. Open the speed bleeder, pump 10 times and repeat on each wheel.
Dyoel182
Addicted CEG'er
Indeed. They are amazing until a shop guy who was supposed to just be putting the new tire on tries to tighten it for some reason and twists it in half leaving you with a caliper that will need to be replaced the next time you wanna bleed the brakes.
2000SilverSVT
Veteran CEG'er
The fluid itself does not change color. There are two different ATE fluids. One is blue the other is gold. When you alternate colors the fluid changes colors when all the old fluid is flushed out. The blue fluid will not turn gold when it needs to be changed.