Brake fluid Bleed/change/flush

[esse10]

I know the previous owner hardly did any maintenance on the car and I know I have never change out the brake fluid completely in the 6 years that I owned this car. My question is how critical is this preventive maintenance interval? do I need to get it done ASAP eventhough the car's brake system is working fine? Any past experience on what could happen as to a sudden complete brake failure or cradual loss of braking power?

Second questions is; can anybody confirm this bleeding sequance - "depending on what year your car is 2001+ you bleed the fronts first DSF PSF DSR PSR then clutch" Does that sound correct for a 2003 1.8T? any help will be appreciated.

thanks

[Smileybug]

You are *supposed* to do it every 2 years. I didn't have mine done for 4-5 years and that was really only because my brakes were done. No difference in braking before or after really, aside from the better pads. I didn't have a good place to do it myself...I may do it more regularly now that I have a garage, but hubby also hasn't done the fluid in his Honda in the last 4 years.

[esse10]

Originally Posted by Smileybug

You are *supposed* to do it every 2 years. I didn't have mine done for 4-5 years and that was really only because my brakes were done. No difference in braking before or after really, aside from the better pads. I didn't have a good place to do it myself...I may do it more regularly now that I have a garage, but hubby also hasn't done the fluid in his Honda in the last 4 years.

Yea I never did it in my other used cars that I had for 10-12 years so I was just wondering if there was something different in these beetles or past experience from other folks here at the org.forum.

[IndyTom]

I haven't done it to my Beetle yet either. Sounds like a messy job and I will probably let EP Werks do it. They charge about 70 Bucks for a complete flush of the brake system and new fluid. I know I can do it cheaper myself but I just hate getting brake fluid everywhere.

[esse10]

Originally Posted by IndyTom

I haven't done it to my Beetle yet either. Sounds like a messy job and I will probably let EP Werks do it. They charge about 70 Bucks for a complete flush of the brake system and new fluid. I know I can do it cheaper myself but I just hate getting brake fluid everywhere.

I can do it also once I can get the neighbor to help me with the pedal pressing part, Maybe he works for peanuts?..LOL or maybe wait till my girlfriend comes over on the weekend.

[nitroman]

I read some opposing thoughts about this on other forums.

Some say that Dot4 fluid is more hygroscopic (did I spell that right? - meaning it absorbs water from the atmosphere) compared to Dot3, thus it's performance will degrade faster than Dot3.

Others statements say the opposite in that Dot4 is less hygroscopic, which means water will tend to "pool" in the system somehow, thus degrading performance.

But overall the consensus is that Dot3 has longer change intervals compared to Dot4 (and Dot5 for racing cars has an even shorter change interval). Maybe that's why on the other older cars (probably using Dot3) that the fluid doesn't need to be changed much.

I'm considering doing mine when I change the brake pads this weekend, but esse's second question on the order got me confused as well. Was this from the Bentley manual? I thought the order was supposed to be reverse of that, doing the rears first.

[D2Beetle]

VW brake fluid is a type of mineral oil that is dot 3/4 approved; however it is not the DOT 3/4 fluid and mixing is not recommended.

Bleed from the farthest caliper away from the master cylinder and work toward the closest; those of you with ABS might encounter come difficulty if you switch from the VW brake fluid to DOT 3/4.

Bleeding is easy; however it is a two person job, unless you use a pressure/vacuum canister. If you do use a canister follow that manufactures user instructions.

[nitroman]

I found this old thread on the sequence order.

Brake bleeding sequence

[D2Beetle]

Originally Posted by nitroman

I found this old thread on the sequence order.

Brake bleeding sequence

I will have to look that up tonight; although all my NB's are before Oct 2000.

[nitroman]

I'm just wondering, what happens if you bleed in the wrong sequence? I assume the worse case is that you won't get 100% of all old fluid out, is that correct? Or will it be worse like it will leave some air in the lines?

If that's the case, what's the best precaution to take if you're unsure? Can you just bleed everything twice (e.g. bleed wheel 1, 2, 3, 4, and then go back and re-bleed 1, 2, 3, 4)?

[D2Beetle]

I see no reason why you could not bleed the system more than once regardless of the sequence. The purpose is to get the sir out of the system/lines.