Steering You Right With Sharon Peters
Q: My husband has a 3-year-old Lexus with 34,000 miles. When he went for routine service this week, they replaced — not just topped — the brake fluid. I have a 5-year-old Toyota Camry with about 50,000 miles and when he told me about the brake fluid replacement I reviewed my service records and discover I’ve never had brake fluid replaced. The dealership confirmed that it hadn’t been replaced because that’s not part of the maintenance schedule. Why would that be?
A: This whole brake fluid replacement business is one of great divergence among carmakers (and among the people who buy their various vehicles).
There’s no single industry standard. The recommendations you’ll find in owner’s manuals vary wildly, ranging from every 30,000 miles to never.
The manufacturer/owner’s manual recommendation for models of Toyota I checked into don’t address brake fluid replacement at all as part of a suggested maintenance schedule. And dealerships I contacted said they don’t include it as part of regular maintenance (though replacement is done as part of a brake repair job, of course).
The recommendation from Lexus, as your husband learned, is 30,000 miles. As another example, VW recommends every 24 months for some of its models and 36 months for others — fairly typical ranges among carmakers.
The reason for changing it is that brake fluid absorbs water from the atmosphere, making it, over time, a diluted version of ideal that possibly corrodes the brake lines and other components. Some experts say the impact is so small it’s not worth worrying about until it’s time for a full brake job. Others say you can extend the life of your brake system by periodic brake fluid replacements.
They also say that suggestions in the owner’s manual are exactly that — suggestions — and if you’re interested in maximum performance and maximum life, replace brake fluid at least every 40,000 to 50,000 miles.
So it probably boils down to a matter of personal comfort and whether you plan to keep that vehicle for 120,000-plus miles. If you want to eke lots of years out of it, you might add brake fluid replacement/flush to your service in another 20,000 miles on the grounds that proponents could be right about that adding extra life to the system.
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What’s your question? Sharon Peters would like to hear about what’s on your mind when it comes to caring for, driving and repairing your vehicle. Email [email protected].