Should brake fluid be flushed on a regular basis?

[mechtech2]

The simple turkey baster flush will help a lot is you perform a number of changes with ample driving time in between.
It mixes [eventually] and you get fresh fluid in the whole system.
It is a clean and easy way to do it, and you will not have any open lines or mess.
[Suck out the fluid, and replace with fresh.]

 

[Big Jim]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
The simple turkey baster flush will help a lot is you perform a number of changes with ample driving time in between.
It mixes [eventually] and you get fresh fluid in the whole system.
It is a clean and easy way to do it, and you will not have any open lines or mess.
[Suck out the fluid, and replace with fresh.]


In your dreams.

If you are going to bother with a flush, do it right. Doing the master cylinder only is for Disneyland.

 

[cos]

mechtech2,

Yikes! I'm surprised that you all of people are recommending this. We just had this issue/method buried in another thread and you bring it up again.

I completely disagree - the brakes must be bleed to THOROUGHLY flush the system.

 

[sprintman]

Some people are so lazy it beggars belief!

 

[mechtech2]

As a professional in the business, I know about bleeding brakes.
I also know that a turkey baster flush[es] is better than no flush.
This is common sense. You are always better off doing this, than not doing it.

I have also fixed brakes on cash poor customer's vehicles with turkey baster flushes.

Why discourage anyone from using this safe and beneficial maintenance technique?? It has it's place, for sure.

 

[byez]

After seeing what came out of my truck's brake lines I will never do the turkey baster method. Saw 6 years worth of rust & dirt being emptied.

On the Ram its simple, I don't even need to take the wheels off or lift the truck.

 

[XS650]

Mechtech2, it's a little better than doing nothing, but if it is used as an excuse to not do the job correctly, then it's a net loss.

 

[cos]

mechtech2,

So what do you charge "cash poor" customers for a master cylinder fluid change?

 

[moribundman]

What do you call a professional who uses a turkey baster? A master baster?

 

[mechtech2]

byez - If you did the turkey baster flushes, you wouldn't have had that crud in the system.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: cos
mechtech2,

So what do you charge "cash poor" customers for a master cylinder fluid change?


thats what i want to know. when i worked at sears they charged $32 for a brake flush, i dont see how thats expensive at all.

 

[dk1604]

Originally Posted By: mechtech2
The simple turkey baster flush will help a lot is you perform a number of changes with ample driving time in between.
It mixes [eventually] and you get fresh fluid in the whole system.
It is a clean and easy way to do it, and you will not have any open lines or mess.
[Suck out the fluid, and replace with fresh.]


This should be easy enough to prove or disprove. Just do a complete flush with ATE Gold and then turkey baster the reservoir with ATE Blue. In a few months, before everything goes coffee coloured, check if any of the ATE Blue has made it down to the wheel cylinders. Any takers?

 

[cos]

I was thinking the same thing - ATE blue ought to put this rest.

 

[MrCPU]

I suppose due to friction with the wall of the brake line, eventually the fluids might mix, but given the tiny motions, I would think it woudl take ages and ages.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: dk1604
This should be easy enough to prove or disprove. Just do a complete flush with ATE Gold and then turkey baster the reservoir with ATE Blue. In a few months, before everything goes coffee coloured, check if any of the ATE Blue has made it down to the wheel cylinders. Any takers?


That's never before been done.

Actually, many people alternate between ATE yellow and blue fluids.

When I crack the bleeders on the calipers open, fluid with visible dark, cloudy streaks comes out for maybe a second. On occasion there are air a few tiny air bubbles. If the fluid were, as proposed by the professional mechanic, to reach indeed contamination equilibrium, that which I always observe should never occur. I therefore propose that basting the brake fluid (

) does not suffciently "refresh" the old fluid all the way down to the calipers. And it is right there inside the calipers where thermal stress and particles from wearing brake piston seals degrade and contaminate the fluid most. Basting the brake fluid reservoir will also not get rid of any trapped air in the system. Hence, even if performed by a master baster, the basting should be reserved for the Thanksgiving turkey, who's already dead and doesn't need any brake service.

 

[moribundman]

The above was written while being overly tired, not to say exhausted.

 

[KBK]

Yeah, based on the moisture stuff, I agree that the fluid should be drained. Preventive Maintenance, that's my opinion.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Flushing is piintless where the pads are in place and there fluid in the cyl bore remains. I flush only when I do a brake job, period.

 

[mechtech2]

I see that I have been painted into a corner where I have to defend a turkey baster flush as the best possible method for all situations.
I wasn't aware that I held this belief.

But there is a lot of movement in a brake system - it mixes.

 

[double vanos]

I just mix the task in yearly when I happen to be rotating the tires.

I always use the manufacturer branded fluid and have yet to have anything go wrong with the brakes on my cars.

Depending on the car, I use either the Motive pressure bleeder or a Griots garage suction type bleeder.

The brakes always feel great because of the yearly change intervals.