brake fluid change ? worth it or no

[steveo3002]

im running a 2004 focus as our "modern" car

 

its certainly never had brake fluid change in the last 5 years if ever , it stops great and the pedal feels like it should , i keep feeling i should replace the fluid but fear the £5 job will end up with snapped nipples and £££ grief

 

what do you say...needs doing or leave it be??

[Bren]

Do it.

 

Brake fluid is hygroscopic.

[fordperv]

Definitely do it

[danthecapriman]

Do it.

Brake fluid is hygroscopic.

This.

The fluid absorbs moisture and that shouldn't be in there.

The moisture can also corrode the insides of the master/slave cylinders and callipers leading to seizure.

 

I do mine every couple of years.

[steveo3002]

best crack on with some plus gas then 

 

look out for my where to buy focus calipers and and clyinders sometime soon

[twosmoke300]

If you have ever had brake fluid boil on you you wouldn't need to ask

[danthecapriman]

If you have ever had brake fluid boil on you you wouldn't need to ask

I had this on an old Volvo 244. Pressed the brake, nothing. Thought wtf! Pressed again, nothing. I shit myself and yanked the handbrake on which just about managed to stop me over shooting a busy roundabout and rear ending a learner car! Not cool.

[twosmoke300]

First time I had it was in my chevette . The vinyl on the seat looked like the Andes for ages after I got out - clenched was an understatement .

[robinmasters]

Do it. It's worse than it feels.

[richardmorris]

What colour is the fluid? Honey or treacle?

[Parky]

Plus gas on your bleed nipples a few hours before the deed is a very good idea. Snapped nips are a pain to get out and at least one will be seized

[Partridge]

Do it. My 800 actually had brakes after I changed mine. It makes a huge difference.

[Guest Lord Sward]

Get.  

It.

Done.

[Guest Hooli]

Do it.

 

I thought the brakes in my old XJ40 were good, then I changed the fluid & they became amazing.

[Pillock]

Naaah, you'll be fine.

 

 

 

Joking - do it.

 

I'm being slightly hypocritical here as our boring is coming up to it's 4th anniversary with us, and although I do oil and filters every 6 to 8 months I've never done the brake fluid. I suppose I should, but I have to work on the road.... brake pads are fine - change the pavement side, whizz the car around, do the pavement side again which has magically changed sides, sorted. I'm not exactly sure of the fluid change process but I'm not sure the car would be drivable between starting and finishing, and you have to bleed it from all wheels don't you?

Sounds like a garage-up-the-road job to me.

[sierraman]

Test it with some fluid tester. In modern systems fluid lasts for years. If you swap it at home beware of unusual tricks or turns required to bleed the job. When Kwik Fit will do the job for £30 it's hardly worth fucking about.

[Junkman]

Brakes.

 

Way overrated.

[tooSavvy]

I have a 'script' for the ABS 4corners on mine. Says because split circuit etc. NSF/OSR/OSF/NSR kinda...

 

I also discovered a siezed piston in OSR, doing shoes a while back (between snowshowers/no garage).

 

I bought a genuine Daewoo MATIZ* cyl@£10 so swap/bleed is on soon.

 

*ha ha don't ask price of a Proton SAVVY one

 

 

TS

[twosmoke300]

I can honestly say that for 30 quid kwik fit will suck your reservoir out and squirt some wd40 on the bleeders to make it look like a bfc has been done

[skattrd]

Surely this is one for the stupid question amnesty ....

 

As coincidence would have it one of my jobs planned for this morning is changing the brake fluid one the Clio. There are 2 reasons I'm doing this:

1. Beacuse the fluid is black.

2. Because I don't want my sister to die.

[steveo3002]

I can honestly say that for 30 quid kwik fit will suck your reservoir out and squirt some wd40 on the bleeders to make it look like a bfc has been done

or snap off all 4 nipples and ask for ££££££££ for new calipers 

 

no way id pay them wankers to work on my cars 

[Jifflemon]

I can honestly say that for 30 quid kwik fit will suck your reservoir out and squirt some wd40 on the bleeders to make it look like a bfc has been done

Would sooner spend a tenner more on this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/401093090111?ssPageName=STRK:MESINDXX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649

 

I've heard rumours that some people have actually had a good experience at Kwik fit; In 25 years, I've never met one of them though.

[gordonbennet]

I had this on an old Volvo 244. Pressed the brake, nothing. Thought wtf! Pressed again, nothing. I shit myself and yanked the handbrake on which just about managed to stop me over shooting a busy roundabout and rear ending a learner car! Not cool.

Yep, Wartburg Knight, me sisters car probably 5 years old then but being me sisters painfully neglected, dropping down the slip road off the A1 south at Welwyn no bloody brakes at all, luckily even as a youth i didn't leave braking till the last minute and the handbrake was superb, i put it down to cheap rubbish OE brake fluid, which i swapped for some decent stuff and it never happened again.

That car went like hell.

[sierraman]

Alright then, the local garage or wherever. Probably be there or thereabouts to change the fluid.

[adw1977]

I've had tyres and a battery from Kwik Fit, in both cases because it was Sunday and they were the only place open!

They were fine, although I did have to bat away a load of old upselling shit about laser alignment for the tyres and upgrading the battery to one with a 7 year guarantee - to be fitted to an 11 year old 206 FFS!

But I would not trust them with brakes!

[Urko]

I had this on an old Volvo 244. Pressed the brake, nothing. Thought wtf! Pressed again, nothing. I shit myself and yanked the handbrake on which just about managed to stop me over shooting a busy roundabout and rear ending a learner car! Not cool.

 

I had this (not that bad) on a 240 - maybe they were especially prone to it?  They have triple circuit brakes too.  I put new front calipers on as they were leaking too.

[dollywobbler]

I should probably do this job on the Nippa. To my shame, I've never ever done a full fluid change of anything other than a Citroen. In the 2CV's case, the last time was 14 years ago, and only because I was stripping the car down anyway. Doing it again this year! LHM at least isn't hygroscopic. In fact, it's brilliant stuff as it doesn't rot bodywork and has a higher boiling point too.

[Pillock]

 

for 30 quid ...... Suck your reservoir out

Reminds me of a girl I used to know.

[danthecapriman]

I had this (not that bad) on a 240 - maybe they were especially prone to it?  They have triple circuit brakes too.  I put new front calipers on as they were leaking too.

It's possible they're prone to the problem. After I got my 244 towed home I spent a couple of days stripping and replacing the hydraulic brake system.

New callipers front and rear and new master cylinder, then a full clean up and fluid flush. Bleeding the system was a nightmare for some reason, I just kept getting air bubbles from the front callipers no matter what I did. Got there eventually though.

Then I had a 740, put new front callipers on that and had the same nightmare bleeding them. Maybe it's because they're a pain in the arse to do means few people bother changing the fluid properly and they end up blocked up and full of filth?

One things for sure though, Volvo 244 hand brakes are bloody good!

[billyboy406v6]

I would raffle it, so much easier ! 11 and 43.