Brake Fluid Flush Interval? (1 Viewer)

[cru1s3r]

Hello everyone,

Having come from the Porsche world where they obsess over brake fluid flush intervals (2 Yr. mandatory), I was surprised to see any mention of this service absent in my Toyota Land Cruiser Warranty and Maintenance Guide. I can understand pushing out intervals somewhat beyond the obsessive-compulsive 2-year window, but DOT 3 (which is what Toyota specifies for our LC's), 4 and 5.1 fluids are hygroscopic and, therefore, are susceptible to absorbing moisture (2% to 3% per year from atmospheric sources). So a change interval should be a thing if you want to ensure optimum braking performance by not lowering the boiling point of the fluid as well as avoiding corrosion.

Which leads me to my question: what do you LC brains use as a brake fluid change interval?

 

[KLF]

When it gets dark in the reservoir.

 

[bjowett]

Every 2 years works well, more or less time can utilized depending on environment and how hard the vehicle is used.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

I change mine on the first weekend of May, every year. It costs me about $40 for Amsoil DOT 3, and about 40 minutes of work, but I usually live in very humid, coastal areas. When I lived in the desert, every two years.

This is probably a good time to mention that Speed Bleeders are awesome.

 

[cru1s3r]

Thx guys for your information. Since I live in the high desert where it is pretty dry, will likely shoot for 3 year change interval. I still wonder why Toyota fails to address this topic, since they cover so many other ares in detail...

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

It's because without fluid changing, the first thing to fail will be a caliper seizing. Once that happens, the fluid will get changed anyway, and the overall system will probably survive to 200,000 miles.

It's like Toyota's WS ATF never needing servicing. A WS transmission will make it to 200,000 miles without a fluid change, so they just don't worry about it.

And while I'm at it, to replace our fuel filter, you need to replace the pump assembly with it. Not a big deal for US fuel to keep things fine for 200,000 miles, but if you travel outside the country, or refill from jerry cans regularly, not so fun.

I don't like any of those things that Toyota (and a lot of other manufacturers also do now) so I stick to changing fluids like the old way. But I have a friend with a 320,000 mile tundra 5.7L, and has only replaced engine oil every 10,000 miles and gear oil every 50,000 miles, and he hasn't had a problem. Plus I would say he isn't really into preventative maintenance. So I can't blame Toyota engineers, seeing as their products are still reliable.

 

[TeCKis300]

Hello everyone,

Having come from the Porsche world where they obsess over brake fluid flush intervals (2 Yr. mandatory), I was surprised to see any mention of this service absent in my Toyota Land Cruiser Warranty and Maintenance Guide. I can understand pushing out intervals somewhat beyond the obsessive-compulsive 2-year window, but DOT 3 (which is what Toyota specifies for our LC's), 4 and 5.1 fluids are hygroscopic and, therefore, are susceptible to absorbing moisture (2% to 3% per year from atmospheric sources). So a change interval should be a thing if you want to ensure optimum braking performance by not lowering the boiling point of the fluid as well as avoiding corrosion.

Which leads me to my question: what do you LC brains use as a brake fluid change interval?

Just happened to flush the brakes on my p-car this past weekend, right at 2 years.

I'd chalk the longer intervals on non p-cars to a few things:
1) Yes, all DOT fluids are hygroscopic, but they are all hygroscopic to varying degress and varying effects. The fill in p-cars is a higher performance fluid, higher boiling point, likely more hygroscopic with increased degradation with contamination.
2) The MOT (maximum operating temperature) of pads fitted to normal cars are generally low, and likely give well before boiling of brake fluid becomes an issue. Whereas p-car brakes are designed for higher MOTs where fluid boil becomes the bigger issue.
3) Performance standards are much higher on p-cars. Running the autobahn at high speed with safe emergency braking performance is a requirement. One doesn't want to discover their brake fluid is subpar in such a situation, hence the tighter service intervals.

I usually flush the brakes in my normal cars every 60k miles or 3-5 yrs.