Wondering if this is a reliable product?
<Amazon.com>
Why not just use a meter?
Tester
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Hi @Tester and others following the thread.
So went to work applying those stuff.
A 2017 Prius coolant tested 0.3 V. Its the factory coolant.
Manual says “Engine coolant: Change every 100,000 miles or 10 years, whichever comes first7. Then 50k miles or 5yrs.”
Thoughts?
2009 Corolla coolant - believe previous owner changed it. It measured 0.01v or -0.01v. The pink fluid looked brownish at times. Perhaps the radiator has sign of rust?
Firestone tested BF with a strip and said its bad - became purple in color.
Voltmeter gave over 9 V - at home test!
Positive to battery. Negative to the Fluid.
They work.
If it turned purple, and you read over 9 VDC with the meter, the brake fluid needs to be changed.
Tester
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Stop the Trolling
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Indeed they work - having validated, I am now confident about these tools!
Thanks for sharing the videos - I have had small voltages of negative values - I bought some strips and will test them again.
@Tester
Had the BFluid done at a private shop.
The strip gives faint purple in the BF.
Voltmeter this time gave 6.8V - there is improvement.
One hypothesis I have is the prior owner (130k miles) never touched the BF but they did the other Fluids. So its taking several iterations. As a precaution I also checked battery positive to body - it gave me 12.56v.
Thoughts what keeps the voltage not closer to zero as in the video?
If this is the vehicle you are letting a family member go to the other side of the country with just change the brake fluid.
Flagged after 8 days ? OP does not know if the brake fluid has ever been changed so logic says to change it . A vehicle that does not start is annoying , one that does not stop is a wreck waiting to happen.
A week after the BFlush I tested it again.
5.85v on the multimeter (1V lower than right after the test).
Much fainter purple than before.
I believe that it had a week of driving to circulate the BF and its more diluted.
I plan to ask this private shop nxt week but unsure if they would do the BF again without charging me - they do not use the strip! Should I keep a habit of getting it done it at Firestone - they use the strip?
I’ve seen brake fluid that had to be flushed multiple times while being driven in between, to get it back clean…
You are not really flushing the fluid, just exchanging it so to speak… The crud that is in the reservoir can only be sucked out and new BF ran through it, your also not working the ABS dump valves getting all the old fluid out of them…
So no, the shop should not have to keep flushing the BF for free because it was not properly maintained in the 1st place… I would probably work with you on the price for doing it multiple times… And how you check the brake fluid has nothing to do with it being flushed…
Would proper flushing involve exercising the ABS system to force fluid all the way through the lines? It seems like that might mean one flush all it needs. Is there sludge that needs multiple flushes to remove?
I’ve seen non ABS need to be flushed multiple times… You ever take the top off an old 70’s model master cylinder and see all that crud in there?? only way to get it all out would be to scrape it all out, well with these newer plastic, small openings reservoirs that crud settles in corners etc etc, so unless you take everything apart and run damaging solvents all through everything, you can’t get it 100% and the dirtier to start with the harder it is to get clean, or more times it will need to be flushed… Remember you are not running cleaners through the braking system…
Would be kinda like not changing your oil for 150K miles (if that was even possible) and then changing the oil and thinking ALL the sludge in the engine would be gone in one oil change… Sure you could run cleaners through it before hand, but can’t really do that with brake fluid…
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It was flushed the 2nd time at the same place - of course I did not see them doing but they offered to do it for me.
Right after the flush the strip was much fainter but still had a purple tint.
After driving around 250miles, mm gave 4.8v.
@davesmopar - this car has drum brake on the rear.
At this stage, I would only repeat the flush in a year or two.
I do not know why mm gives 4.8v while the strip is really faint!
Strip measures Copper (Cu) content. I guess Cu conducts well. Does it indicate presence of other metals in the brake line?
Naturally, wonder how they overhaul brakes/brakelines for educational purposes only? My Integras had 2yr and 3yr flush requirement. Those days Sears charged little to flush. Nowadays, it costs x3! I also hear mechanics are becoming scarce.