$5 -coolant flush , brake and ps fluid

[chad8]

2001 ranger with 62000 miles. coolant looking bad. I had a bottle of b-g cooling system flush I bought for a dollar at a flea market. I drained and filled the system with water and flush . ran for 20 minutes with heat on high. drained the system . filled it up with water and ran it until the heat was good again drained it again. nice greasy looking coolant.
then I closed closed the system. Put a half gallon+ of low tox prestone I bought at a moving sale for a dollar. I put in a gallon of nissan oem green I got from a buddy who worked at a dealership for free and a bit of peak green I had to use up in the reservoir mixed 50/50. That was another dollar find. system done
The brakes and ps fluids I emptied with a turkey baster. refilled with super tech brake fluid and maxlife ps fluid.the ps uses a cup or 2 to refill. I will do this again in a week . this time with amsoil transmission fluid I found at a hardware store closing for $5 a quart and more super tech.$3.77 a quart at wally world. you only use a cup of brake fluid. brake fluid does migrate through the system so no real need to crack the bleeder screws despite what you have been told. 2 or 3 flushes over 3 weeks time and you are set.
potential problems addressed and peace of mind
taken care of.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: chad8brake
fluid does migrate through the system so no real need to crack the bleeder screws despite what you have been


Not so sure about that.

 

[hate2work]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: chad8brake
fluid does migrate through the system so no real need to crack the bleeder screws despite what you have been


Not so sure about that.


+1 There are several accounts on the net where people have turkey basted the old fluid from the resorvoir and filled with the blue fluid, and later when bleeding the lines there is zero blue fluid anywhere near the calipers. That's also why most people who track their car hard will do a quick brake fluid bleed to get fresh fluid back to all four corners where it has been damaged by the heat of so much braking. If the brake fluid circulated/migrated to the calipers they wouldn't have to do that.

 

[babyhuey]

Wow I hope nobody takes this advice to heart.Brake fluid doesnt circulate through the system.There is no physical way for it to return.For the coolant flush,I wouldnt try that on anything with the rad lower than the engine.

 

[cos]

Quote:
fluid does migrate through the system so no real need to crack the bleeder screws despite what you have been


Test that theory with blue brake fluid - you won't like the results.

 

[mechanicx]

I figure a job worth doing is worth doing right especially on my own vehicle. I would've got approved good quality new fluids. G-05 for the coolant, Valvoline Mercon ATF etc. But that's just me.

 

[chad8]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
I figure a job worth doing is worth doing right especially on my own vehicle. I would've got approved good quality new fluids. G-05 for the coolant, Valvoline Mercon ATF etc. But that's just me.


Yes , and you have 2500 posts on an OIL site. A 10 year old truck needs just equivalent fluids to what it had. No , I do not think you need or want advanced fluids . Some are even harmful.
Would you put mercon 6 in a transmission that called for mercon 3 ? I think not. Would you use oat coolant in my truck ? no again. There was no signs of corrosion in the cooling system just old worn coolant.
The brake fluids do travel no matter what you have been told . I have seen it myself more than once. It depends on the vehicle how far it travels. . Remember , this is a closed system . Hydraulic pressure does move fluid through the system . Maybe not completely but why open a system when it did not need repair. There was no sign of moisture or corrosion.
After 35 years working on cars , I know much better than most how to keep them operating just fine thank you kindly .I just want to share the minimums that can be accomplished successfully by the average owner.
Some people like overkill and I think it is you. I am sure you are using amsoil or other boutique oil in 3000 mile changes with nothing to show for it ,but a lighter pocketbook and peace of mind for yourself. that is fine for you. The average person does absolutely nothing to their cars and that why they break down. Its the lease and drive mentality. I am pro-active ,but not anal. Just to further my point.
i have been on the road 33 years driving over 1 million miles and over 50 cars owned. Not one major breakdown beyond a water pump on a car with 120000 miles.I have not been to repair shop in years.
two of my cars currently have over 200000 miles on them.I get it on car maintenance. I am just sharing my experience and what works. I hope you understand.

 

[hate2work]

Chad, I have no problem with you sharing your penny-pinching prowess and your coolant/ps fluid frankenbrew with us, but when you state things that really are not true, then I have a problem.

For you to tell readers that the brake fluid migrates through the system is just wrong, because it doesn't. You can replace/refresh the fluid in the resorvoir, but that will not do anything to help the fluid in the lines, especially near the calipers. Again, ask anyone who refreshed with the blue fluid and then later bled his brakes.

Take care..

 

[cjcride]

Chad I like your input.
Yet flushing the Brake lines the way they were designed to be is not rocket science and certainly not anal.

Nothing personal.

 

[Propflux01]

Then think of this... If brake fluid does not migrate, why then does the master cylinders fluid get dark as well? seems to me it should stay clear and clean, while only the fluid by the calipers would be nasty??

 

[mechanicx]

A lot of things you said make little sense about fluids and that you had 50 cars and drove 1 million miles. That is an average of 20K miles per vehicle. Brake fluid in the resevoir migrates very slowly as your brake linings wear down. Migration is not the same thing as completely flushing all the old fluid out. Anyway, I'm not going to dicker over it.

 

[mcrn]

Originally Posted By: chad8
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
I figure a job worth doing is worth doing right especially on my own vehicle. I would've got approved good quality new fluids. G-05 for the coolant, Valvoline Mercon ATF etc. But that's just me.


Yes , and you have 2500 posts on an OIL site. A 10 year old truck needs just equivalent fluids to what it had. No , I do not think you need or want advanced fluids . Some are even harmful.
Would you put mercon 6 in a transmission that called for mercon 3 ? I think not. Would you use oat coolant in my truck ? no again. There was no signs of corrosion in the cooling system just old worn coolant.
The brake fluids do travel no matter what you have been told . I have seen it myself more than once. It depends on the vehicle how far it travels. . Remember , this is a closed system . Hydraulic pressure does move fluid through the system . Maybe not completely but why open a system when it did not need repair. There was no sign of moisture or corrosion.
After 35 years working on cars , I know much better than most how to keep them operating just fine thank you kindly .I just want to share the minimums that can be accomplished successfully by the average owner.
Some people like overkill and I think it is you. I am sure you are using amsoil or other boutique oil in 3000 mile changes with nothing to show for it ,but a lighter pocketbook and peace of mind for yourself. that is fine for you. The average person does absolutely nothing to their cars and that why they break down. Its the lease and drive mentality. I am pro-active ,but not anal. Just to further my point.
i have been on the road 33 years driving over 1 million miles and over 50 cars owned. Not one major breakdown beyond a water pump on a car with 120000 miles.I have not been to repair shop in years.
two of my cars currently have over 200000 miles on them.I get it on car maintenance. I am just sharing my experience and what works. I hope you understand.



Would you post a link to mercon 6 and mercon 3 fluids? And if you meant Dex VI and Dex III then many here do replace Dex III with Dex VI like is recommended by the manufacturer of the vehicle and are having good success with it so far.

 

[mechanicx]

Also Mercon V is backspeced for Mercon similar to how GM did with Dex VI. Also Prestone Low Tox is not OAT free, at least not currently according to Prestone.

 

[chad8]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
A lot of things you said make little sense about fluids and that you had 50 cars and drove 1 million miles. That is an average of 20K miles per vehicle. Brake fluid in the resevoir migrates very slowly as your brake linings wear down. Migration is not the same thing as completely flushing all the old fluid out. Anyway, I'm not going to dicker over it.


I have owned cars I never drove , Just fixed and sold . I have driven cars and company vans I never owned , just put miles on.I figure 1000000 miles was a good round and fairly accurate number.
You are correct, the brake fluid is not completely flushed out, but for my purposes it does a decent job of removing most contaminants and moisture . Cars have been known to go hundreds of thousands of miles on factory fill . A pretty common occurrence.
I am trying to point out that the majority of people on this site are like a wolf pack. Highly knowledgeable , but follow the A type leader. The same people who got us to amsoil and redline . I offer a different less expensive alternative that for the average car and truck will work fine.

 

[Drew2000]

FWIW, flushing $4 worth of new brake fluid through the calipers/wheel cylinders is hardly expensive or "type "A"". Not doing it is just lazy.

Heck, on most cars you don't even have to pull a wheel, just hookup a hose and gravity drain into a container until a few ounces runs out. But to each his own. I tend to look at braking systems as the most important component of a vehicle though.

 

[wannafbody]

Mixing low tox antifreeze and regular antifreeze isn't recommended either. Not sure what nasty things might occur.

 

[milwaukee]

No offense Chad but it sounds pretty shadtree to me.

Just because you have done this or that for xyz years means nothing. I've seen men at the golf course that have played for 30 years that just flat out suck.

 

[finalyzd]

Flushing brake fluid does not even take that long, but I see his point about average joe not being able to do it the right way and less expensive alternative that will do the job even tho its half assed. Which is fine for some.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: finalyzd
Flushing brake fluid does not even take that long, but I see his point about average joe not being able to do it the right way and less expensive alternative that will do the job even tho its half assed. Which is fine for some.

+1 It takes me about eight minutes to bleed and flush my entire brake system using a pressure bleeder.

Some of the things you mentioned in your OP are things that either a shadetree mechanic or a hack would do. We try to educate people to NOT do those things on BITOG. So please, instead of spending another $20 on beer, go buy the proper fluids and do the job the correct way. Just because you have gotten away with your half-[censored] procedures for so long does not mean it will work this time or in the future.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Chad, I changed power steering fluid with a turkey baster several times over a month with Maxlife power steering fluid as you do.

For flushing coolant, I use Preston T-flush with tap water from a garden hose every 2-3 years. I use Preston or Peak All Makes - All Models in LS400 for more than 14 years without problems.

But flushing brake fluid I do the standard way, that is release the brake screw to let old fluid out while adding new fluid to master cylinder using pressure bleeder, or extract old fluid from the bleed screw with an oil extractor while adding new fluid to master cylinder. Since brake fluid is needed to be flushed about every 2-3 years, it is not too time consuming nor too expensive.