bob123

I am not a professional and will not be held responsible for any damage or injury caused by these instructions.

Part of my 60K service, brake fluid replacement is needed. Yes, I understand brake fluid replacement should be exchanged based from time, not miles, but first time fluid has been replaced since purchasing vehicle last Spring.
I will be completing this service every brake pad replacement or two years, whichever comes first from this point forward.
Best time to complete this service is during brake pad/rotor replacement since wheels are already off the vehicle which is 80% of the work for those who have a floor jack and jack stands.
From several recommendations and further research, I decided to use the one person power bleed method with the exception of not adding fluid to the pressure tank. Will further explain below.

Tools used:
Motive power bleeder - 101 model for Lexus vehicles
100 ml syringe (To remove old fluid from reservoir)
3/16 inch I.D. silicone hose
Empty clear water bottle (Catch old fluid)
44 Oz. DOT 3 fluid (Planning to use more next replacement)
8mm wrench (Rear brake bleeder screw)
10mm wrench (Front brake bleeder screw)
3/8 inch torque wrench (bleeder screws)
Sil-Glyde (Prevent fluid escape around bleeder screw threads)
Gloves

1). Start with the wheel furthest away from the brake reservoir and progressively work closer. Passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, then driver front.
2). I covered the area around the reservoir just to be safe from any fluid drips.


3). Remove filter inside reservoir and use syringe to remove all fluid until the fluid level reaches the Min mark. I prefer to use a syringe compared to a turkey baster to ensures no fluid drip and can quickly reach the Min fluid level mark accurately.



4). Add new fluid to the Max line and connect the power bleeder. I used the supplied hardware to ensure an airtight connection.
Instead of filling the power bleeder with fluid, I pressurized the tank dry to keep the bleeder clean for future use.
Appears difficult to clean the power bleeder thoroughly due to small bottle neck and also eliminates concern for fluid spray if connection between the power bleeder and reservoir fails.
Pressurized tank to 10 PSI since no need for me to drain fluid any faster and to eliminate chance of fluid spray/leak.


5). Remove protective cap from the bleeder screw. I applied readily available Sil-Glyde around bleed screw to prevent brake fluid from escaping around screw threads.
Note: Below picture is front bleeder screw. Forgot to take picture of Sil-Glyde during rear fluid replacement.

6). Attach the silicone hose with bottle on other end.
Use an 8mm wrench to loosen bleeder screw. One full turn was sufficient for draining to begin.


Continue below

bob123

7). Close the bleeder valve when the fluid reaches the Min mark.
For both rear calipers, I felt two full reservoir each was sufficient to remove all old fluid in the rear section.
So the one downside of not adding fluid to the power bleeder is extra time by depressurizing the system, adding fluid to the Max line, re-pressurizing, and then repeating the process.

When complete, tighten each rear caliper bleed screw to 8.3 N-M or 73 in-lbs as stated in the service manual.

8). Repeat process for front except tighten front bleed screw to 10.8 N-M or 96 in-lbs.
Since I purchased 44 oz of fluid and by using (4) total reservoir of fluid on the rear. I was limited to 1.5 reservoir of fluid for each front caliper.
Next time will purchase 56 oz just to ensure all old fluid is removed since difficult to determine fluid change color.

All old fluid removed.


Before


After

Sybaritic

Great write up, thank you! I sadly don't have the garage space nor a perfect level ground to do a service like this, so this is one service I take to the stealership to do.