Service with brake fluid?
 

My Volvo v90 is in for its first main service and I have been told that Volvo advise a change of brake fluid on this service. Is this normal? I have never heard of it before.
They say it is an extra cost but surely if Volvo advise this with this service then you would think it would be included within the service cost.
Comments welcome

I couldn't say for modern Volvos but changing brake fluid at regular intervals has been recommended by manufacturers for a long time, trouble is it never seems to get included in the services, so either you have to pay extra, or perhaps worse, no one mentions it, you presume they are doing whatever is necessary with the result it doesn't get done at all.
I think one of the reasons that it doesn't get included in the advertised price of a service is that there are many workshops all competing for your business and if they add the cost on up front you might go elsewhere, but then some of the real cheap merchants will do a very quick oil change with something cheap and just give the rest of the car a quick rub with the oily rag. But oddly a lot of places will clean and valet the car without you asking as an inclusive part of the service, probably because they found the average customer valued that more than changing their brake fluid :confused_smile:

I have always changed brake fluid each 2 years (as far as I am aware 2 years is the general recommendation). This is due to it absorbing moisture.

In fairness I have struggled to recognise the difference between the used fluid and fresh whilst flushing. The performance before and after is no different at all.

When I have bought used cars which have not had a fluid change it is possible to see the colour difference between the old and new.

I think in reality regardless of schedules you won’t find degradation pre- 2 years.

THIS IS JUST MY OPINION NO LIABILITY ACCEPTED!

This is one of those printer cartridge comparisons for getting money out of you for the sake of it,

I In all my years of driving I have never changed brake fluid in any car I've owned, it's been bundled in as an extra for the service department, my last car was 11 years old when I disposed of it and it still had the factory fluid in it and passed every year without fail,

If your fluid has absorbed moisture it will show on the rolling road at MOT time because water will act the same as air in the system, if it doesn't show then there's no moisture in it and it's environmentally unfriendly to change it,

When I worked for VAG the mechanics used to take the new fluid home for their own bunny jobs and simply wipe the res cap after topping off the fluid to take up the slack the pad wear had taken, yup that's right! I only knew 2 out of 10 that actually changed it and their own words.."the blokes paid for it so it's only right I change it"

It's your choice but I think it's the same as all the other placebo things the world tries to sell us, the only thing I would say it's worth it for is if you have ext warranty and want to be 100% they have no wiggle out should the master or servo go bad.

Four year old fluid. You take your choice, but I’ll change mine.

I have been changing fluid in mine for over 20 years. If that is four years old you have a problem. That is not normal in any way shape or form.

Totally agree.

Hi, that does look rather rust infiltrated and especially at 4 years old, my just gone car had the original in it and it was still clear and light golden, I just blew the picture up and it looks like the pot rather than the fluid has seen better days,

Where people mistake it is those that aren't mechanically minded see it as a fluid like oil but it's only job is to transfer pressure from the pedal to the calipers so it doesn't get the thrashing engine oil does,

By all means carry on with your schedule but for me it's another money spinner like the DSG oil change is where all they really need imo is a fresh filter and at twice the intervals VW spec as again the oil is hydraulic oil rather than lubricating oil, all types of oils will discolour over time but only those that can suffer dilution and combustion contamination lose their viscosity.

Volvo advise that the brake fluid is changed every 2 years, This is OPTIONAL NOT part of any particular service..
If it were mine i would do it every 3 or 4 years .

The volvo standard Labour time is 30 mins . although with their pressure bleeder it can easily be done in 15 mins. they have a brake fluid tester they can use to determine any water content .

I use a pressure bleeder (proper pump up - no doubt not as good as Volvo but good).

30 mins sounds good. I would struggle to do that unless I had ramps (the 90 is ok as front wheels can stay in, rear come off).


15 minutes really is very very impressive!