When should I change it, got 110k on the car, I think it was done once when it was under warranty. Like 30-40k in.

 

Brake fluid flush/bleed is due every 2 years. I think your car is due to have this done again.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

Every 6 months if you track the car

 

Thanks guys

 

+1 on what they said.

 

+2 on what he said

 

Even if your brake fluid "looks good", you should change it. Brake fluid is hydrophilic, and the last thing you want in a heavy braking application (track use or panic braking) is having your brake fluid "boil" due to a high water content, causing you to lose fluid pressure at a critical time.

 

I bet anything that brake fluid on a street car would never boil - not the case with track driving

the reason to refresh is the water will cause your caliper pistons to corrode and stick / leak not work properly - once every 2 years is good, longer will not hurt but should be avoided since you are risking greater potential damage to precision parts

fluid is super cheap and this can be a rewarding way to spend a Saturday with your car - If you do it yourself you will save enough money to buy all the right equipment needed to do the job right - and then this becomes a very very cheap job

get fluid, a motive bleeder, some tubing, a catch jar/pan, right wrench, jack, and a torque wrench with socket - if you live anywhere near people most likely there is someone who can help you the first time and would do so for a beer and slice of pizza

plus you could make a friend!

now how cool is this!!!

BUT WAIT - I'm not through..... if you choose to do this within the next 15 minutes you could mail me a beer ...yes, that's right - a REAL BEER... to me!!!

so act quickly before time runs out on this limited offer to send me beer AND get your hands a little dirty


(I already been drinkin' can ya tell)

 

I do it every 10,000km or 1 year

 

Why not test the fluid for moisture content first? Most shops have test strips. Agree for track driving maybe good idea to have inspection and change at start of season.. but for street it probably depends a lot on humidity conditions etc. Porsche and bmw are very conservative for obvious reasons .. but if fluid can stay in my toyota for 7 years and just get tested for water content .. why could you not stretch porsche fluid in same interval as pads ... if moisture reading is <2% ?

 

When changing/flushing the brake system, do the same for the clutch system. Its a good, cheap PM measure.

relinuca

 

From my observing the brake fluid during a flush/bleed the nastiest stuff comes ouf the bleed valve followed by less nasty looking fluid.

A test of the fluid's moisture contant may therefore not deliver an accurate report on the moisture content of the fluid because the moisture content may *not* be uniformly dispersed through the fluid.

BTW, I'm glad you are apparently comfortable ignoriing the basic fluid servicing of a very vital safety system of your 7 year old Toyota.

I prefer not to push the envelope with the braking system of my Porsches, at least one that might possibly be capable of traveling 2 times as fast at that Toyota.

Sincerely,

Macster.

 

As far as I know brake fluid is less dense than water, the difference is not as drastic as oil vs water bu there is still a difference meaning that the brake fluid will sit on top in the reservoir and the water will sit at the bottom in your calipers, so doing a moisture test at the reservoir is pretty much useless, and if you are bleeding off fluid at the caliper, may as well bleed it off a little longer and just flush the entire system.

Also good on mentioning flushing the clutch at the same time, even though they use the same reservoir there is a partition that separates the fluid that is to be used for the clutch and the brakes, so flushing the brakes will not touch the clutch side of the system

 

Actually toyota dealer was one that said fluid doesn't need changing on my prius ... yeah it doesn't sound right to me. If you mix brake fluid and water will the water really settle out at the bottom ? I thought the fluid absorbs moisture. Ok maybe that is a test to do this weekend. But get the point that the crap comes out of the bleed nipple first .. so yeah on my p-car I'm on 2 yr flush schedule ....

 

another reason to own a Prius

wait - maybe that is the only reason