A few weeks back I checked the master cylinder reservoir and noticed that the brake fluid had become cloudy..that is basically all the master cylinder reservoir holds, which is one snot sucker bulb full.
I bought one of the power bleeders that
@Zackdadams used when he rebuilt his brake system. It definitely works very well and got the job done. Having said that, for me doing a maintenance flush / bleed it was pretty messy. I’d like to put a small valve in line right above the red adapter to keep the spillage to a minimum. That will enable me to bleed all the air out of the tubing prior to putting the red adapter onto the master cylinder reservoir.
I put two quarts into the power bleeders reservoir, I used one quart to flush and bleed the system. I began with the drivers side caliper as it is the farthest from the master cylinder only to discover that the bleeder orifice was plugged, bled off the 20 psi I had put into the power bleeder and pulled the bleeder out and cleared it with compressed air.. while I was doing this the caliper gravity drained onto the concrete.. doh! More mess. Got it back together and proceeded to flush the system out, the bottle on the right is the fluid that came out from the passenger side caliper, I flushed it until the new clear fluid was coming out.
The bottle on the left is from the passenger side caliper. This was after almost exactly two years since I put in a new surge brake actuator and thoroughly flushed the system. So, it looks to me like just keeping an eye on the clarity of the brake fluid in the master cylinder reservoir would be a good indicator of when to change out the fluid.
One quart used brake fluid..
Once I was done I put the unused brake fluid back into its original container, and tightened the lid securely. Brake fluid is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water, so that is another reason to change out the fluid occasionally as once brake fluid starts to get moisture in it, the boiling point drops dramatically.
It was about 88* and roughly 70% humidity.. so my body did the 150,000 mile flush of its sweat glands while I was working on this.. holy smokes! Sweat kept filling my glasses, running in my eyes.. crap what a pita! LOL!
Once I got all done I checked the actuator function with a screw driver, the throw was a little shorter, but it definitely firmed up better and the pressure came up. I’ll run some temp checks next time on the road, especially after braking and see the two brake hubs are a bit closer in temp, the passenger side is usually 20* or a bit more hotter than the drivers side.
