Originally Posted by scatkins

My guess is that there was more to that one accident than simply reduced brake effectiveness because the owner hadn't flushed the lines it in 5 years. (state of the brake pads, rotors, lines, driver etc..)

I get the absorption of moisture by the brake fluid.. and indeed it lowers the boiling point. No question there. And yes you can't ignore the lower boiling point isn't a good thing to occur especially in an aggressive performance environment, if and when it does become contaminated. And when it is contaminated in the Master Cylinder reservoir how much of that contamination makes it through the brake lines. Probably a lot of factors including things like the humidity of the location.

But I'm guessing that 90+% of the cars that are 5+ years old out there haven't had their brake lines flushed. Maybe it gets done when they have a major brake service (not just scheduled maintenance). But I'm also guessing there are many cars that have never had or never will have their brake lines flushed. Seems like from a practical standpoint that the roads would be littered in hilly areas with brake related accidents of cars that are over 5 years.

I realize that is an exaggeration and maybe the VW in question was in a more severe environment. In that case I'd probably orry more about corrosion eating up in the lines and causing a failure than anything though.

Out of curiosity, I pulled out my maintenance schedules for an old Toyota truck (2003) and an older audi TT (2003).. Interesting enough not a word that addresses routine brake fluid flush.. There are inspections of the brake lines and pads. Checks for leaks and fluid levels. But nothing about flushing the brake lines or even contamination checks. It could be argued I'm sure that a contamination check might be implicit in the overall check of the fluid levels. But then again until reading this thread I've never even seen a device that checks the brake fluid for contamination. Usually I've just seen, "check if it is dirty"...

It has been said that all OEMs recommend a 24 month flush but I certainly don't see it on two different OEMs. (Just the typical "check it" that is indicated for every maintenance interval).

So I'm starting to wonder if it really even gets done even if you were diligent in having the dealer service your car. (If it isn't on the maint schedule I would be surprised if it is getting done)..

A bit confused now..

Originally Posted by Snowczar

Unfortunately that guess is wrong. The Supreme Court of BC held that the cause of the crash was caused by the ineffective brake fluid. The owner then sued VW for not forcing him to change the fluid and guess what, the owner won that one as nothing in the manual back then to change fluid regularly.

Originally Posted by scatkins

Well it was your anecdotal minivan story about a massive brake failure at 5 years that you used to illustrate your point.

Originally Posted by scatkins

As I mentioned one of them I could find no reference was Audi (which last time I checked was German although you never know Austria might invade Bavaria, and I suppose that would make Merc, BMW, Porsche, VW and Audio all Austrian cars)... But with the Audi (at least with that older MY) I could find no mention of flushing brake line in any recommended service. I'm not saying it isn't part of there service procedures, just I was surprised not to see as a service item

Originally Posted by beemer guy

if you read what I wrote, it was 15 years... I just checked the service and warranty manual for my 2015 A6 and it clearly says on page 23 to replace brake fluid every two years regardless of mileage.

Originally Posted by Dilligaf

This is great, OP was asking about price and we ended up with a brake fluid debate....

Originally Posted by ChuckJ

Great job, Jason. I wish you were in Dallas.

ChuckJ