Scotty Kilmer, mechanic for the last 46 years, shows you how to find out if your brake fluid needs changing. Often, it really doesn’t need changing, and a si…
Scotty Kilmer, mechanic for the last 46 years, shows you how to find out if your brake fluid needs changing. Often, it really doesn’t need changing, and a si…
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Wasting money? A bottle of brake fluid costs 5$. Repair of brake system
components like ABS solenoids can costs thousands. It is a cheap insurance
to replace it every few yrs or as often as recommended by the manufacturer.
My honda fit recommends to replace it every 3 yrs and that is what I do.
It’s super simple. I just open the bleeder screws (without even having to
take the wheels off, just raise the car and crawl from udnerneath) and let
the fluid slowly drip out due to gravity. I keep the brake reservoir filled
so no air is sucked into the system. This way bleeding by pumping is not
needed.
Takes a bit of time but gives you a piece of mind and all for 5$. I use a
synthetic prestone Dot 4 brake fluid.
mercedes is telling me to change my brake fluid every two years. I dont
believe it
I have a 2000 bmw 528i and when I brake it squeaks all the time being black
power on my rims. Are they just the brakes as in I should change them or I
need brake fluid ?
Is there anyway to clean or brighten the fluid tanks under the hood? I have
pretty bad vision and it’s always extremely difficult for me to see where
fluid levels are in the brake, coolant, and power steering reservoirs. I
have to shine a bright flashlight from the back and practically shake the
container to try and see movement of the fluid line. Other than that, it’s
so yellowed and opaque I just can’t see it.
Good video. Thank you.
Actually have a few questions to ask you, and have a lot of researched
information that will pinpoint my problems. Is there an email I can reach
you at?
A fairly mechanical older gentleman told me that since we live in the Salt
belt, it is a waste of time to bleed your brakes unless you have a problem,
because the winter road salt will likely eat through your brake lines
before you have an internal problem with them. Your thoughts?
love your videos 🙂 your a legend scotty
First of all Mr. Kilmer, it is not HYDROscopic, it’s Hygroscopic.
Second of all, if you are really trying to preach about how great Toyota
is, that’s fine. But there is absolutely no way their brake fluid lasts any
longer than Ford, Chevy or Dodge. That’s the most absurd thing I have ever
heard.
When I got my oil changed they told me the color my brake fluid indicated
that it was bad. Well I knew my car was old so I used the pump method to
change the fluid myself (without bleeding them). I’m curious if the color
really can tell you that your brake fluid is bad. Scotty, what’s your view?
Thanks.
Hey scotty I have another question I noticed that one I brake my brake
system light comes on then goes away after I take my foot of it what does
that mean and my abs light doesnt come on when I use my abs so what do you
think? thanks
Scotty Kilmer,
I got a 2006 Honda Civic Si recently and I noticed I have blue colored
brake fluid in. Would you have an idea what type of brake fluid that would
be?
Does the tank or owner’s manual say how much fluid needed?
I replied, but never received a response.
Scotty Kilmer, best auto channel on youtube!!!!
Hey Scotty, it’s been raining heavily the past few days and every time I
leave my car outside for a few hours, the car doesn’t take off very well in
the first gear (manual) and the clutch feels tighter, so I am forced to
switch to the 2nd gear instead for a smoother transition. This also happens
when I get a body wash. What could be the problem? The braking also becomes
very sensitive (more responsive than necessary) when exposed to water, but
I suppose this is normal?
hygroscopic, not hydroscopic.
How do you bleed the ABS cannister under the hood? I recently did this to
a 2006 Ford Explorer, and I bled and bled and bled the 4 wheel bleeders and
no air was coming out, but the pedal still had excessive travel. I drained
it all with air first because the old fluid was black and had sludge in it,
so I wanted to clean it out as much as I could. Since I allowed air to
enter the system, it wasn’t enough to bleed the wheels, I had to take it to
a mechanic who could bleed the ABS thing up under the hood.
Is there a way a do-it-yourself-er can do this with regular hand tools?
Great video! Found your channel about a week ago and I have learned a lot.
Keep the videos coming.
I usually just stick my finger in and see if its still clear lol
Scotty, where do you find the time to do repairs for customers, film your
videos, reply to a bunch of comments/emails, then go on vacation to all
these places!
Hi Scotty, I have a ford transit van (UK) with an intermittent noise from
the front left wheel,when breaking heavy at slow speeds, less that 30 mph.
It kinda makes the same noise when you rub a stick over a cardboard box.
The Pads are fine, the disk is smooth and looks almost new, I checked it
with a dial gauge and it’s as flat as a pancake. All I could think of was
maybe the wheel bearing is dead. but there’s no play in it and no road
noise. Please help me, it is driving me crazy.!! BTW It doesn’t have ABS.
Moisture (water) is heavier than brake fluid so it works it’s way to the
lowest points in the system, which is the bottom of the brake calipers
and/or brake cylinders. How is testing the fluid in the master going to
give you a good indication of the moisture level in the cylinders?
this guy is like the bill nye of cars … he comes across so simple , but
he really is teaching a lot .
Hay Scotty tried the suggestion about asking questions on Sat but it didn’t
work, so here I am, I put synthetic fluids any where I can and I got the
brake fluid tester as in one of your vids and it told me I should replace
the brake fluid in my 02 Chevy avalanche, it has dot 3 can I replace it
with the dot4 (synthetic) brake fluid?? thanks, love your vids, keep up the
good work
Corrosion of iron parts in the brake system are caused mostly by copper,
not water. Excessive water will cause the fluid to boil when the brakes get
too hot, and you’ll lose brakes (going down a mountain, for example). All
cars on the road today use copper in the brake lines. Even steel lines are
rolled with copper that’s fused to it. Glycol (brake fluid) corrodes
copper, so it has inhibitors added to it to keep this from happening.
Repeated heat cycles break down the inhibitors, and after a point, the
brake fluid will start to corrode the copper. Copper ions only have one
electron, so they try to pull electrons from iron in the system, which is
calipers, steel pistons in the ABS, and on and on. This causes corrosion
and copper plating of the steel parts. It’s also led to many accidents, let
alone expensive brake repairs. Here’s an article from The National
Institute of Standards and Technology about the problem:
http://www.nist.gov/manuscript-publication-search.cfm?pub_id=852905
THIS is why the manufacturers want you changing the fluid on a scheduled
basis. Modern braking systems have lots of sensitive parts that can be
affected by this problem.
Cheers.
Hey scotty whats your opinion on new Cadillacs? Endless money pits as they
age?
Water will get into your fluid because brakes get hot/cold & this will move
air in & out of the system. Little known rule of physics, mix any 2 liquids
= a thicker third liquid, so old fluid does not flow as well as new . Some
race cars change fluid after every race.
Hey Scotty,
2001 Kia with 61,500 miles. Should I have the fluid flushed and changed?
The pedal seems to sink excssively during braking. At first it was
intermittent and not noticeable, but now it’s getting very noticeable and
it worries me that the pedal has too much travel. Master cyl full and fluid
never changed.
Here in The Netherlands it’s ussual recommended around 5-7 years.
It’s noticable when you need to change it.
I had to change mine when I had bough a second hand car and now it breaks
perfectly.
I have a 98 Acura TL 3.2 with 178k on it. The engine stalls when I first
start the car. The idle is below 500 and feels a little rough and I have to
really rev it to keep it from stalling. I had the throttle body cleaned a
few months ago. What could be the problem?
Can the break fluid become acidic and eat away at your brake lines even if
it doesn’t have too much water in it? I thought you had to change your
brake fluid every 3 years as preventative maintenance.
scotty my grandfather has a 47 buick roadmaster and he has to hook up the
#7 sparkplug to see the timing mark on the flywheel is it the flywheel or
the timing chain because he thinks its a different flywheel on it. also
when it is cold it starts up right away or when its warm and turn it off
for 15 minutes and start up back up it starts up right away to but when it
sits for a couple of hours after it was started and warm it takes a very
long time to start like its flooded but then itll start what do you think
it is.
Hey I got a BMW 2006 5 series and it telling me I need my brake fluid
flush. My car squeaks when I drive. Is that because of my brake fluid or do
I need new brake pads
Scotty! I have a bit of a novice question; What does it mean when only
applying the brake, the red dash brake light appears? I tried topping it
off with DOT3, but that didn’t seem to help much.
Cool ! Just went to Amazon and bought one online for $30. Thanks.
I like this guy. He’s spot on too. And I reealllly like his mustang!
Scotty what can cause a car to squeal when i turn the A/C on, it only
squeals for 2 seconds after i turn the A/C on and works fine after that
Hey Scotty, I have a 2004 BMW 530i with just over 106000 miles. When I
drive on the highway between 65 and 80 mph there is noticeable vibration
coming through the steering wheel and you can see the passenger seat
shaking. I bought the car used 8 months ago and did not know when the last
alignment was done. I took it in to a tire shop recently and described the
vibration and they said my left front and right rear tires were very worn.
They replaced them and put the two new tires on the front, balanced them
and did an alignment. The vibration went away for about a week, but has
now come back, though it is milder than before. I jacked the car up and
there is no play in either of the front wheels. I hear at this mileage
control arm bushings wear out on these cars. Could that be the problem?
Should I have it checked for a bent rim, or change the control arm bushings
first and see if it goes away?
Scotty I understand you are a fan of toyotas and I actually own a toyota
myself. But out of curiosity, from your years of experience what is the
most common problem you have encountered with Toyotas?
Hey Scotty, have you ever worked on a Hummer H2. What is your opinion on
pros and cons.
Wow! I didn’t know these things existed! Quite a handy tool, and for only
$35. Only problem is that if you have a Toyota, each time you want to test
your brake fluid you have no idea of where you put that tester last time.
When I turn my steering wheel in my 2006 dodge magnum I get a weird
groaning noise. Any ideas?