Replacing Brake Fluid

[McLovin]

I have that exact model.

I find it to be less than useful in the sense that I've tested what I would call "old" and completely useless, brown, thick, dirty brake fluid and it still said it was fine...





Maybe it's the dry climate here???

Not sure.

I tested 3 cars. I know the Hellcat would be fine, and my VW as well. Wife's Acura looked to be pretty dirty. Showed as being in the yellow. Thought it should have been worse. So I was skeptical.

I had leftover dot 3 fluid from years ago that I had no intention of using, so I decided to use it as a test.

Tested initially - tested fine.

I then added a few drops of water. Shook it up, and let it set for a day. Retested and indicated Yellow.

Repeated test with a little more water. Next day it tested Red.

So at least mine SEEMS to work...looking back, I should have calculated out the volume of the fluid, and added 1 % water. Then retest. See what the accuracy was like.

If I find any other fluid laying around, I'll do that.

 

[BULL]

Not sure.

I tested 3 cars. I know the Hellcat would be fine, and my VW as well. Wife's Acura looked to be pretty dirty. Showed as being in the yellow. Thought it should have been worse. So I was skeptical.

I had leftover dot 3 fluid from years ago that I had no intention of using, so I decided to use it as a test.

Tested initially - tested fine.

I then added a few drops of water. Shook it up, and let it set for a day. Retested and indicated Yellow.

Repeated test with a little more water. Next day it tested Red.

So at least mine SEEMS to work...looking back, I should have calculated out the volume of the fluid, and added 1 % water. Then retest. See what the accuracy was like.

If I find any other fluid laying around, I'll do that.

Practical/empirical evidence. Awesome work!

 

[McLovin]

Practical/empirical evidence. Awesome work!

Eh....More along the lines of 'Does this f'kn thing even work?'

 

[SIXGUN]

Brake bleeding per https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/how-to/2019/10/bleeding-out.html

 

[BULL]

Brake bleeding per https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/how-to/2019/10/bleeding-out.html

I skimmed this, I'll read it in depth later.

Of interesting note is the order I saw in there, we seem to have conflicting info...

 

[Alain]

Seems like there is no way to get air out of the ABS module without a scanner tool.

 

[vortecd]

I guess I'm that guy. Never changed brake fluid, never had an issue

 

[Alain]

I guess I'm that guy. Never changed brake fluid, never had an issue

I just changed the fluid in my Hellcat last week. First flush since I bought the car in 2016 so the fluid is 5 years old. Way over the recommended time.
Old Fluid had some debris in it. But I had no performance issues.

Color was still good but I could tell it was starting to go bad. Another year and I think I would have had an issue with a frozen caliper or worse.

On the other hand, my girlfriend’s wrangler had a frozen caliper after 2 years. Car is a 2018 and last year when we bought it I had to rebuild the front driver’s side caliper. sometimes it’s just luck.

 

[Plasticman]

I used to have the same problem (not being able to get fluid/air out of the ABS unit) with my '99 Suburban. Never did buy the scan tool that could perform this operation.

Rob

 

[Prange]

I've always changed it out every 2 years on street cars. Cheap insurance.

 

[TrackDay]

I skimmed this, I'll read it in depth later.

Of interesting note is the order I saw in there, we seem to have conflicting info...

That's the way I've bled mine using my scan tool. It makes a hell of a noise when it activates the ABS, but as far as I can tell it works.

 

[2017 Redline HC]

Does any scan tool provide the ability to do this? I did my brakes recently, I only did the 4 corners when bleeding the new fluid.

 

[Alain]

Does any scan tool provide the ability to do this? I did my brakes recently, I only did the 4 corners when bleeding the new fluid.

This is a great question! I’d be interested in purchasing a scan tool with the capability to activate ABS as long as its not thousands of dollars

 

[2fast4u]

What about Alfa OBD? Maybe someone can chime in as I believe there is a section for ABS.

 

[AeroF16]

I just bought this for my BMW. It will allow me to bleed the ABS and do a bunch of other maintenance items, as well as read/clear codes and function check all the systems on the car.

Got mine for $170 on Amazon. It's popular in the BMW community but you can purchase and download multiple OEM software after your initial purchase if you want.

Might be something better out there but this does what I need it to do at a good price.

https://www.foxwellstore.com/wholesale/foxwell-nt530-bmw-multi-system-obd2-scanner.html

 

[Alain]

I just bought this for my BMW. It will allow me to bleed the ABS and do a bunch of other maintenance items, as well as read/clear codes and function check all the systems on the car.

Got mine for $170 on Amazon. It's popular in the BMW community but you can purchase and download multiple OEM software after your initial purchase if you want.

Might be something better out there but this does what I need it to do at a good price.

https://www.foxwellstore.com/wholesale/foxwell-nt530-bmw-multi-system-obd2-scanner.html

I wonder if anyone has any experience with this particular system on US made cars.
that’s not a bad price, I wonder how much the extra licenses are

 

[thetalonguy]

Does any scan tool provide the ability to do this? I did my brakes recently, I only did the 4 corners when bleeding the new fluid.

Curious...If you're bleeding all 4 corners, and refilling the MC as you do so, what's the benefit of using the scan tool? Does old fluid get trapped in the ABS module so that it doesn't come out through standard bleeding? Not completely up to date on the inner workings of these ABS modules.

Never had a problem with any other ABS car I bleed.

 

[Alain]

Curious...If you're bleeding all 4 corners, and refilling the MC as you do so, what's the benefit of using the scan tool? Does old fluid get trapped in the ABS module so that it doesn't come out through standard bleeding? Not completely up to date on the inner workings of these ABS modules.

Never had a problem with any other ABS car I bleed.

hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in.
I believe you still get the old fluid out of the ABS module with the normal bleeding procedure.

where the scan tool really comes in handy is if you somehow introduced air in the system at the master cylinder and it makes its way to the ABS module. ive read that air trapped in the ABS module is nearly impossible to bleed out unless the ABS is activated (this is where the scan tool come in handy).

With that being said, say you didn’t get any air in the system.

I would imagine that the bleeding process would be much more thorough if you had a scan tools and activated the ABS as you bleed the old fluid from the calipers.
that’s going the extra mile and I’m not sure that’s necessary if you bleed your brakes regularly.

 

[thetalonguy]

hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will chime in.
I believe you still get the old fluid out of the ABS module with the normal bleeding procedure.

where the scan tool really comes in handy is if you somehow introduced air in the system at the master cylinder and it makes its way to the ABS module. ive read that air trapped in the ABS module is nearly impossible to bleed out unless the ABS is activated (this is where the scan tool come in handy).

With that being said, say you didn’t get any air in the system.

I would imagine that the bleeding process would be much more thorough if you had a scan tools and activated the ABS as you bleed the old fluid from the calipers.
that’s going the extra mile and I’m not sure that’s necessary if you bleed your brakes regularly.

Ahh, Ok, then that makes more sense. I remember reading something about this a while ago, but I guess I've been lucky since I haven't introduced any air into my ABS modules.

 

[TrackDay]

I wonder if anyone has any experience with this particular system on US made cars.
that’s not a bad price, I wonder how much the extra licenses are

I use this one - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072VGJ7S8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It works great to read faults and clear them and also bleed my ABS.