You could change it at least every 2 years, more often if you track the car.
Unfortunately the Blue fluid is no longer available due to govt regulations that brake fluid must be amber or clear
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2004 Boxster S 6 speed - DRL relay hack, Polaris AutoTop DIY
2004 996 Targa Tip
Instructor - San Diego region
2014 Porsche Performance Driving School
2020 BMW X3, 2013 Ram 1500, 2016 Cmax, 2004 F-150 "Big Red"
So I just ordered my brake pad stuff from Pelican. I ordered to standard NON-ceramic type pads made by Textar. The guy who helped be out (Bruce) set me up with all the other stuff I will need.
He too mentioned bleeding the brakes, but said I could get away with only bleeding the front brakes and not worry about the rear. Do you guys agree with that? Reason I ask is most of the stuff I've read about that say you do all 4 wheels. I know on an aircraft I used to fly we could do just one wheel at a time, but I'm not sure how much transfer there is here....
I have read/heard to do this every two years. The car came with great records of all the maintenance that's been done on it, but the problem is, these dealer mechanics can't write and I can barely read their hard writing!! I think I need to have my wife decode their writing, she used to be a teacher!
SO, let's for the moment assume I cannot read/decode or otherwise verify an actual last brake bleed date. In this case I should for sure do the job.
One final question for the moment...I have no idea what kind of pads are on the front wheel right now. The only thing I can be sure of is: they were put on by the dealer at some point and I really can't complain about the amount of dust. The wheels do get a little dirty, but whipping them clean is very easy. I just don't know if they are ceramic or not. My guess is they are NOT ceramic.
Did I make a mistake by getting non-ceramic pads? I was pretty happy with the $88.00 price of those pads. I can't say I'd be happy about $110.00 pads, but what do I know...
Get a good shop jack. The scissor jack is a pain in the butt, and you will need the shop jack to put the car on jack stands.
Why not use the impact driver to loosen the wheel nuts after jacking up the wheel?
The tool kit has a threaded guide in it to help put the wheel on. You can see what a pain it is to get the first bolt aligned if you don't use it.
I would never use an impact driver to tighten wheel bolts. Many impact drivers will over torque the bolts, even on the lowest setting. Easy to spin them in by hand and then use a torque wrench set at the proper torque.
He isn't tightening them in the right sequence. Always skip over one bolt going in one direction.
Anker
Yaa, that video was the first time I have ever flushed the brakes. I found out about the other bleed nipple afterwards.
So that's what that other thing is in the Porsche kit an alignment tool? I'll have to give that a try next time.
If there's a better way to tighten the lugs I'll do that too. Didn't know direction made a difference.
"We do everything like in the German Army, by the book of instruction"
I guess the whole point of that video is how easy it is to do and quick too.
For the $60 I spent on the Motiv, I beat the dealers cost now and into the future 1000%
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"It broke because it wants to be Upgraded "
2012 Porsche Performance Driving School - SanDiego region
2001 Boxster S, Top Speed muffler, (Fred's) Mini Morimotto Projectors, Tarret UDP,
Short Shifter, Touch Screen Dual Din Radio, 03 4 Bow glass Top (DD & Auto-X since May 17,2012)
When you bleed old fluid from a caliper in any location ,the first squirt of old fluid it the bleeder jar is usually the darkest. On that basis it seems prudent to bleed all calipers from all bleed nipples. In the correct sequence. Do not screw up and need to bleed the ABS ! Instructions are useful if followed.
You could change it at least every 2 years, more often if you track the car.
Unfortunately the Blue fluid is no longer available due to govt regulations that brake fluid must be amber or clear
You can buy Hydraulic fluid dye but the UV kind is only advertised for vehicles since it does not change the color of the Brake Fluid due to the Gov rules.
However the other colors are available and are under $10 for a bottle that will last even a racer a lifetime as you only use a couple drops every other time you flush.
God forbid that some kid see my can of Blue Brake fluid and think that its blueberry CoolAid, Oh, but wait, my gold brake fluid looks like Apple Juice.
So just as Bureaucrats come to dumb conclusions so must I, hence it must be true that kids prefer Blueberry over Apple Brake Fluid, and naturally it has been verified by special interest group's scientists by testing that on actual children.
__________________
"It broke because it wants to be Upgraded "
2012 Porsche Performance Driving School - SanDiego region
2001 Boxster S, Top Speed muffler, (Fred's) Mini Morimotto Projectors, Tarret UDP,
Short Shifter, Touch Screen Dual Din Radio, 03 4 Bow glass Top (DD & Auto-X since May 17,2012)
To save time when flushing, grab the turkey baster from the Missus cooking tools drawer and quickly sprint to the garage/driveway. Do not look furtively around you will give it away. Take the top off the MC and suck out all the crappy black-ish fluid in there and wipe out the gunk on the bottom. Squirt that junk into a container for later disposal. Wrap the baster in a paper towel and stick it in your pocket. Slink back into the kitchen and work your way over to the sink. Pretend to wash your hands and deftly sneak the baster from your pocket and into the sink. Give it a quick rinse and put it back into drawer. If she happens to see you with a big bulge in your pants, well that could be an issue but not our problem :-)
To save time when flushing, grab the turkey baster from the Missus cooking tools drawer and quickly sprint to the garage/driveway. Do not look furtively around you will give it away. Take the top off the MC and suck out all the crappy black-ish fluid in there and wipe out the gunk on the bottom. Squirt that junk into a container for later disposal. Wrap the baster in a paper towel and stick it in your pocket. Slink back into the kitchen and work your way over to the sink. Pretend to wash your hands and deftly sneak the baster from your pocket and into the sink. Give it a quick rinse and put it back into drawer. If she happens to see you with a big bulge in your pants, well that could be an issue but not our problem :-)
LMAO!!
I have a spar one for my aquarium. I went down that road before. I got caught! And the bulge was NOT in my pants!! Dang...
Hold the phone a second...I have a question for you guys about bleeding the brakes.
Initially, I will remove say 90% of the old brake fluid out of the reservoir and then connect up the pressure tank with the new fluid. I understand the bleed process fine, but my question is at the back end of the process.
Once I'm done with the bleed, I'd expect to have some fluid remaining in the pressure tank and the lines between it and the reservoir cap (I'll start with 1 liter in the pressure tank on new fluid). As I release the pressure on the tank slowly, I'd expect the fluid to start filling the reservoir a bit, not a lot, but some. Then, when the pressure is off and I remove the pressure cap, I should (I BETTER) have some fluid in the reservoir. At this point do I simply refill the reservoir?
Now here is a technical point. I will be changing ONLY the front pads on this job, the rear pads are ok for now. If I understand this stuff correctly, I SHOULD NOT refill the reservoir back to the MAX line, but more closely to what the system started at, level wise, before I started anything.
A good alternate method with a power bleeder is to do it dry.
Don t put fluid in the bleeder, fill the reservoir with fluid and use the bleeder only for pressure
Just be sure to check to make sure there is still fluid in the reservoir.
Bleed the rear brakes even if you are not changing the pads
bleeding only uses a few ounces of fluid. Bleeding is only removing the fluid in the caliper and maybe a little more as well as looking for air bubbles
If you are removing most of the fluid in the reservoir, and replacing it and more with fresh fluid you are flushing the system, not bleeding it.
As to as how much fluid should be in the reservoir after you are done.
First change the pads, then bleed or flush the system.
When you are done with that, fill it to the MAX line
bleeding/flushing is the last thing you do
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2004 Boxster S 6 speed - DRL relay hack, Polaris AutoTop DIY
2004 996 Targa Tip
Instructor - San Diego region
2014 Porsche Performance Driving School
2020 BMW X3, 2013 Ram 1500, 2016 Cmax, 2004 F-150 "Big Red"
This is interesting to me. I have not heard a distinction between bleeding and flushing. It seems like a lot of people (at least on YouTube) use the term interchangeably. But what you have said makes a lot of sense to me.
Also, as a tad bit of more important information...I went back through the records I got from the previous owner. He had it dealer maintained. In October of 2015 (14 months ago), he had the brakes flushed...$160.00...
So, given that new bit of info, I think a bleed would be most appropriate here. Agree?
In doing so, I should follow your instructions then. To do this, would you suggest:
Remove old fluid from reservoir (not 100% drain)
Fill reservoir with new fluid (3/4-7/8 full)
Bleed all 4 brakes (until any air bubbles are gone)
Remove the pressure tank
Top off the fluid in the reservoir to MAX
In doing this, I would not put any fluid in the pressure tank and as you suggested, and use it to apply pressure to the system.
If I have this all correct, the only item I'd question above is #1. I'm not certain I really need to remove the old fluid in this case, but at the same time, I'm not sure it really hurts me either. Just curious what you think.
As always, thank you for the comments!
Adam
Last edited by BoomerRoadie; 12-07-2016 at 07:52 AM.
I spoke to my mechanic today and told him I wanted to do my own brake job. He encoraged me and gave me some pointers. The kicker was that he said to fully expect to replace the rotors as they will likely be out of spec. He told me to check mine and see how deep the lip is at the very edge of the disk. Anything at or near 1mm will be too much and require replacement. Furthermore, if it happens to be ok, I need to be sure to use the same exact pads as on there now, otherwise it will squeal a lot.
I checked mine and I'm just under 1mm deep at the disc edge, but the brake light still has not come on. He suggested waiting for the light to come on and when it does, order the rotors and do the job first chance.
This all sounds like honest advice. What do you think? Should I just put this off as he suggested and do it when the light comes on?
That sounds like good advice. Why change the pads and rotors before you need to.
I expect by the time your pads wear down and the light comes on, the rotors will be ready for replacement too.
I wish I saw this earlier.
Let's view the bigger picture for a moment.
I get the sense Boomer has not done a ton of auto DIY, but has got an itch to explore.
This is an opportunity to learn something new, work with your hands, and feel a sense of accomplishment.
Do the brakes need to be changed? Nope. Tons of pad left in the photo.
Should he change the brakes? HELL YES.
I don't care if the pads are brand new!
You want to learn how to change em? THEN CHANGE EM.
Let's not get him overwhelmed.
First, get comfortable jacking the car with jackstands.
Do the pads.
Yes, they are easier than a Toyota since they are exposed.
It's like changing bread in a toaster!
The most important thing here is to not ruin the experience by overloading this.
This is a hobby, not an optimized business transaction.
I'd have told him to ignore the bleeding for now, but fine.
Do it while you're there, but you don't want to scare him off.
Let's take baby steps, and build some confidence.
Forget the rotors. You can do them another time.
Don't let the rotor stuff hurt your momentum.
Once you're done, you can research rotors as a follow up project to get excited about.
This will allow you a 2nd day for jacking the car and removing the wheels.
The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
He knows how to research and how to ask questions.
Boomer, YOU CAN DO THIS.
You are very smart to block out a day to do this.
Expect to spend a few hours on this, ignore what people say, that's how long it will take you.
Your brakes are fine. I'm sure you can find something that actually needs fixing.
These cars are fun to work on and when you do get to the pads, it's maybe a 2-3 hour job, and that's if you take your time and bleed the calipers.
Last edited by particlewave; 12-10-2016 at 05:02 PM.
Thank you VERY much. You are spot on although I did decide to hold off and get the rotors done at the same time. The brakes don't need to be bled. I have a guy at work who is very experienced look at the fluid and the pads and said the same. I'm good for a while.
The oil change will actually happen next.
I think I might do the brakes on my Toyota before long.
And yes I do have those punch tools. The ones I have may not be as long, but there';s tricks for that!
Yeah I have to say its a little weird to be looking FORWARD to needing to do maintenance!!
Read into the tools needed for a rotor job on your car.
You might need a breaker bar for any big caliper bolts.
Extension pipe over a wrench can also work.
Bungee cords to hang the caliper.
C-clamps to push the pads back in.
4 lb hammer to bang off the rotor.
2004 Porsche Boxster S
2004 Porsche 996 Targa
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