Car has 125,000 miles. Not sure if the brake fluid has ever been flushed, despite brake jobs in the past 5 years. I do not have the manual so not sure if it even addresses frequency of flushing the brake lines. None of the invoices mention it. Last checkup in Aprl recommends flushing brakes.
Lots of posts on Cartalk about flushing in general, but not anything for my Mazda 1996 Protege.
Thanks!
If the vehicle has ABS the bleeding procedure is the same as without ABS. The brake bleeding procedure is, Right Rear, Left Front, Left Rear, and Right Front. Just don’t let the brake master cylinder run out of brake fluid when bleeding the brakes.
Tester
Don’t bother looking at the manual. 1996, flush it
You’ve had it for 5 years, so you can assume the fluid is at least 5 years old. Flush it.
Invest a small amount in a kit, available at any parts store. It’ll help you pump fresh fluid through the system and purge the old fluid out the bleeders without fear and without problems. As regards the ABS booster, as long as you’re pushing the fluid through in the right direction you’re fine.
For the futire,you might want to keep your copies of all shop orders. It is possible that one of the mechanics that did a brake job flushed the system out already. If you had your copies of the psperwork you could check.
I save, scan, record and “study” all my shop orders since I have had this car.
Re brake fluid flushing, I have checked all my receipts since I bought the car used. There was no mention of any brake job where they flushed out the system.
My car does not have ABS; too old 
I will go ahead and get it flushed.
Thanks!
not to old for abs tahe germans had back in the mid 80’s
Well, I don’t feel that flushig the brake lines is nessessary. I have never done it. The last vehicle that I traded in was 15 years old, never been flushed, never had a repair on the brakes except front pads and rear shoes. Come to think of it, that old Dodge didn’t have any major repair.
I concede that perhaps a very small percentage of people do it, but I feel it gets fresh fluid lubing everything and washes out any crud that’s always a byproduct of mechanical systems. It also rinses out fuid that might have absorbed moisture, reducing the liklihood of brake line freeze-up.
I agree, Big Marc. I have a 1988 Toyota Supra with ABS, and had ABS in my old 1994 Honda. My wif had a 1997 Protege with ABS, and I’m sure that is not the first year for them.
My method of flushing the brake lines has been to use my vacuum pump to pump out the old fluid in the reservoir, replace with fresh, then bleed the brakes with Tester’s method until the fluid coming out of the bleeders is clean. Be sure to check the reservoir and don’t let it run empty at any time. Last time I did this on a small car, it only took a single 16 oz. bottle to do the job.
I don’t feel that flushig the brake lines is nessessary. I have never done it.
You are lucky. I had failed to flush the fluid in one of my older cars. My lack of flushing the fluid ended up allowing moisture to accumulate in the brake like which ended up rupturing when I tried to stop my car at a traffic light. Thanks to using the parking brake and some good driving of a couple of other drivers who saw the problem and avoided my car, there was not an accident.
Moisture can accumulate in the brake lines over time can the results can be very serious.