Is it time to have a brake fluid flush in Reston, VA? It’s an important piece of maintenance, but if you’re like many people, you may be having it done more often than you need to. The reason for most people is the fact that they abide by the general rule of thumb most often repeated online, which recommends having a brake fluid flush in Reston, VA every three years or thirty thousand miles.
That works, and it’s certainly better to have it done too often than not often enough, or even worse, not at all. On the other hand though, why spend money when you don’t need to?
Below, we’ll outline how you can determine exactly when and how often you should have a brake fluid flush in Reston, VA, taking all of the guesswork out of the equation.
First, don’t rely on the word of a mechanic who tells you that your brake fluid looks a little darker than it should. That’s a good indicator that it may be time, but it’s not ironclad proof. For that, rely on a pair of simple tests.
The first is a moisture test, which measures how much water has mingled with your brake fluid. A tiny amount won’t cause problems, but beyond a certain threshold, the water will begin to impact the functionality of your brakes, which is something you definitely don’t want.
Second, there’s the strip test. Most people don’t realize it, but the insides of your brake lines are coated with copper. That’s important because brake fluid is suffused with anti-corrosive compounds, but over time, those compounds begin to break down. As they do, they stop functioning, which causes the brake fluid to begin to flake some of the copper off of the inside of the lines, where it mingles with your brake fluid. This is what causes your brake fluid to darken over time.
The strip test measures how much copper is mixed in with your brake fluid. As with water, which we talked about above, a small amount of this is okay, but beyond a certain point, it will begin to degrade the functionality of your brakes.
If either of these tests return a result above threshold, it’s time to have the system flushed.
If there’s any doubt or question in your mind about whether or not it’s time, we can perform both of the tests mentioned above in our shop. Just give us a call or swing by and we’ll get you taken care of.
Again, it’s not that the rule of thumb we talked about at the start, it’s just that if that’s all you’re going by, you’re probably spending money when you don’t need to. There’s a simple fix for that.
