Is 30,000 miles normal for a brake fluid change? Mechanic claims that fluid is dirty/contaminated. Car is Lexus NX200T
I say Yes and so do a lot of others on this forum . You can get another opinion because your fluid can’t be seen over the web . Or you could look in the owners manual . Brakes are kinda necessary so why take a chance.
Replacing the brake fluid is part of the 30,000 mile service for your vehicle, check your maintenance manual for other required maintenance.
In many European countries - Germany and Britain, you MUST change the brake fluid about every 3 years since it will fail a moisture test. Moisture means the fluid will boil at a lower temperature if the brakes get hot. Boiling fluid is a serious safety issue - prevents you from stopping the car.
Clean brake fluid helps keep the brake parts from corroding from the INside as well.
Your owner’s manual says to replace it at 36 months or 30,000 miles, so I’m not sure why you ask if it’s normal. You’re also apparently overdue for that service. Are you not following the owner’s manual for your maintenance?
Many cars sold here without traction control or ABS have no specified interval for changing the brake fluid. However, I do it with the first and each later brake job on our cars.
Today’s more complicated vehicles have it in the manual, and 30,000 miles is a good interval to do it.
You’d have to go pretty far back to find a car sold in the US without abs
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My 09 Focus is non-ABS. I wouldn’t say 10 years is pretty far back.
I change by time, not mileage. Like @Mustangman said, every 3 years is a good schedule to keep. That often works out to around 30k, but even if you only drive 30 miles in 3 years, the fluid should be changed.
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My 2007 Corolla has no ABS or Traction Control; our 2012 Mazda3 has both.
Yes. Not saying your brakes won’t continue to perform well if you defer this service, but that’s a common recommendation by mechanics and manufacturers. The downside of deferring – besides potential braking problems – is that old, contaminated brake fluid will eventually damage the master cylinder, calipers, and brake lines. You might think of brake fluid replacement as insurance against bigger repair bills.
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Most of the owner’s manuals I looked at say, 3 years for the first change and then every two years. I just do it every two years.
Seems like mileage is not as important as the logic of changing the fluid is that it accumulates moisture. It does that whether the car is sitting or moving.
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There’s a new type of brake fluid – silicone based I think – that is supposed to be more immune to water intrusion. I don’t know what’s involved in using that type, whether all the parts have to be compatible with that type, or whether a person can switch from one type to the other at will, whether the two types can be mixed, etc. Anybody here know?
It’s called dot 5. It cant’ be used in systems that had normal brake fluid in them unless you clean all of the old stuff out. It also can’t be used in ABS systems because the ABS modulator can aerate the fluid. It doesn’t absorb water but will absorb some air. If you want the high boiling point of dot 5 in your normal car, you use dot 5.1, which is compatible with the other regular fluids and won’t get whipped by the ABS system. Of course, that compatibility also includes water absorption so you still have to change it like you do the other fluids.
Honestly, for street use, dot 3 is fine unless otherwise noted in the manual. 4 works the same as 3 but has a higher boiling point, which isn’t usually necessary.
When you get to the boiling points of 5/5.1, you really only see those temperatures (500F for fresh fluid) on race tracks so using them in street cars is overkill.