Is there an official way from Lexus on how to do a brake fluid flush? I was told that I was doing it wrong??


I firstly remove the old brake fluid from the reservoir and replace with fresh fluid.

From there I bleed each the brake line via bleed nipple (starting from the furtherest line from the reservoir) by pumping the brakes until fresh fluid comes out.

For me its a 2 man jobbie.

 

That's the way I have always done it.

 

That does sound right, but I do not to pull any fluid from the reservoir. I bleed the brakes and refill the reservoir with new fluid until its clear.

 

I was told to put the car ignition to the ON position without starting up the car and pump the brake pedals like 40-50 times before I should bleed the brake lines.

 

Your approach sounds correct to me but my knowledge comes pretty much from before the days of ABS brakes. On the LS I'm not sure if there is a separate ABS master cylinder or not and that may or may not complicate things. I thinking removing and replacing reservoir fluid first makes sense because you then don't have to push all the old brake out thru the brake lines.

 

While it does make sense to pull out the old fluid, I am afraid of getting air in the lines/master cylinder. I hear its quite difficult to remove the air from the master cylinder.

You should put the car in the ON position and pump the brakes, but 40-50 times sounds excessive. I usually pump them 10-15 times to generate pressure within the lines. (Mainly why its a 2 person job). As you bleed the brakes you have someone stepping on the brakes to push the fluid out as you open and close the brake valve at each brake.

If your master brake cylinder is old I would be wary of pushing the brakes down all the way. I was told this is a common way of ripping the seal within the cylinder which results in replacing the master brake cylinder.

 

Just did this on my LS, while at it replaced the lines using Stoptech SS lines. used the classic way.

Replaced the lines, started at the RR, LR, RF, LF...Adding fluid as each side was done.

Couple hundred miles no issues

 

Feel any difference with the new lines?

 

Yes, makes better use of those huge front brakes.

 

A trick is to place a phone book (do they still make these?) behind the brake pedal, so you can't push all the way down to the floor. This method will reduce the chance of cutting up the seals in the master cylinder.

 

I once replaced brake fluid in my Dodge Ram pickup (with rear-only ABS brakes) by just pulling the truck onto an incline such that the bed of the truck was lower than the front of the truck and then cracking each bleeder and letting it drip into a jar until only clear fluid came out. Of course you have to make sure to keep the reservoir topped off so it doesn't run dry. I did each wheel until new fluid dripped out; took about 3 hours on a Sunday while I watched the football game. Worked perfect. One man job, no pumping the brake. Wonder if it'd work on a LS?

 

Gravity bleeding is not recommended.