Out of all the components of your vehicle, its brake tends to be one of the most crucial components. For obvious reasons, brake facilitates operations that cannot be replaced. Therefore, you must take proper care of your brake so that it tends to work properly and effectively for a longer period of time. The brake fluid which is also referred to as the brake oil is a component that plays a significant role in the efficient functioning of brakes. Brake oil takes care of your brakes in the same manner as the engine oil takes care of your engine. However, the relevance of brake oil is often neglected. You can also check- How often should brake fluid be changed?
With the regular use of a vehicle, its brake oil tends to get obsolete and becomes inefficient in its functioning. In such cases, it becomes important to properly check the brake fluid and replace it if it is necessary. This article would provide you a piece of detailed information about how to check and change brake fluid. Let’s proceed.
How to check your vehicle’s brake fluid?
In order to check your vehicle’s brake fluid, you need to follow these steps:-
Cleaning up the reservoir’s top
With regular use of vehicles, small amounts of dirt fall into the fluid which at times can cause the master cylinder’s internal seals to fail. Due to this, your vehicle’s brakes tend to work effectively and gradually fail completely.
Opening up the brake fluid’s reservoir’s top
If your vehicle has a little plastic reservoir on top, you can get it opened by unscrewing the cap of the reservoir. If your vehicle has a metal master cylinder containing the reservoir, you can easily use a screwdriver to remove the retaining clamp from the top. You must be aware that brake fluid absorbs moisture, and hence, you should not keep the master cylinder open or uncovered. Until you are fully ready to use the brake fluid, you must ensure that the can is tightly closed.
See where the brake fluid lies
While checking your brake fluid, you must ensure that the brake fluid level is within half an inch or so from the cap of the reservoir. If this is not the case, then you need to add a sufficient amount of brake fluid. If your brake fluid reservoir is completely empty, you must go for bleeding the brake system.
Checking your brake fluid’s color
While checking your brake fluid, if you notice that it has turned darker in color, you should get it replaced with the assistance of a mechanic. This usually happens due to the deterioration of brake fluid due to regular use.
How to change the brake fluid?
Once you are sure about getting your brake fluid changed, you must follow the below-mentioned steps for that matter.
- In order to get access to the brake’s bleeder screws, you must jack up your car. You will find them either on your brake cylinder or wheel caliper.
- Then, you must use a vacuum pump to remove the existing brake fluid.
- Afterward, using a brake bleeder hose, you must get one end of the hose attached to the brake bleeder screw that is farthest from the reservoir and the other end into ½ an inch of new brake fluid.
- Then you need to loosen up the bleeder screw and press the pedal till the time there are no air bubbles visible. You need to do this when you are filling the fluid into your container. You will be needing an assistant to aid you in this.
- Now, while your assistant is keeping the brake pedal pressed fully and firmly, you must go for tightening up the bleeder’s screw. You must do this till the time no more air bubbles are visible.
- Then you must add fresh brake fluid to the reservoir and you should make sure that it remains full in the entire process. You must follow this step for each brake caliper, working from the furthest to the nearest reservoir.
- For the last time, you need to top up the reservoir and cover it with its cap.
- Finally, before you take your vehicle on roads, you must test your brake pedal as well as the effectiveness of your brake’s performance.
We are sure that the detailed analysis of checking and replacing brake fluid would have surely provided you with in-depth knowledge regarding these matters. If you have any further queries, out your questions in the comments section, we would be more than glad to provide suitable answers to your questions. Do not forget to give an honest feedback regarding this article. We highly appreciate this. Thanks for reading.
Also Check:
- Best DOT 3 Brake Fluid Reviews & Buying Guide
- Best DOT 4 Brake Fluid Reviews & Buying Guide
- Best DOT 5.1 Brake Fluid Reviews & Buying Guide
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