im usually a pretty hands on guy with my car but there are a few things that i would rather just pay somebody to do....one of them being change my brake fluid, its nasty and needs to be replaced but i cannot find a shop that will do it, so my idea was to take a syringe...a pretty big one actually, and suck all the old fluid out of the master and replace it, and just keep doing that till it stays clean. anybody think this will work, or should i keep searching for a shop?

Bleed, bleed, bleed. That'* the best way. It takes forever for your fluid to 'return'. In fact, it never really does (from the calipers and rear brake cylinders).

The only way to do it is bleed them all out until it all comes out clean. I did it on my 93.

I did this on my car with a power/preasure bleeder... Had to be the easiest flush of any fluid ever. Fluid is now clear

fluid before:



definately worth the price to pick one up.

I have used a turkey baster to remove the cruddy black fluid at the bottom of the master cylinder reservoir, then re-filled with clean as you described, but as Willwren says, you gotta follow that by bleeding the brakes at all four wheels 'til you get clean fluid. That is the only way to get the old dirty fluid out of the calipers and wheel cylinders so that those bores and pistons won't be corroded by absorbed water and the seals abraded by crud. Be careful not to let the MC go dry when bleeding or you will need to bleed the master cylinder and all the brakes again.

Corvettecrazy: Where did you get and how much did you pay for your pressure bleeder?

Get a buddy to help you out. Remove the cap on the brake fluid reservoir (master cylinder). With the other person holding foot on brake pedal to maintain constant pressure, go the right rear wheel then crack open the bleeder valve. You can get some 1/4" tygon tubing to slip over the bleeder to collect old fluid in a coffee can. Have new brake fluid standing by, check reservoir, never let reservoir go empty. The person in the car will eventualy have to pump a little on brake pedal. go to the left rear wheel, bleed some fluid, check reservoir, add new fluid as neccessary, again don't let reservoir go empty, pump pedal, go to the right front wheel, repeat process as with the two rear wheels. Go to the left front wheel, repeat process. Then start all over again at right rear wheel and do all four wheels again. Keep doing this until you get fresh clean brake fluid from all four wheels. Don't let the reservoir go empty.

AJ (highlander on BC) owns it. It just happened to still be at boosty'* house when I was there over x-mas.

I've looked them up online. Can be gotten for as little as 50 and up to well over 100.

I will have one in my garage someday.

what about the fluid that lies in the PMV assembly and inside the passages? i know my PMV had a valve inside fail, and im sure its because of the horriblly black brake fluid i have in my car. it prolly rusted out the valve. anyway of flushing out the PMV?

Highlander got the pressure bleeder from Summit Racing. It is filled with fluid and hooked to the top of the master cylinder. Pump it up with pressure and just go around and open each bleeder one by one... when the fluid is clean..move to the next bleeder and check the pressure of the unit.

I'll see if I can find a link. Summit won't allow links..here'* the description. (www.summitracing.com and search for power bleeder)

Motive Products Power Bleeder KitsBleed your brakes by yourself.

These Motive Products Power Bleeder kits use pressurized brake fluid to force air and old fluid out of your brake lines. Just pour clean fluid into the pressure tank, attach the Power Bleeder cap to your fluid reservoir, and pressurize the system using the built-in hand pump and pressure gauge. The kits are available for Ford 2-prong caps, Ford 3-prong caps, hydraulic clutch fluid reservoirs, GM applications with flat fluid covers, and thread-on master cylinder caps.

Thanks, Bill, for the info.

I have not changed any ABS components, but in reading my '95 FSM, there appears to be no special procedure for bleeding (and thus, flushing) the ABS system. (I might have missed something in there - it is a long section.) Even after changing the PMV, the bleed procedure looks the same as recommended for the regular service brake system.

Some smarter brake person here may be able to tell you if you can flush the ABS and how to do it. My approach (working well so far) has been to keep the pipe leading to the ABS reservoir clean, and generally to leave the expensive thing alone.

my thoughts on that are along the lines that, if you flush out all the old stuff by pumping or with the preasure bleeder..give it a few weeks...use your ABS a bunch, if the fluid gets dirtier than you want it, do it again. Otherwise you should be fine.