I'm just shy of 50,000 miles and thinking of getting these fluids flushed and refilled. Everything else has been taken care of.

after reading up on everything in my haynes manual I'm nervous about bringing it to a shop. there's so many little nuances to doing the procedures correctly.

am I doing these too soon. or, even better, can I do them on my own. I don't know how I'd even move 48 plus quarts of coolant. and I don't have a vacuum machine for the other two, but it's not like you can stand there in the shop and watch the guy do it.

I'd hate to go to the dealer but am I better of that way??? what have all of you done??

 

Coolant should be pretty easy, though you may need to release some trapped air in the upper hose.

If you are going to do the brake fluid, I'd invest in a mity-vac hand pump. It really makes brake bleeding quick and easy, and can also be used to pump out your power steering fluid (having the adapter for a large jar would be a good idea).

 

Before I came to this website I had never heard of replacing brake fluid or power steering fluid. Is this really necessary? I've never done it in any vehicle I've ever owned. I always just checked the levels whenever I changed the engine oil. Never had any problems.

 

I guess in my opinion I don't think that it's absolutely required, but brake fluid does get contaminated and deteriorates with age. It's quick and inexpensive to change, and I would guess that doing it at about 5 years might prevent problems down the road.

I think my motorcycle and quad both specify 2 year change as part of normal maintenance...

 

Brake and clutch should be flushed and replaced every two years, every year in high humidity areas.