stephe44n

Probably not even legal mixing up the used oil and brake fluid, and bring it to the store for
recyling.

sunamer

Yeah, not sure about “illegal”, but they refused to accept used brake fluid when I brought them used engine oil. Atf and oil is fine tho.

stephe44n

I can mix anything in a 5 gallon oil container and give it to Walmart,
But is it really an ethical thing to do? Every now and them I see the
garbage truck leaves a big trail of oil stain on the road, as someone just
dumps the used engine oil in the garbage.

sunamer

it is not, but what will really happen if enough people do this is this: the consumer of that “premixed” stuff will start experiencing problems with separating the fluids on their end, which will mess up their process and either will make them increase the cost of operations, or just shut it down altogether. This means all those places will not be able to collect used fluids and recycle them anymore, which in turn will lead to people screwing up their own environment by disposing of them inappropriately. Reality works in such a way that almost always inevitably it bites those who initiated it.

stephe44n

2 more replies from my friends.
I do not remember doing anything about brake fluid, But my BMW has free maintenance for 4 years so I do not know for sure. did not pay much attention. ​​​​​
​​​​​​I have never changed my brake fluid. I am also surprised that you haven't gotten a snow blower. Chun.

sunamer

just looked at is350 2015 service book: lexus says to replace brake fluid at
36m / 30k miles
72m / 60k miles
108m / 90k miles
144m / 120k miles

also, it requires to inspect “all fluids levels” every 10k miles

if changing brake fluid was a scam, those who track their cars would never experience brake fade and brake fluid boiling. And since they do, I am gonna stick to reality and changing it every 2-3 years or earlier if it looks too dark.

Sasnuke

I think it's fairly obvious at this point that your mindset is that brake fluid doesn't need to be changed...which is fine.
I think this thread contains more info about why you should/need to change brake fluid vs. any other thread I've seen on here, but clearly you're not convinced...and that's fine too.
I realize that everything stated so far is a contradiction to what you know and believe, so it's not going to be something that is easily accepted...if accepted at all.
The reality is that you are free to service your vehicle as you like, and should anything happen due to a lack of maintenance, I would assume you would also accept the responsibility for that as well.
As the common phrase these days goes "You do you"...which means exactly that.

And I think at this point we've gotten waaaaay off track from the OP's original inquiry that started this thread.
But, I hope the information provided helps the OP and others make an informed decision.

Jazzrock

My IS 200 was a lease vehicle, which had regular maintenance done at one dealership. Is changing the brake fluid
something they would do as per Lexus' schedule? I have 38,000+ miles on the car, and bought it a little over a month
ago. Thanks.

Sasnuke

Chances are they would have done it, especially if it was sold Certified Pre-owned.
I got my IS250 back in June 2016 on a lease return with only 25K kms, and part of the Lexus certificied preowned service was to change the brake fluid...which they did, cause I checked, and I knew the Service Manager LOL.
Since then I've only put 37K kms on it (now 62K kms total mileage) and I changed the brake fluid earlier this summer as it was starting to turn color already.
Obviously I don't drive the car much, and I think it having to sleep outside last winter for the first time since I owned it didn't help either.

A simple way to tell the fluid condition is to remove the reservoir cap and look at the color. New brake fluid is an opaque pale yellow.
As it absorbs more moisture and gets dirty it turns into a pale orangy color, then brown, then finally black.
Keeping in mind there are more accurate ways to check brake fluid with test equipment, but this is the basic/simple visual DIY method.

Jazzrock

Thanks. I bought it from an excellent luxury used car dealership, so it's not a CPO vehicle. I logged in to Lexus' site and the service record is there, but it doesn't spell out everything they did. It was serviced every 5,000 miles.
I'll take a look at the fluid.

stephe44n

Sasnuke: Not true. I was going to replace the fluid Monday, but big snow storms. So
go to my mechanics tomorrow morning. Will check the brake fluid color, that is 2010 Rx350
at 62000 miles with original brake fluid.

stephe44n

Ok, got the brake fluid replacement done. Took 1.5 hours. And Mechanics showed me all the cautions, like
for the back brakes, the calipers are made of Aluminium, so gentle when loosening the bleed port screws
or can strip the threads.
So after 9 years and 63000 miles, my brake fluid is clear, just a little gold tint to it. My conclusion is replacing the fluid is over-rated,.
Just need to siphon off some from the reseervoir may be every 2 years is adequate. I design Jet engines for a living before retirement.
Should have asked the people in the shop how often they replace brake fluids on a plane.
Also my Mechanics has open bottles of brake fluid. Because I warned him, so he ordered 2 new bottles after I called him
that I was on my way.

jennypenny

Any difference in feel? When I changed mine from DOT 3 to DOT 4. The brakes felt harder to depress

stephe44n

The replacement was still DOT3. My brake was perfect before so tough to tell the difference.
My Mechanics garage is a mess. But he lets you watch all his work, and help him sometimes like
holding the work light for him. I sometimes have to needle him, tell him you charge only slightly
less than the dealer. But in dealership, i drink their coffee, eat their donuts and watch big screen
TV. Here I am holding a light for you, in an unheated garage and if not careful, will trip over all the
brake stuff lying on the floor.

stephe44n

May be some air in your brake system before you changed over to DOT4.
I think if not careful, can introduce air during bleeding the brake fluod. My mechanics
took forever to carefully bleed and add the fluid. I saw enough so went to a nearby
donut shop.