What's involved in a dealership brake flush?
 

Hey guys. As part of our track inspection, we're required to have a brake flush done at least once a year.

What's the actual work involved in this for a Boxster/Cayman? The brake fluid reservoir is under the hood, right? I had mine done and didn't see anything actually touched up front. I'm quite happy with my dealership service so I don't want to call attention to anything unnecessarily but I'm curious as to the process.

I know dealers use a machine of some sort to facilitate the process. Is it all done at the wheels? Do they not add in the new fluid under the hood?

What makes you think they didn't touch anything?
What they're supposed to do is flush the fluid, usually with a pressurized system that allows them to bleed each wheel's two bleed valves without running the reservoir dry. They'll also actuate the ABS system to cycle fresh fluid into the system.

I'm no mechanic, but brake fluid flush is one job I have done myself, and, no, it is not all done at the wheels. You must open the hood to access the brake fluid reservoir. What year is your Boxster/Cayman?


I will also say this: I have used Speed Sport Tuning of Danbury, CT to maintain 3 different track cars including a 2011 997.2, a Cayman R, and now a 1988 924S. Their policy is to flush the fluid after 2-4 track events or about 4-8 hours of track time. When they do a flush there is absolutely no evidence of the work done except a bill.

What evidence were you expecting to see that they opened the hood?

The reservoir should be full before and after the work is accomplished and unless the fluid was old and had never before been changed then the color should be the same as well.

I have a dash cam and reviewed the footage after the service was done. They open the hood and take the plastic cover off. Later they put it back on and close the hood. That's all that happens up front.

If anyone here is a service tech or something, I'd be interested in sharing the footage to get an opinion on it. I don't want to share it publicly because, as mentioned, I'm really quite happy with the dealer so I'm not looking to level any accusations or anything. I'm just looking for peace of mind that I got what I paid for and that when I'm out on the track, all is good and safe.

can you see them add/remove fluid?
all real brake fluid flushes/bleed's are done wheels off, have to purge the fluid and caliper end is where the nastiness is/starts...

That does sound a bit odd, but are you sure the raised hood didn't block anything?

If they weren't going to do anything, it is also odd that they opened the hood and took the covers off. If they weren't going to do anything, I'd expect, well, they wouldn't do anything.

How does the fluid look? It should be clear colorless. It may have just a bit of a tint, usually yellow.

-Mike

No. Nothing seems to happen under the hood up front. That's why I'm posting this.

I'm wondering whether they suck it out and push new fluid back in through the bleeders or something. It seems implausible to me but they do have some fancy machines for this stuff right? So what do I know. :)

I've attached a shot from the dash cam. Is it possible work is happening outside the field of view? It seems to capture pretty much everything.

The car is on the lift though. Can they do it from underneath?

I just added a pic showing what the camera sees.

I agree. Then again, this might just be standard procedure or something. I mean, I've looked at the dash cam footage before from just getting an oil change and they pop the hood for that too. Oil is filled from the trunk though. I expect they have a standard inspection procedure that involves checking the fluid levels under the hood.

If it wasn't done, I wouldn't expect it was a deliberate thing. I wonder if the tech just thought he was only doing an oil change and misread the work order or something.

I honestly haven't looked at it yet. :)

Does the invoice have a line item for brake fluid? If not the tech might have eyeballed the fluid and decided it was fine. That's not necessarily his call to make, but it would be an explanation. But I don't know how you bleed brakes without some activity at the reservoir.

Maybe you should just ask the dealership, carefully and tactfully.

Why were you running the dashcam?

-Mike

Yes it does. Service included a brake flush. There's parts and labour in that. I can check the invoice tonight to get the exact wording but there's no ambiguity there.

Yeah, that's my plan after this discussion. I just wanted some opinions first before I had that conversation.

The dash cam is always running. I didn't go in with any suspicion or intent to stage an investigation or anything. The only reason I looked at the footage at all is because I mounted the camera slightly differently than usual to try to avoid the exposure changes I normally get over hills and stuff when taking track videos. I was just looking to see if the new aim was too low.

Push back fluid from the caliper....LOL
I'm not a mechanic either but I've done a ton of brake fluid flushes and bleeds and it would be news to me that there is an alternative spot to add new fluid than from the reservoir.

Your post is very weird....with a pro machine you could do a flush in 10min and charge $160! Why skip actually doing it....

If they didn't do it, then I fully expect it was an oversight and not some sort of scam. If I thought they'd tried to pull a fast one on me or something I'd be a lot more angry and far more vocal about the who/what in the matter.

wouldn't be the first time I've seen a dealership charge for a fluid service and not do it...I've seen cartridge oil filters that haven't been touched in MANY years despite having frequent oil change at brand dealerships :( ..average consumer never checks(can't without removing the canister)

There is no "if", to "flush" the fluid properly they need to introduce new fluid into the system via the reservoir.. takes about a pint to be sure no old fluid remains in the system. If they have some trick way of removing all old fluid and keeping the reservoir full without actually adding new fluid to it I'd love to hear it..