Hi Scotty! Thank you so much for sharing all of you knowledge, I love your videos! In one video you said that you could exchange all the power steering fluid without "flushing" the system by sucking the power steering fluid out of the reservoir, replacing the fluid, driving for a bit, then repeating that process a few times until the fluid relatively clean. I am wondering if you could do the same thing with brake fluid? My first guess is that it wouldn't work the same since the brake fluid mostly moves back and forth as pressure is applied from the master cylinder toward the wheels then the pressure is removed as you apply and release the brakes; rather than being circulated by a pump as in power steering. However, I wanted to get your opinion on the matter. I have a 2011 Chevy Silverado with 170k miles that has factory original brake fluid. I am not experiencing any problems but wanted to get some fresh fluid for preventative maintenance. If the brake fluid change out could work the same as the power steering fluid it would save time and money. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you very much!
The worst, most corrosive/burned up fluid never really leaves the caliper or wheel cylinder so you ALWAYS want that bled out.
Even when changing shoes/pads you want to drain out the crud stuck in those parts.
I'd flush the entire system and of course bleed it.
EDIT - video for a better explanation:
no. Brakes must be bled.
You could do a gravity bleed of the system, no tools required except a wrench.
This is very poor advice.
It can work especially on old, non-ABS cars, but I prefer to use a power bleeder.
I have done this several times on ABS vehicles without problems... what is the danger if you keep fluid in the reservoir?
It depends on the vehicle. Some require special procedures, even a bidirectional scan tool, to bleed properly. Probably that's mostly on late-model cars. The older ones like mine don't necessarily need anything special. The only problem with leaving old fluid in the reservoir would be if it had absorbed a lot of moisture. I like to flush all the old stuff out and use a Motive power bleeder.
I have a world of respect for Doc and Chuck, and I don't want to give anyone bad advice. Perhaps this method is safer than gravity bleeding...