lazy man's brake flush

[mechtech2]

A TB flush of the brake fluid is WAY better than doing nothing.
And it WILL eventually circulate - there is a lot of movement in the system.
Give it a change every week or two for 3-4 changes.

In the meantime, start regularly soaking your bleeders [inside and out] with a penetrating fluid designed for loosening rusted parts.
Because a 'real' bleed is best, of course.

 

[Tornado Red]

Originally Posted By: Nayov
JI want to do a drain and fill (with a turkey baster) of the master cylinder reservoir. Good enough?


Clearly the consensus is that this won't work for the brake fluid.

But I have heard that it will work with power steering fluid. True or no?

 

[mechtech2]

The consensus is not that clear.
I have seen TB flushes of the master cyl work small miracles for cash strapped people, and those with broken off bleeders.[give it time]
Plus, it makes good common sense.
Yes, I know about bleeding being better, and buying a new car is even better than that, etc..
The PS systems circulate the fluid WAY WAY more completely and incredibly faster . So TB flushes there are more immediately complete.

 

[onion]

I don't know how well a turkey-baster flush alone would work for a brake system- there isn't a whole lot of fluid movement, and nothing that you could call 'circulation'. But it's definitely better than nothing... and would probably AT LEAST be good for the master cylinder.

 

[The_Jeff]

Leave the cap off your reservoir and stab the brake pedal. There's a little squirt when the pedal is near the top of its stroke when the piston hasn't covered the little hole between the two yet. That squirt mixes with the reservoir supply and then dribbles back down when the pedal returns to rest. So, yes, a turkey baster change gives a "slight" improvement. Besides, where do you think moisture gets into the brake system? Yeah, up there, so it at least keeps stuff from getting worse.

I just bled a 15 year old saturn where jello came out the bleeder screw like one of those play-doh spaghetti factory toys. Yeah, pedal felt better afterwards.

 

[onion]

Originally Posted By: eljefino

I just bled a 15 year old saturn where jello came out the bleeder screw like one of those play-doh spaghetti factory toys. Yeah, pedal felt better afterwards.


Next time you come across that, we're gonna need pictures.

 

[jaj]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
I just bled a 15 year old saturn where jello came out the bleeder screw like one of those play-doh spaghetti factory toys. Yeah, pedal felt better afterwards.


How do you know it felt better? I guess an advantage to American-made cars is that the parts can say thank you in English when you make them feel better

 

[Spyder7]

Originally Posted By: jaj
Originally Posted By: eljefino
I just bled a 15 year old saturn where jello came out the bleeder screw like one of those play-doh spaghetti factory toys. Yeah, pedal felt better afterwards.


How do you know it felt better? I guess an advantage to American-made cars is that the parts can say thank you in English when you make them feel better

English and Spanish.

-Spyder

 

[mechanicx]

Spanglish. Well I can see some good with TB of the reservoir. You are removing moisture laden brake fluid (the main problem) with fressh fluid from a sealed bottle. So the 'drier' brake fluid should wick up some of the moisture from the rest. Also as the pads wear the brake fluid will circulate.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: Spyder7

English and Spanish.

-Spyder


Didn't Frank Perdue get misinterpreted as saying "It takes a tough man to make a chicken affectionate"?

 

[tonycarguy]

Actually do you even need the brake fluid to circulate for the partial-fill method to work? The main reason to flush the brakes is to remove moisture (water). If you do a partial drain & fill, the water in the old fluid will eventually find its way to the master cylinder (the brake fluid & water maintain a homogeneous mix). So if you did one of drain & flush per week for a couple of months, it should keep your moisture levels very low

Now if you have air in the brake lines, that's another story all-together...

 

[mechtech2]

Particulate matter is a good reason to flush brake fluid, besides water.
Water had better NOT be available at any part of the system. Water is over rated as a problem.
GM is now ying 7 years before any water issues is normal.

 

[Cutehumor]

I'm a turkey baster man since 1996. brake fluid flush? cooling system flush? transmission flush? I do none of those and have not suffered a failure yet of any kind.

 

[Spyder7]

I'll drain and refill cooling and transmission fluids at the OEM spec'd intervals, simply because its easy enough to do, cheap, and these are aggravating and expensive repairs I'd rather avoid - even if a drain & fill only provides marginal benefits, I'll take any benefit there.

The turkey baster method for the brake fluid is something I have planned once I figure out what to put in it - I have no idea what's in it now, other than that its likely whatever it left the factory with, since it doesn't look like its ever been changed.

When the time comes to have brake work done I'll have them properly bled then.

-Spyder

 

[Tornado Red]

Get a Motive Power Bleeder and some brake fluid. Then flush the brake fluid on all your vehicles, then all your friends' vehicles, and your close relatives' vehicles, and then offer to do it for your neighbors. It's cheap and it builds up some good will, so then they will be more likely to do favors for you. But mainly it is a good thing to do for your own cars. (Use the correct brake fluid for each vehicle.)

 

[aaxb970]

Just started my TB flush today. I have done this before....and end up doing 4-5 TB /fills over the course of a month and seems to work fine for me.