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It was like this when I went to the Lexus dealer in 2016 (they only charged $59 so I wondered if they only exchanged the reservoir). But in a matter of days it turned gold.
I just didn't have the time, so what I did was I bled through the rear left when I was fixing the tire. So that means from max to min on the old, fill up to max, repeat, then fill up, stopped. Only two max to min pushed out the rear caliper. It actually did not come out as fast as I'm used to, I wonder if I should just do the two man method with the pedal? In spring I will do all 4 calipers, but the fluid was by no means black or green, just honey...
p.s. I think I'm on to something. After only 100 miles, my fluid is not clear as water, like in the first pic, it has gotten yellowish. So I bet the Lexus dealer did not bleed all 4 calipers, they did either what I did, or only the reservoir. when I say yellowish, it isn't as honey golden as the 2nd pic.
Of course, the "right" way to flush the braking system is to do all 4 calipers and bleed from furthest to closest. ABS? Not sure. With BMW, ABS is "not" part of a normal bleed, but "is" part of a bleed when a hydraulic component has been removed (not sure I follow that logic). At any rate with my BMW I did all 4 calipers and ABS (because I removed the ABS pump and BMW states it is not possible to get all the air out without the ABL bleed procedure which acutates all channels of the pump), and the fluid remained clear for a long time....(I never checked when the dealer did it under free maint)
How was the brake pedal feel? Our LS has that spongy long travel brake pedal, even I changed mine to stainless steel lines...it didn't help much! I just want to get some input from you, Did you add brake fluid in the reservoir? Or you just use the pump to create vacuum to push the old brake fluid out! I have the same adapter and pump and it make bleeding job so much easier.
Pedal has always been fine. True--my motive is empty, no fluid, just use it to push air.
This was what seemed different to me.....with the Lexus, the bleeder was in "new" condition as the entire thing is covered by a rubber boot if you will. I try not to go overboard with the Motive and pump it up to 10-12 psi. It does leak mildly at the cap, could not get a perfect seal. The flow out of the bleeder was not strong like I would expect, at times I would see a bunch of bubbles in my hose. But the feel was fine after and before...I wonder myself if it would be faster to have a helper push the brake pedal and forget the motive...
I know that BMW insists, if you remove a hydraulic component, hose, caliper, the ABS pump, you must do an automated bleed where the car pulses each ABS channel, on top of the normal manual bleed. They say it is not possible to extract these air bubbles by slamming on brakes manually (I did it with the Lexus for the heck of it, it was raining the next day)...not sure if this applies to Lexus, where air is trapped and cannot be extracted via manual operation? I also know regardless of what the mfg. says, people have had bad results bleeding a BMW clutch, so many like me don't attempt (BMW uses the same reservoir for brake and clutch and clutch is supposedly very tiny)...
I added brake fluid in the reservoir in the last couple times I bled the system!, the adapter needs to be align perfectly and locked in place with that 3 little lever. I pump mine to 15 psi and the old fluid came out fast with tiny bubbles, I think I used up 3 Toyota bottle of brake fluid for the entire system, no leak!
I was temping to use the Techstream to do the "air bleed" method but at the end I didn't want to cause any problems, the Techstream steps not too intuitive so I pass on it, I will try the "rough gravels" or "wet road" to activate the ABS pump.
I had to get the hang of the o-ring getting seated....maybe would help if I lubricated it a bit with fluid....I couldn't tell exactly where to line up the three clips, was just trial and error....but if bleeding all 4 calipers, I bet the fluid looks like water for much longer....but again I saw the color change after Lexus dealer pretty fast, so I think if we want it done right, we have to DIY...it's not a bad job if you have the time...
For those of you with a compressed air source the Mityvac 6830 is a godsend. I have two Motive bleeders & adapters for multiple vehicles but the last straw was attempting to bleed a show car with silicone brake fluid. The cap would leak under high pressure and I couldn’t get enough pressure to push the minor debris ( crossover brake line to right rear wheel cylinder on a 19 foot station wagon) out. With the Mityvac it pulled the fluid through and I didn’t rupture the wheel cylinder seal. I have subsequently used it ( after flushing with isopropyl alcohol) on two ABS equipped vehicles and the brake pedal was firmer without any issues with ABS. It’s nice knowing I can bleed brakes at the bleeder screw(s) and not have a potential mess under the hood. When I picked up my LS430 the rear rotors/brakes were just replaced and the fluid has stayed “clear”. At least that Lexus dealer bled all four brakes. When I replace the front brakes soon I’ll upgrade to a synthetic Dot 3/4 fluid. I’ve had great results road racing with both Amsoil & Motul. It may be overkill but it’s piece of mind knowing that the fluid is excellent.
Last edited by Catalina45; Nov 7, 2018 at 04:41 PM.
For those of you with a compressed air source the Mityvac 6830 is a godsend. I have two Motive bleeders & adapters for multiple vehicles but the last straw was attempting to bleed a show car with silicone brake fluid. The cap would leak under high pressure and I couldn’t get enough pressure to push the minor debris ( crossover brake line to right rear wheel cylinder on a 19 foot station wagon) out. With the Mityvac it pulled the fluid through and I didn’t rupture the wheel cylinder seal. I have subsequently used it ( after flushing with isopropyl alcohol) on two ABS equipped vehicles and the brake pedal was firmer without any issues with ABS. It’s nice knowing I can bleed brakes at the bleeder screw(s) and not have a potential mess under the hood. When I picked up my LS430 the rear rotors/brakes were just replaced and the fluid has stayed “clear”. At least that Lexus dealer bled all four brakes. When I replace the front brakes soon I’ll upgrade to a synthetic Dot 3/4 fluid. I’ve had great results road racing with both Amsoil & Motul. It may be overkill but it’s piece of mind knowing that the fluid is excellent.
I gave my cousin one of the lower model mityvacs for his b-day. I have to admit, I have the premium caps for Motive (red metal), and this Toyota, and I can only get a perfect seal on the BMW. My wife's GM adapter has two different thicknesses for the seal, and when it was hot in the summer (over 90F), both were too thick and I was afraid of breaking the brake fluid reservoir. You're making me wonder if the pull method is better? Or, even the 2-man with the pedal. I have also heard the 2-man can be catastrophic if that 2nd person is mashing the foot through the floor....I got the idea years ago for the Motive from a Porsche forum, and Corvette forum, and also got the idea of not to put fluid in it, just use it for air, from those forums (zero cleanup)..
I hadn’t heard of just using the Motive for air but I guess if the cap seals that would work well. Adjusting the air regulator ( with desiccant filter for use in painting applications) on my compressor allows enough flexibility to ensure even silicone brake fluid is bubble free. I like the draw-through method as you can increase pressure to flush and reduce it to do the final bleed. I’ve never had a leak on the Mityvac canister and although the initial cost is higher it isn’t by much after you purchase Motive adapters. I’ll report back after doing the front brakes on my LS430 and flushing the entire system.
Just noticed this thread. After 9 years of ownership and 138,000 miles I had my brake fluid flushed yesterday for the first time by my trusty Indy. Brake pedal feels the same and the fluid is not absolutely clear. It does have a tinge of yellow. Actually, I'm not sure what color it was in the can as it does come in pale yellow. I got 2 cans of DOT 3 from my Lexus dealer.
You need some more pieces with it. I remember taking an adapter that came with a Campbell Hausfeld kit laying around, some hose and clamps, and this on the Toyota adapter side
Just noticed this thread. After 9 years of ownership and 138,000 miles I had my brake fluid flushed yesterday for the first time by my trusty Indy. Brake pedal feels the same and the fluid is not absolutely clear. It does have a tinge of yellow. Actually, I'm not sure what color it was in the can as it does come in pale yellow. I got 2 cans of DOT 3 from my Lexus dealer.
imho the fluid is clear out of the bottle, no yellow. I think I duplicated the Lexus way, because one week later my fluid is yellow. Not golden like originally, but not clear. That yellow means it's not clean. Just think about how much fluid is in the lines and the calipers, that doesn't come out unless each one is bled separately.
Not really sure why American and Japanese don't seem to do all 4 at the dealer, I could see that it's "good enough" if say it were done regularly, but still don't think it's the right way...
Yes BMW is dot 4 but it's clear more than a year later as it gets bled at all 4 calipers as that's what the procedure says to do. I watched a muffler shop do my wife's years ago and they did the front left lol closest to master. Dumb.
imho the fluid is clear out of the bottle, no yellow. I think I duplicated the Lexus way, because one week later my fluid is yellow. Not golden like originally, but not clear. That yellow means it's not clean. Just think about how much fluid is in the lines and the calipers, that doesn't come out unless each one is bled separately.
Not really sure why American and Japanese don't seem to do all 4 at the dealer, I could see that it's "good enough" if say it were done regularly, but still don't think it's the right way...
Yes BMW is dot 4 but it's clear more than a year later as it gets bled at all 4 calipers as that's what the procedure says to do. I watched a muffler shop do my wife's years ago and they did the front left lol closest to master. Dumb.
(When you buy a new bottle of brake fluid, it looks almost clear with a bit of yellow tint to it. Whether it is DOT 3, 4 or 5,) I've been reading this about a bit of yellow tint to all new brake fluid. Since I never looked at the original bottle of brake fluid I gave to my Indy shop I can't confirm. Regardless, I'll assume that changing 9 year old brake fluid with new has to be an improvement . I am a fanatic but can't do the service myself or I would know the answer. Regardless, my car now has been flushed with two cans of fresh brake fluid and hopefully I'm better off than I was before the brake flush.
it's nice when your brake fluid looks like this
