General Fluid Exchange Advice

[rjacket]

I go by the manufacturer's maintenance schedule (which includes considering whether I fall under severe duty).

However, one manufacturer does not advise to change brake fluid at all and for a few years, multiple dealers of that manufacturer told me my brakes were fine, without ever suggesting that a brake fluid change would cure the issue of soft pedal feel.

So my question is: what fluid changes would you recommend regardless / outside of the manufacturer's advice and why?

 

[Trav]

2 years regardless of mileage, maybe 3 or 4 in a dry area of the country like AZ.

 

[rjacket]

Yes I agree with that based on everything else I have read.

My wider question was what other fluid exchanges do people recommend that aren't typically in the maintenance schedule eg power steering fluid?

 

[SteveSRT8]

We change everything but coolant on a schedule.

Seems like Power Steering fluid and brake fluid are most neglected on the cars I see. Once a year on both in our fleet.

Coolant we run to failure, meaning until something breaks in the cooling system.

 

[Trav]

+1
Power steering fluid i see is normally black as coal and has been in there since day 1.
Unfortunately when i see it its because the rack or pump is blown, usually much sooner than it should have been.

I change the coolant at recommended intervals or 2 years for plain old green stuff.
Diff and transfer case fluids are also on the list of frequently neglected fluids.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I would agree on the diff being typically neglected.

Most of our trucks run a big Dana with 3.73 gears. We change it within the first couple of weeks (500 or a few more miles) and then once more around 50k miles.

As I typically put severe gear from Amsoil in there that's the last time we look at them! I found out through oil analysis that the rear ends seem to generate all their metals in the first few weeks of operation. After they are well worn in this tails off to nearly nothing.

In my Dmax I changed the transfer case and diffs out when I bought it used and I will service them every 50k miles only because we tow a massive 5th wheel rig all over with it.