dougal813

I have a 120,000 mile check up coming up soon. They gave me a list of things that were performed... spark plugs, air filter, oil additive, fuel additive, oil change, balance and rotate tires, new wipers, trans fluid, and flush and bleed the brake lines.

I'm passing on the fuel and oil additive, oil change, new wipers, spark plugs, and trans fluid since I have done that recently.

How important is the flush and bleed of the brake lines? What exactly does that do?

Thanks.

WolfpackBill

I believe flush and bleed are very important. Heh...that's the reason why my car needed a master cylinder replacement at 62k miles (current mileage). According to the mechanic who worked on my car, he said that the older the brake fluid gets, the more acidic it will get and will ultimately eat away the seals and stuff. My problem was when I push the brake pedal, the pedal will go all the way to the floor after a few seconds. He checked it out, he thought it was air in the brake lines but he found out it was the master cylinder. One of the pistons lost pressure and the fluids that was supposed to be at each caliper, the fluids went back to the tank because of the condition of the brake fluid. He told me the fluid killed it. So from now on, I'm definitely going to flush the system every 30k miles.

nick04tl

you hit it right on the head. i would flush and blled you lines evey 30000 miles. it removes any moisture, air, and contaminents that are in the fluid. you will have a better pedal feel and should be able to stop better.