Vehicle Battery & Brake Fluid Maintenance

[Nirvanauk]

But you are obviously concerned about your battery, so for peace of mind just change it.

 

[wiljoy]

I've had over 50 vehicles during my life. Some work vans, 13 motorhomes and several cars. I've never changed the brake fluid or been recommended to do so. My garage says it's a good earner but never pushes it's customers to have it done.
The brake fluid theme appears to be a modern day thing. I assume in the past they manufactured quality brake fluid that lasted but today it's crap like a lot of things.

 

[Wabs]

As I see it, the brake fluid is the only thing stopping a 4 ton van from causing harm to me/the better half and other people,,so I’d go with the general opinion of changing it if needs be,,,but that’s just me

 

[Eggs]

I've had over 50 vehicles during my life. Some work vans, 13 motorhomes and several cars. I've never changed the brake fluid or been recommended to do so. My garage says it's a good earner but never pushes it's customers to have it done.
The brake fluid theme appears to be a modern day thing. I assume in the past they manufactured quality brake fluid that lasted but today it's crap like a lot of things.

Not as many vehicles but I've had plenty, I've also never been advised to change brake fluid either, even though I ask for it to be tested.

I'm not so sure it's because things today are crap, I'm convinced people read things on the internet and think, that sounds like a good idea, wether they need it or not they are having it.

If it gives folk peace of mind, and not forgetting it's their money I guess it's fine.

 

[Lenny HB]

As I said eairler having had traction control & abs problems on my 3 year old van that had done less than 30,000 miles and a change of brake fluid cured the problems. For a few quid to change the fluid its well worth it.

As for the barrery it's well past its best and if it fails in Spain it will cost you well over twice what a battery will cost here.

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[Eggs]

As I said eairler having had traction control & abs problems on my 3 year old van that had done less than 30,000 miles and a change of brake fluid cured the problems. For a few quid to change the fluid its well worth it.

As for the barrery it's well past its best and if it fails in Spain it will cost you well over twice what a battery will cost here.

Did the garage explain to you why the brake fluid had failed enough to cause traction control & ABS problems?

 

[Lenny HB]

Did the garage explain to you why the brake fluid had failed enough to cause traction control & ABS problems?

Fiat couldn't fund any fault withe the Traction control, ABS played up later.

I had the brake fluid changed when I had a service at 4 years in May by a local independant as we do a lot of mountains.
It's not put a foot wrong since.

 

[DBK]

Fiat couldn't fund any fault withe the Traction control, ABS played up later.

I had the brake fluid changed when I had a service at 4 years in May by a local independant as we do a lot of mountains.
It's not put a foot wrong since.

Thank you for that. I don't think my traction control is working correctly although the symptoms are different to what you experienced - it is allowing one wheel to spin which it isn't supposed to do.

A brake fluid change is overdue so I'll get it done on the next service. It won't do any harm.

 

[cyberyacht]

If an engine battery voltage drops does it create problems for the ECU even if the ignition is not turned on?

According to my KS Energy app, the battery is at 90% with a voltage of 13.35. I thought these battery maintenance gizmos worked on a voltage differential, sucking juice from the LB if required. I don't have the solar charging the LB at home as I understand they are happier if not kept fully charged when not being used. Can anyone clarify?

 

[TheBig1]

I have a brake fluid tester, which rarely gets used. Not an expensive version, but a tester pen. Dip the probes in the brake(and clutch) fluid reservoir and press the button. It takes seconds if you are worried

cost about £20

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[the1andonly]

Check the electrolyte levels in the sb, could be cause of a low voltage. Mine needed topping up after 3 year. To check whilst protecting the ecu see thread

Topping up battery with Di water

on my x290 ducato the positive terminal assembly covers 2 of the battery topup holes. This requires removing the assembly from the +ve terminal. Should the full battery removal procedure be adopted to protect the ecus.

www.motorhomefun.co.uk

As said previously fluid testers are cheap. The only failure i had was in a 10yr old Skoda.

 

[deleted79651]

VW and Peugeot Car Service Scheules require Brake Fluid change at 2 or 3 years. No reference to 'test and see if there's any moisture present'. I'm quite content to pay for it to be changed. In crude terms, it's a £50,000 purchase that will cost £50 to protect.

I'm not a trained vehicle technician/mechanic and I don't want to be worrying whether the brakes will cope with the Pyrenees.

The Vehicle Battery is 5.5 years old and I know from the MOT certificates that it has only once covered more than 3,500 miles in a year. The Van was on the Dealer's forecourt for 6 months before we bought it, during which time it covered about 20 miles, so not ideal conditions.

Steve

 

[the1andonly]

I don't have the solar charging the LB at home as I understand they are happier if not kept fully charged when not being used. Can anyone clarify?

If lithium, the LB is happier not fully charged. Can you switch the solar output from lb to sb when van not in use ( or change the wiring to do so)? This would kill 2 birds with 1 stone (i used this method on my bongo which had a permanent parasite drain on SB and the LB did not) . I currently have votronics controllers that trickle charge SB, and an issolator on the LB Negative.

marchie i would suggest checking the battery levels (at least 3 available without poncing about too much) and fill if required and then put on charge for 24 hrs then test voltage after an hour. Ps battery is under a panel in front of passenger seat (rhd) just move carpet, its obvious.
You appear to have enough things to spend yet another £100 on. Unless youve had any brake problems waste £3 on a tester first.

 

[Coolcats]

I've had over 50 vehicles during my life. Some work vans, 13 motorhomes and several cars. I've never changed the brake fluid or been recommended to do so. My garage says it's a good earner but never pushes it's customers to have it done.
The brake fluid theme appears to be a modern day thing. I assume in the past they manufactured quality brake fluid that lasted but today it's crap like a lot of things.

This is an interesting perspective, bake fluid is hydroscopic and will degrade. Just wait till your coming down a mountain pass and have old brake fluid it’s boiling point changes. I took a Brand new Mercedes’ sport out at silverstone the car did not last the day after about 3 outings and 5 laps a go the brake fluid boiled and that was the end of the day for that vehicle as the braking performance of that vehicle was impaired. A VW Golf GT lasted all day but needed a new set of tyres as the ones it had were pretty much worn out. In fact all 5 vehicles had tyre and brake fluid changes along with a change of oil and filter.

Brake fluid degrades and as I say you may not know it has until the brakes have to start performing under pressure such as that mountain pass.

 

[deleted79651]

Van brake fluid changed this morning. The reservoir was nice and clean [Van 5.5 years old but had only 8767 miles on the clock] and the original fluid looked like medium coloured pee. The new fluid is more of a light primrose yellow, so I suspect that the old fluid was the original from 2016, rather like the aircon that we had to have regassed in mid July for the first time since the M/Home was built.

We seem to have a low mileage/low maintenance undertaken vehicle. But, on the bright side, we won't have to risk finding out on a descent of the Pyrenees that we should have changed the brake fluid, and we are just about at the stage where everything that should have been changed/recharged/regassed or serviced has now been covered, so we have only to keep it that way ...

I'm too old for the excitement of 'Will it start/will it stop' uncertainty, and I'd rather pay a few quid and survive to see the holiday through toits scheduled end date.

Steve

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[Eggs]

Van brake fluid changed this morning. The reservoir was nice and clean [Van 5.5 years old but had only 8767 miles on the clock] and the original fluid looked like medium coloured pee. The new fluid is more of a light primrose yellow, so I suspect that the old fluid was the original from 2016, rather like the aircon that we had to have regassed in mid July for the first time since the M/Home was built.

We seem to have a low mileage/low maintenance undertaken vehicle. But, on the bright side, we won't have to risk finding out on a descent of the Pyrenees that we should have changed the brake fluid, and we are just about at the stage where everything that should have been changed/recharged/regassed or serviced has now been covered, so we have only to keep it that way ...

I'm too old for the excitement of 'Will it start/will it stop' uncertainty, and I'd rather pay a few quid and survive to see the holiday through toits scheduled end date.

Steve

"toits", I had a round toit but couldn't be bothered with it.

If you and yours are happy that's all that matters.

 

[deleted79651]

"toits", I had a round toit but couldn't be bothered with it.

If you and yours are happy that's all that matters.

Laptop dying by instalments with key presses failing perioidically on 'd','e' the right hand conventional bracket above zero, and the zero key [that's why I always use square brackets; they still work, although the opening square bracket is beginning to get a wee bit flaky ...], and the spacebar. The latter has always been quite stiff and requires a thump, rather than any attempt at touch typing. I should replace the laptop, but cannot decide what to buy as a replacement. Probably sensible to wait and see how Windows 11 pans out, and, in the meantime, become a little more careful with pre-post proof reading.

No overly important; no-one died. And I have some toits at our French hovel that may need attention after a 21 months absence ...

Steve

 

[Eggs]

Laptop dying by instalments with key presses failing perioidically on 'd','e' the right hand conventional bracket above zero, and the zero key [that's why I always use square brackets; they still work, although the opening square bracket is beginning to get a wee bit flaky ...], and the spacebar. The latter has always been quite stiff and requires a thump, rather than any attempt at touch typing. I should replace the laptop, but cannot decide what to buy as a replacement. Probably sensible to wait and see how Windows 11 pans out, and, in the meantime, become a little more careful with pre-post proof reading.

No overly important; no-one died. And I have some toits at our French hovel that may need attention after a 21 months absence ...

Steve

Laptop dying by instalments with key presses failing perioidically on 'd','e' the right hand conventional bracket above zero, and the zero key [that's why I always use square brackets; they still work, although the opening square bracket is beginning to get a wee bit flaky ...], and the spacebar. The latter has always been quite stiff and requires a thump, rather than any attempt at touch typing. I should replace the laptop, but cannot decide what to buy as a replacement. Probably sensible to wait and see how Windows 11 pans out, and, in the meantime, become a little more careful with pre-post proof reading.

No overly important; no-one died. And I have some toits at our French hovel that may need attention after a 21 months absence ...

Steve

"T" not working either

"Not" overly important.

 

[deleted79651]

"T" not working either

"Not" overly important.

That's the Scots dialect, It's no overly important ... In the English language it signals an error of typography ... Ce n'est pas grave indicates that no French citizens died, or, if they did, the burial has yet to take place ...

Steve

 

[Lenny HB]

[Van 5.5 years old but had only 8767 miles on the clock]

Need to get out more boy, that's only one years mileage in my book.

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[deleted79651]

Need to get out more boy, that's only one years mileage in my book.

We have, Lenny. 8767 was the delivery mileage, now sitting at 11469, so 2702 miles since purchase, and we had to cancel the trip to Lincoln because of the diesel shortage, so that's a touch over 700 miles we've missed out on; but we've got the anticipated trip to Spain [COVID Booster + Flu Jags and a couple of minor medical bits to sort out first, just waiting to finalise dates] and this should add 4000 miles, maybe a few more. I reckon that we'll cover around 9000 miles by the first anniversary of buying Brunhilde, comfortably exceeding the previous 5 years' total mileage ...

Steve

 

[Landy Andy]

Even being stuck with work and limited standard holidays we manage 8thou miles a year. Well apart from last year when we were a couple light.

 

[the1andonly]

marchie windows 11 new laptop not required. just add a std usb keyboard. £6 ebay.
Mine maybe a latop but attached to USB keyboard a mouse and 24" telly.

latop keyboard error?
no, warrior error.

 

[Silver-Fox]

This is an interesting perspective, bake fluid is hydroscopic and will degrade. Just wait till your coming down a mountain pass and have old brake fluid it’s boiling point changes. I took a Brand new Mercedes’ sport out at silverstone the car did not last the day after about 3 outings and 5 laps a go the brake fluid boiled and that was the end of the day for that vehicle as the braking performance of that vehicle was impaired. A VW Golf GT lasted all day but needed a new set of tyres as the ones it had were pretty much worn out. In fact all 5 vehicles had tyre and brake fluid changes along with a change of oil and filter.

Brake fluid degrades and as I say you may not know it has until the brakes have to start performing under pressure such as that mountain pass.

Out of interest what dot were you running in the cars at Silverstone.

 

[Coolcats]

Out of interest what dot were you running in the cars at Silverstone.

Whatever they came with

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