[tecollins1]

Go back to COMG- The Cruze Owner's Maintenance Guide


Here is a DIY on how to flush your brake fluid.What you will need:
1.) A container that can hold 24oz or more.
2.) 1/4" translucent tube (any major hardware store will have this) $3 for 10'
3.) 10 mm wrench
4.) 3 bottles of Dot 3 brake fluid (I used AMSOIL 500 series high performance synthetic brake fluid) you can get this from our forum AMSOIL dealer XtremeRevolution.

You do not need to take off the tires for this DIY. But the rear (drums in my case) is a little tight getting the wrench in the right angle.

You should flush your fluid after 2-3 years. Reason being is that brake fluid absorbs moisture. And after acouple years that water in the system causes the boiling point of the fluid to drop.Most new DOT3 fluid has a boiling point of 460-500* after 3 years the system will have around 3-5% of water contamination and reduces the boiling point to around 300*.


There is aprocedure on which tire to start with first. You want to start with the side farthest away from the reservior 1st makeing your way to the closest.
(there are many diffrent ways to do it. This is the most common one)
1.Rear passenger
2.Rear Driver side
3.Front Passenger
4.Front Driver side

Drill a 1/4" hole to fit the hose. Then you need to put 1 or 2 holes in for venting the pressure.

Push the tube to the very bottom of the bottle.

Locate the Brake fluid reservior.

-Rear Passenger side Drum-
Locate the bleeder and take off the dust cap.

Attach the tube. Note that you might need to warm up the end to fit it over the nipple.
Gravity will force the fluid out slowly so dont crack it open till the tube is on.
Also, it's a good time to note that the Brake fluid is like a paint thinner and bad for your skin and eyes, so be carful.

Use your 10mm wrench to open the bleeder.
Now pump the brake petal to lower the old fluid in the reservior, But DONT let it go too low. once its low enough top it off with your new fluid.
Keep doing this process untill you see new clean fluid coming through the tube.

-Front Calipers-

***Under Construction***

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[XtremeRevolution]

Nice work! How much of the 3 bottles did you use?

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[2013LT]

Awesome writeup can't wait to see it complete. It might be a good idea to mention to start at the furthest wheel away from the reservoir

I did a bit of research and it turns out this information is no longer accurate on cars with separate circuits for each brake... However.. seeing that's how I've done it for years I'm going to stick with that method lol.

 

[sciphi]

Nice! Did you have the wheels on or off? The rears (if one has drums) can leave the wheels on. The fronts may be doable that way also.

 

[Benner]

Just an FYI. This is simply called gravity bleeding and will leave residue and debris in the lines. A true brake flush uses pressure on the brake fluid reservoir as well as pulling vacuum on each of the brakes.

Ours at the shop forces around 20psi and a little less for vacuum.

However on vehicles less than 75,000 or so this method should work fine

 

[tecollins1]

Awesome writeup can't wait to see it complete. It might be a good idea to mention to start at the furthest wheel away from the reservoir

I did a bit of research and it turns out this information is no longer accurate on cars with separate circuits for each brake... However.. seeing that's how I've done it for years I'm going to stick with that method lol.

Yeah OP is still under construction.

Yeah I've seen people do it all kinds of different ways. Just look on YouTube.lol


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[tecollins1]

Nice! Did you have the wheels on or off? The rears (if one has drums) can leave the wheels on. The fronts may be doable that way also.

Wheels on and grounded.(no stands)

Back is a lil tight. Get a short wrench if possible. It will hit the inside of rim.

Fronts are super easy just turn the wheel each time you switch.


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[tecollins1]

Just an FYI. This is simply called gravity bleeding and will leave residue and debris in the lines. A true brake flush uses pressure on the brake fluid reservoir as well as pulling vacuum on each of the brakes.

Ours at the shop forces around 20psi and a little less for vacuum.

However on vehicles less than 75,000 or so this method should work fine

No need to get technical.
All this is showing is getting the old fluid out and new fluid in. Most importantly the moisture.

I chose the word "flush" because it isn't "bleeding" the system.

If you do this regularly, debris shouldn't be as big as a problem as people waiting 5-8 years for their first flush.


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[tecollins1]

Nice work! How much of the 3 bottles did you use?

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2 bottles.
But it's always good to have a extra one handy.


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[obermd]

Since the MT's use the same fluid, how does this impact the clutch?

Also, probably a dumb question, but other than water not working as well as a pressure fluid, why is the lower boiling point important?

 

[XtremeRevolution]

Since the MT's use the same fluid, how does this impact the clutch?

Also, probably a dumb question, but other than water not working as well as a pressure fluid, why is the lower boiling point important?

You want the higher boiling point, not the lower one.

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[cyclewild]

To explain farther, if you get the fluid hot enough to boil, you get a spongy pedal/lousy brakes-not good if you need to stop quickly.

 

[2013LT]

Yes.. Near the calipers there can be an extreme amount of heat especially under hard braking conditions (racing, going down hills or mountains). If your boiling point is too low due to old fluid your pedal softens up and it just feels like the brakes are almost nonexistant I've had it happen on the highway when my civics brake fluid was about 6 years old. I changed it and it fixed the issue immediately.

 

[obermd]

To explain farther, if you get the fluid hot enough to boil, you get a spongy pedal/lousy brakes-not good if you need to stop quickly.

Yes.. Near the calipers there can be an extreme amount of heat especially under hard braking conditions (racing, going down hills or mountains). If your boiling point is too low due to old fluid your pedal softens up and it just feels like the brakes are almost nonexistant I've had it happen on the highway when my civics brake fluid was about 6 years old. I changed it and it fixed the issue immediately.

Thank you. I hadn't considered the extra heat generated by the brakes. I understand not wanting to boil because steam compresses far more than liquid.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

Amsoil was recommended here due to a far higher boiling point than conventional Dot3 brake fluid. Not only will it perform better, but it will last longer before degrading.

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[2013LT]

It doesn't hurt to upgrade as well. Dot 3 is the bare minimum standard these days. You can easily go up to dot 4 or dot 5.1 depending on the cost in your area. The higher the number the higher the boiling point. HOWEVER. DO NOT use Dot 5 fluid as it is silicon based and will destroy your braking system. Street cars these days are not designed to run on a silicon based fluid. If you want know Silicon based fluids do not soak up water and degrade much slower but the equipment necessary to process the fluid is more expensive, that's why you can't use Dot 5.

Xtreme I don't believe Amsoil's Dot 3 brake fluid has a higher boiling point because it would then get bumped up to a Dot 4 specification. I do believe it lasts longer though, unless they are advertising a Dot 4 fluid as a Dot 3 but I don't see why they would do that. I think Dot 4 is only marginally more costly than Dot 3 so every time you change your fluid you might as well go to Do 4.

Boiling Points:

Dot 3 dry is 205 degrees Celcius and wet is only 140
Dot 4 dry is 230 degrees Celcius and wet is only 155
Dot 5.1 dry is 260 degrees Celcius and wet is 180.

Technically speaking if you go with Dot 5 your wet boiling point is so close to Dot 3 dry that you really shouldn't ever need to replace the fluid.. But the fluid does brake down further over time so you can't push it too far.

Probably all you need to know about brake fluid.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

It doesn't hurt to upgrade as well. Dot 3 is the bare minimum standard these days. You can easily go up to dot 4 or dot 5.1 depending on the cost in your area. The higher the number the higher the boiling point. HOWEVER. DO NOT use Dot 5 fluid as it is silicon based and will destroy your braking system. Street cars these days are not designed to run on a silicon based fluid. If you want know Silicon based fluids do not soak up water and degrade much slower but the equipment necessary to process the fluid is more expensive, that's why you can't use Dot 5.

Xtreme I don't believe Amsoil's Dot 3 brake fluid has a higher boiling point because it would then get bumped up to a Dot 4 specification. I do believe it lasts longer though, unless they are advertising a Dot 4 fluid as a Dot 3 but I don't see why they would do that. I think Dot 4 is only marginally more costly than Dot 3 so every time you change your fluid you might as well go to Do 4.

Boiling Points:

Dot 3 dry is 205 degrees Celcius and wet is only 140
Dot 4 dry is 230 degrees Celcius and wet is only 155
Dot 5.1 dry is 260 degrees Celcius and wet is 180.

Technically speaking if you go with Dot 5 your wet boiling point is so close to Dot 3 dry that you really shouldn't ever need to replace the fluid.. But the fluid does brake down further over time so you can't push it too far.

Probably all you need to know about brake fluid.

Amsoil Dot3 dry: 271C
Amsoil Dot3 wet: 151C

Amsoil Dot4 dry: 304C
Amsoil Dot4 wet: 193C

The specs are on Amsoil's product descriptions.

"Wet" is considered 3% water contamination. Water boils at 100C, so the fluid will continue to have a progressively lower boiling point the longer you use it.

Amsoil's Dot4 is nearly 2x as expensive as their Dot3. Not that big of a deal, however, as 3 bottles of Dot3 is ~$29 shipped.

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[2013LT]

You can use Dot 5.1.. You cannot use dot 5. Dot 5.1 is made of the same material as dot 3 and 4. I don't understand why Amsoil would sell Dot 3 brake fluid at Dot 5.1 specifications unless it's a marketing scheme.

 

[XtremeRevolution]

You can use Dot 5.1.. You cannot use dot 5. Dot 5.1 is made of the same material as dot 3 and 4. I don't understand why Amsoil would sell Dot 3 brake fluid at Dot 5.1 specifications unless it's a marketing scheme.

All Amsoil fluids exceed all specifications, and I imagine they'd want a spec for Dot4 fluid also. I have no clue why they do that, but after hearing how big of a difference it makes even in normal driving conditions, I'll be swapping it out as well.

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[2013LT]

Honestly their Dot 4 fluid exceeds Dot 5.1 specifications no wonder its 2x the price.... Either way you can't go wrong with Amsoil but if your going to change it on a regular basis don't shell out for Dot 4(Amsoil fluid) because it's really Dot 5.1 The reason their "Dot 3" is not Dot 4 is because the wet spec does not meet the required specifications.