Many don't have a drain bolt. Have to take the whole pan off, 10-20 bolts, spill fluid down yourself as the fluid sloshes over the edge. Clean the strainer and filters. Then you need a new gasket.
Or you suck some (50%-80%?) of the fluid out of the fill tube and refill. And F**K cleaning the strainer and filters.
Indeed. And some need a computer hook-up to get the level right.
Chris
Brake fluid absorbs moisture from the atmosphere over time. Reducing its boiling point.
Also changing it regularly - say every two years - extends the life of the calipers and cylinders etc.
Other slight problem is if the fluid is obviously 'dirty' it means things ain't right inside the box. Clutch plates etc beginning to break up.
Absolutely.
Bit the same as never changing the engine oil. Provided it is kept topped up. Could well be 'ok' for many times the recommended milage interval for changes. But will shorten the engine's life.
Right. Gearboxes and clutches are so much cheaper to replace than brake pads. ;-)
And you've still got a considerable quantity left in the torque converter (if that type of auto).
You'd need several changes to actually replace most of it with new.
Gosh. I've been doing it wrong for all of these years. My garage is anything but cheap.
Jeez, don't let my Focus hear that or it'll start whining at me for some TLC. It's had the same brake fluid, coolant and cambelt on it since Ford made it in 2001.
If you want to keep it, rather than wait till it breaks and scrap it, I would seriously consider changing the cambelt asap.
Chris
You've had the car from new?
Can't imagine Focus calipers are particularly expensive, so...
*ding*
But much more predictably likely.
Same brake fluid. And you have lived to tell the tale!!!!!!!!
Had it since March 2004. Can't imagine anyone changed any of those things before that. But by any measure they're nearly 11 years old.
If it was a problem there would be millions of cars failing MOTs on brake fluid. I guess that the vast majority of MOT brake failures are cured by replacing only the pads/disks and with no wholesale replacement of fluid.
The MOT is a minimum standard and can be easily passed with badly neglected cars.
and the only check on the brake fluid is whether it has any.
The brake fluid isn't testable in the MOT. The MOT tests the brakes cold, so fade due to boiling won't show.
You're forgetting all the leaking or seized calipers and wheel cylinders.
Possibly because the test only loads the braking system up for a short time which is unlikely to fry them,
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