Flush and replace brake fluid at 15K miles??

This was my local dealer's service recommendation for 15 K miles.
Brake Fluid Flush and Replace to avoid costly repairs due to contamination getting into the brake system and cabin filter change for a grand total of $210.

Is brake fluid flush on a car that mostly uses regenerative braking required? Or is stealsership just trying to make up for lost oil change revenue?

I really would like brake service experts to chime in here, because I never used to change my brake fluid, and if anything, it seems brake fluid would be improved. I know modern brakes may get hotter, but the Leaf uses a lot of regenerative barking so what is up with this suggestion?

My gut feeling is I should change my own cabin filter and find a different service dealer.

I see it this way. When you buy a brand new gas vehicle, you want to make an early "oil change" for the new engine break-in. In the same light, a new brake system for a Leaf, changing out the brake fluid at 15k miles would be in the same "it's new, needs break-in" category for me. Would I change my brake fluid every 15k miles *after* the first change, no way!

It's more Nissan throwing dealers a bone than anything else in my opinion. That's the only thing to do on the Leaf that is similar to the gas vehicle maintenance.

The air cabin filter, you can change on your own once you know the trick to it and save a lot of money. Changing your brake fluid more than once in the life of the vehicle, seems excessive unless there is real issue with the brake system on your vehicle.

The brake system on the Leaf is always used, just not as "hard" because of the regen-brake effect. Of course when you need it for emergencies, it will do the job nicely (regen + full brakes) has saved my Leaf from many of Deer + Leaf collisions. :mrgreen:

Why waste the money. I have not done this on my Leaf and it is 5 yo this month. There is no real reason to do this. Other than a cabin filter and rotation of the tires there is no reason to do anything to this car.

It is absolutely unneeded and a complete waste of money at that mileage! Period!

OP, unless the brake fluid smells or is discolored ... there should be no reason to bleed the brake lines. This holds true for most vehicles out there. I did a search and found this. Apparently Nissan recommends the fluid be changed every 15K miles because of the regen braking system.

http://insideevs.com/heres-nissan-recommends-changing-leaf-brake-fluid-annually/


This is one aspect of Leaf ownership that is much more expensive than an ICE vehicle. I've only changed out the brake fluid in my Nissan Frontier once in 12 years ... and the fluid looked pretty good.

I change my own brake fluid in my last few cars. My own experience is that fluid gets dark within 6 months of me changing.
Do I thin my Leaf needs a fluid flush every year? probably not.
Do I think it's a gravy train for the tech on an otherwise maintenance free car? Yes
Can I be sure that the fluid is 100% clean and pure? No

To keep on good grace with the dealer, I may just have them to the fluids along with the battery checks.
Also bleeding my own brakes without a power bleeder and a car lift is a pain.

Cabin filter is definitely not something I would pay to have done since it is so simple to do, yet the dealer charges so much for.

dud said:

I did a search and found this. Apparently Nissan recommends the fluid be changed every 15K miles because of the regen braking system.

http://insideevs.com/heres-nissan-recommends-changing-leaf-brake-fluid-annually/

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What a complete bunch of nonsense! I've said in the past that some (not all!) dealers will say almost anything. Apparently, some Nissan Live Chat reps will also say almost anything!

Sounds like if you're that one guy who lives at the top of a five mile 8% grade and leaves every morning at 100% SOC you should go ahead and have the fluid changed every year.

Likely more of a consideration in humid climates. I've usually assumed 3-5 years is reasonable, like a Mcdonalds fryer.

Other commenters shot her down, but really CherylG has a point, oil changes in my sentra are $30 at the dealer with a coupon twice a year, so dropping $125 on leaf brake fluid changes is stupid. Not quite as stupid as tire costs on an i3 though, at 2x annual fuel cost for a typical car.

I've done the brake fluid at 2 year points...and they charged me < $100 each time.
I do the cabin filter myself (not to mention the dealer charges way too much for the actual filter).

I've wondered about the advisability of doing half-assed fluid changes for brakes and power steering (not necessarily on Leaf but on any car) with a turkey baster. Not a full fluid change because you'd just be refreshing the % of the fluid that's in the reservoir, but a lot less work than bleeding lines, draining, etc.

I wonder if brake fluid circulates around in the system enough for that to do anything, or if whatever makes its way out into the lines stays there until the whole system is purged.

Previous thread on this topic:
annual break fluid replacement

And if you want to be sure that your brake fluid is OK, buy some Fascar StripDips and test it periodically.

The Leaf comes supplied with a manual that specifies the recommended service intervals. For normal use, if I recall, the brake fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles. Show that to your service manager, and then have him try to explain why your car justifies Severe Use interval instead. :? I had mine done the first time at 4 years/40,000 miles.

I just ordered a pair of test strips, with expedited shipping, from Ebay for $14.45 or so. I'll test my car's fluid and if I don't mess up and have to use both strips on the Leaf, will test my housemate's Prius as well.

LeftieBiker said:

I just ordered a pair of test strips, with expedited shipping, from Ebay for $14.45 or so. I'll test my car's fluid and if I don't mess up and have to use both strips on the Leaf, will test my housemate's Prius as well.

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Just two at that price?
I ordered a container of 100 from ebay for $20 back in 2012.
...
Yeah, it looks like the 100-packs are going for about $70 now. Yikes.

I had the brake fluid replaced after 2 years with about 40k miles on the car. Now at 5 years and 116k miles, my mechanic said the fluid was fine. However, the differential oil was very dirty!

91040 said:

I had the brake fluid replaced after 2 years with about 40k miles on the car. Now at 5 years and 116k miles, my mechanic said the fluid was fine. However, the differential oil was very dirty!

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Is there a differential that needs to have its oil changed on the leaf?

powersurge said:

91040 said:

I had the brake fluid replaced after 2 years with about 40k miles on the car. Now at 5 years and 116k miles, my mechanic said the fluid was fine. However, the differential oil was very dirty!

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Is there a differential that needs to have its oil changed on the leaf?

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The "transmission" consists mainly of a differential, with a single drive gear, making it nearly identical functionally, I assume, to a RWD differential.

Have read through the original thread and this RE: and it leaves a few questions on the table:

1. Leaf's brake system (Electric Pump) being potentially different from a traditional ICE's vacuum assist master cylinder approach and its potential affect on hygroscopic (water absorption) infiltration? DOT 3 Wet boiling point is 284 degrees F. It must have a high boiling point to avoid vaporizing in the lines. This vaporization is a problem because vapor is highly compressible relative to liquid, and therefore negates the hydraulic transfer of braking force - so the brakes will fail to stop the car.

2. The test strips for brake fluid have been apparently taken off the market since they are unreliable due to their absorption of water before testing and giving false results. Update: See comment lower about copper contamination at 200 ppm.

3. Corrosion inhibitors also degrade over time. Degraded inhibitors cause corrosion in the braking system. The first metal to corrode is copper. You can determine when it is time to replace brake fluid when copper ions hit 200 ppm? Not sure how a dealer or DIY'er would do this themselves?

4. The Snow belt states Dept of Transportation (DOT) have changed their snow removal tactics to a cheaper but apparently highly corrosive mixes of Calcium Chloride and magnesium chloride combined with "binding agents" that are not very water soluble. They linger, stick and build on the car's undercarriage like glue and reactivate in pockets of the vehicle like brake components and start "ionizing" or rusting or attacking both metals and plastics including electrical lines!! Appears you can see more corrosive differences in the passenger side versus driver side due to puddling of the removal soups away from the crown of the road.

I am personally leaning to 24 month change in schedule - mine will tun into 1.75 years for the first time and then every two years afterwards since I am not changing fluids myself in the harsh Chicago 4 month Winter period Dec - Mar. Will being doing a brake inspection/service my self to see how much corrosion has occurred - hopefully not as much as my two other ICE cars with 3 year new calipers, rotors, and brake lines have been punished!!

9/17/16 Dinner time - Just finished my own tire rotation and brake fluid flush and replacement with Valvoline DOT3/4. The old brake fluid was a bit darker than the new fluid I put in. The rear fixed copper brake lines on the rear brakes are not protected other than some coating but not plastic or synthetic like the hard mount min runs from the front to the back. I painted mine with black engine enamel. The outer 6 inches in the rear window well is untreated paint - only primer dipped is my guess. No undercoating or colored paint. Contamination risk of the ABS system may warrant the 1-2 year change interval!!

Corrosion is higher than I expected on the calipers, looks like 4 -5 year old calipers at 21 months of age. Not good!! The bolts that hold the tie rod to the knuckle look pretty bad as well for their age. Gave them all a shot of back paint. Pulled the caliper slide bolts on the front driver side and they looked like they were starting to colorize and the brake grease starting to get brownish. Re-greased with 3,000 degree purple stuff. I will have to start Winter undercarriage car washes rather than do them myself once I determine what chemical are used and is the water recycled from the previous washes.

2. The test strips for brake fluid have been apparently taken off the market since they are unreliable due to their absorption of water before testing and giving false results.

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This should result in false positives, not false negatives. Thus any negative result with a test strip should mean no water in the fluid. My car tested negative, as have others here.

LeftieBiker said:

2. The test strips for brake fluid have been apparently taken off the market since they are unreliable due to their absorption of water before testing and giving false results.

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This should result in false positives, not false negatives. Thus any negative result with a test strip should mean no water in the fluid. My car tested negative, as have others here.

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Just did some more research on the 200 ppm copper in the brake fluid and apparently the "BrakeStrip" product/test is for copper detection and not water? Not really sure. This is apparently some recent changes in ASE brake "best practices"?