Brake fluid question

[importcar]

My brake fluid looks clean but the dealer suggested it should be replaced. My question is what color is new brake fluid? Right now it is yellow/amber.

[Kingdom934]

The DOT3 brake fluid should be pretty much clear, transparent, and a slight tint of yellow I believe.

Now if it was like my brake fluid of coke color (i'm serious), then that is pretty worn.


When was the last time it was changed?

[touringcamry]

It should be very light color; almost like apple juice or corn oil.

[GrkBallaG]

Originally Posted by importcar

My brake fluid looks clean but the dealer suggested it should be replaced. My question is what color is new brake fluid? Right now it is yellow/amber.

If it is yellow/amber it SHOULD be fine, brake fluid needs to be replaced when its dark or you can just do it everytime you do brakes like preventative maintenance.

[camry man68]

when its brown replace it

[importcar]

It's never been changed. My car has been serviced only 3 times, exclusively at the dealer. At 30K mi the brakes were "cleaned and adjusted" which doesn't sound like a fluid flush to me. I'm surprised the fluid isn't at least brown because the car is 6 yrs old with 100K mi.

[Stillrunning]

In my part of the country I have to flush/replace the brake fluid once per year as our summer humidity is so high. Brake fluid absorbs water over time and will darken in color. If your color looks fine you should be ok, but it won't hurt to change it. Do you have silicone or standard brake fluid?

[ghettosled]

while i dont suggest doing what i do, but i have NEVER flushed out old fluid even when its black. granted the brakes are not as crisp as they could be, but they dont feel too bad. the only time i ever replaced brake fluid was when a brake line rusted through and i had to replace it.

[Stillrunning]

Originally Posted by ghettosled

i have NEVER flushed out old fluid even when its black.

The problem with that service interval is accumulated moisture in the brake fluid can be dangerous when you need your brakes the most. Water boils well before brake fluid and when under pressure, brakes applied, you may find you cannot stop in time. Water also rusts components as you found. Maybe that's why your brakes are "not as crisp".

[hooRAH]

New brake fluid can be a bunch of colors. It can be a pale yellow (most cars), and amber or a blue (ATE SuperBlue or Type 200), completely clear (Valvoline SynPower), and I even think I've seen a pale red on a mitsubishi once.

More important than the color is the clarity of the fluid - is it clear, or murky?

Here's my 2cents on flushing brake fluid: Yes, you should probably flush it on a regular basis. Will anything bad happen if you dont? Probably not. Most people I know don't even know their car HAS brake fluid, and they certainly never change it. My father's eclipse has 120k on the original fluid. Car stops fine. Not everyone will have the same results. We live in Florida, where I have never, EVER boiled the brake fluid without being on a track. At the same time, I've driven in the mountains of NC and you can definitely induce some brake fade coming down a hill.

So here's what I recommend to people that are NOT mechanically inclined. Use the turkey baster method of suctioning out the fluid from the resivoir and replacing with clean fluid every oil change or so. My reasoning is that if most people on the road do nothing, and flushing out the resivoir is better than nothing, your fluid is in better condition than most people on the road. I use this method with both my GFs camry, my mother's Jeep Grand Cherokee, and my sister's dodge stratus. Using this method, the fluid ususally circulates pretty well within a day, and doing it a few times I'm starting to see the fluid very gradually look better.

All of my own cars have new brake fluid all the time as I take my cars to the track, but I'm not a normal driver

Take that FWIW.

[Dave's]

Count me as another who hasn't changed his brake fluid. (But then it's only been 246K miles on my '92 Cam)

[Hajoca]

Use a test indicator strip to see how much moisture is in the system in the reservoir, and take a sample from the brake itself.

[importcar]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I don't know if the fluid is silicone or standard. My car has been serviced only at Toyota dealers, so whatever they use is what's in my car. The fluid is not crystal clear, it's a bit murky but I can see to the bottom of the reservoir. But that's probably not saying much.

Are the test strips available in singles? I can only find packs of 100 for like $60.

[CharmCityES]

clean brake fluid should be transparent amber/yellowish in color
dot 3 and dot 4 brake fluids are interchangable, and they both absorb water....dot 5 is used in higher performance applications, and contain silicone, and thus will not be compatable with dot 3 & 4 fluids
dot 3 is the standard fluid used by toyota....it is not silicone based

if i were youd, id bleed our your brakes and flush your system some time in the near future....its not a necessity, but at some point it would be a good idea to replace it, because it is what makes your hydraulic brake system function!

[wiccanferret]

Personally I only change brake fluid when I feel there is a problem with the brakes, not as maintenance. I've never had a brake issue that I feel was related to brake fluid.