1. how often do you change your engine coolant?

2. how often do you change your brake fluid?

On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:

> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>
> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?

LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:

I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change
it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more
years after that.

The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one
currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.

Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge
it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark
brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed
or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.

Now, this is what *I* do myself. I am not religious about Dealer Service,
but occasionally I do bring the car to the Dealer and usually follow
their recommendations, because we (used to) have decent dealers here who
weren't trying to make all they could on service. They did what needed to
be done and advised you before doing anything else. Did they change the
coolant and the brake fluid? Maybe. I don't question. We had exceptional
service managers here, and if they said do it, then it needed doing.

Those days are gone. The nearest service manager I trust is 50 miles
away, the one the next town over is still there, but the company that
bought the dealership is pushing for revenue. The other two? I wouldn't
go near them if there was blue and white smoke pouring out of the
tailpipe, the wiring was in flames and I was driving right in front of
the place. And I used to work for one of them...

"jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote in message
news:xo-dnR8T3I79qrPVnZ2dnUVZ_rbinZ2d@speakeasy.net...
> hachiroku ???? wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>
>>> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>>>
>>> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?
>>
>> LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:
>>
>> I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
>> enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change
>> it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more
>> years after that.
>>
>> The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one
>> currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.
>>
>> Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
>> pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge
>> it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark
>> brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed
>> or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.
>
> <snip irrelevance>
>
> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>

Toyota does not have a recommended brake fluid change.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

On Fri, 16 May 2008 23:57:15 -0500, "Ray O"
<rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote:

>
>"jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote in message
>news:xo-dnR8T3I79qrPVnZ2dnUVZ_rbinZ2d@speakeasy.net...
>> hachiroku ???? wrote:
>>> On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>>
>>>> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>>>>
>>>> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?
>>>
>>> LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:
>>>
>>> I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
>>> enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change
>>> it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more
>>> years after that.
>>>
>>> The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one
>>> currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.
>>>
>>> Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
>>> pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge
>>> it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark
>>> brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed
>>> or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.
>>
>> <snip irrelevance>
>>
>> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
>> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
>> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>>
>
>Toyota does not have a recommended brake fluid change.

Yes, but they should. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will absorb
moisture out of the air over time, and you still want to deep bleed
the brakes with fresh fluid to effectively change it occasionally.

Though I would never stretch it to 150K, do it every time the
calipers are rebuilt or other major brake work is done to the car, in
the 30K to 60K range.

--<< Bruce >>--

On Fri, 16 May 2008 18:39:41 -0700, jim beam wrote:

> hachiroku ãƒ�ãƒ�ãƒ*ク wrote:
>> On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>
>>> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>>>
>>> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?
>>
>> LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:
>>
>> I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
>> enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't
>> change it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4
>> more years after that.
>>
>> The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That
>> one currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.
>>
>> Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
>> pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge
>> it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark
>> brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed
>> or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.
>
> <snip irrelevance>
>
> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>
> would you fly an airline that disregarded the airplane service manuals?
>
> what would it take to get you with the factory vehicle service program?

Too frequent coolant changes? Toyota recommends 60,000 miles to replace
coolant. If you read waht I wrote, I go double that. I wait until it
starts to look cloudy or the temp guage doesn't sit in one position
anymore. Toyotas have very good cooling systems and will almost always be
just below the center of the guage. If it fluctuates from that, it's time
for a change, 120~150,000 miles.

There is no recommendation for brake fluid. I figured, like I said, you
would be baiting me, so I checked all the Toyota maintenance schedules I
could find, and none of them had a brake fluid flush or change. The best
mention was, "Top off all fliud levels."

So, according to you, my changing the brake fluid occasionally goes
*against* the manufacturer's recommendation, so I guess I'll have to stop
doing it...

However, I did learn something else: differential gear oil should be
changed every 30,000 miles. Guess I know what I'll be doing with my Supra
this afternoon!

On Sat, 17 May 2008 09:49:50 -0700, Bruce L. Bergman wrote:

> On Fri, 16 May 2008 23:57:15 -0500, "Ray O"
> <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote:
>
>
>>"jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote in message
>>news:xo-dnR8T3I79qrPVnZ2dnUVZ_rbinZ2d@speakeasy.net...
>>> hachiroku ???? wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?
>>>>
>>>> LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:
>>>>
>>>> I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
>>>> enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't
>>>> change it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around
>>>> 4 more years after that.
>>>>
>>>> The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That
>>>> one currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.
>>>>
>>>> Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
>>>> pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and
>>>> chenge it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid
>>>> is dark brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes
>>>> would bleed or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.
>>>
>>> <snip irrelevance>
>>>
>>> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
>>> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
>>> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>>>
>>>
>>Toyota does not have a recommended brake fluid change.
>
> Yes, but they should. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will absorb
> moisture out of the air over time, and you still want to deep bleed the
> brakes with fresh fluid to effectively change it occasionally.
>
> Though I would never stretch it to 150K, do it every time the
> calipers are rebuilt or other major brake work is done to the car, in
> the 30K to 60K range.
>
> --<< Bruce >>--

But, according to our friend jim beam, I should be going by the manual.
The manual does not give a recommendation for changing brake fluid, it
merely says "Top up all fluids." So, that's what I did with my
'hachiroku'.

Around 225,000 miles I noticed the brake pedal was hard as hell to
depress, and flushed the entire system. Brought back that nice, like new
feeling to the brakes. Lesson learned.

Also, Toyota did not have a recommendation for changing manual
transmission gear oil or differential gear oil.

My wife took the GT-S to work one day, and I could hear her in the
driveway. She was used to driving her automatic Honda and forgot the
clutch. HEY! GRIND ME A POUND!

Next service, I called the SM I bought the car from and said, Oh, yeah,
change the gear oil in the tranny. His response? "The gear oil in the
manual transmission is good for the life of the car and only needs to be
checked occasionally." I explained to him what happened and I could hear
the pencil on the Service Order as he said, "Change...trans...gear...oil."

On Fri, 16 May 2008 18:39:41 -0700, jim beam wrote:

> <snip irrelevance>
>
> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>
> would you fly an airline that disregarded the airplane service manuals?
>
> what would it take to get you with the factory vehicle service program?

Some indication that what I'm doing is actually bad for the car.
I buy the most 'exciting' cars I can for my money, and I drive them that
way. So far, so good. I'm happy with the life span I get out of my cars.
By the time I'm done with them they're so rusty from good old New England
winters that even though the engine, transmission, clutch and other
system are in top notch condition, the body has had it.

Either that or I trade the cars in for new ones, and see my old cars
driving around for years afterwards. There's a Corolla I bought in 1987
that I just saw the other day, a bit rusty but still running.

But then, I broke it in *my* way, so I guess it should have been in the
scrap heap 10 years ago. But, the new owner must have done something to
counteract my 'abuse', right? Feh...

Bruce L. Bergman wrote:
> On Fri, 16 May 2008 23:57:15 -0500, "Ray O"
> <rokigawaATtristarassociatesDOTcom> wrote:
>
>> "jim beam" <spamvortex@bad.example.net> wrote in message
>> news:xo-dnR8T3I79qrPVnZ2dnUVZ_rbinZ2d@speakeasy.net...
>>> hachiroku ???? wrote:
>>>> On Thu, 15 May 2008 20:08:51 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> 1. how often do you change your engine coolant?
>>>>>
>>>>> 2. how often do you change your brake fluid?
>>>> LOL! I'm pobably baiting myself here, but I'll bite:
>>>>
>>>> I change the coolant when it needs it. When it stops looking 'green'
>>>> enough. One car I ran 120,000 miles before changing it, and didn't change
>>>> it again after that. I traded it at 244,000 and saw it around 4 more
>>>> years after that.
>>>>
>>>> The car that replaced it had a coolant change at 150,000 miles, That one
>>>> currently has 259,000 and is sitting in my back yard.
>>>>
>>>> Brake fluid gets changed the moment I notice a difference in pedal
>>>> pressure. If I start to lose 'modulation' I check the fluid and chenge
>>>> it. This usually happens around 150,000 or so when the fluid is dark
>>>> brown, but not black. The place I used to have do my brakes would bleed
>>>> or flush accordingly, and brakes last me ~60,000 miles.
>>> <snip irrelevance>
>>>
>>> so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
>>> changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
>>> changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>>>
>> Toyota does not have a recommended brake fluid change.
>
> Yes, but they should. Brake fluid is hygroscopic and will absorb
> moisture out of the air over time, and you still want to deep bleed
> the brakes with fresh fluid to effectively change it occasionally.

not only that, it's actually scheduled as part of the maintenance regime.



>
> Though I would never stretch it to 150K, do it every time the
> calipers are rebuilt or other major brake work is done to the car, in
> the 30K to 60K range.

30k for honda.

hachiroku wrote:

> On Fri, 16 May 2008 18:39:41 -0700, jim beam wrote:
>
>
>><snip irrelevance>
>>
>>so not only do you disregard the owners manual with too frequent oil
>>changes, you disregard it with too infrequent coolant or brake fluid
>>changes. the latter being a material factor in vehicle safety.
>>
>>would you fly an airline that disregarded the airplane service manuals?
>>
>>what would it take to get you with the factory vehicle service program?
>
>
> Some indication that what I'm doing is actually bad for the car.
> I buy the most 'exciting' cars I can for my money, and I drive them that
> way. So far, so good. I'm happy with the life span I get out of my cars.
> By the time I'm done with them they're so rusty from good old New England
> winters that even though the engine, transmission, clutch and other
> system are in top notch condition, the body has had it.
>
> Either that or I trade the cars in for new ones, and see my old cars
> driving around for years afterwards. There's a Corolla I bought in 1987
> that I just saw the other day, a bit rusty but still running.
>
> But then, I broke it in *my* way, so I guess it should have been in the
> scrap heap 10 years ago. But, the new owner must have done something to
> counteract my 'abuse', right? Feh...
>


Don't pay much attention to beam. Planes ain't cars. Apples 'n oranges
for sure.

While he does dispense some good info on occasion, most of his posts
reflect a narrow personal view that is out of touch with the average
motorist. He has also adopted the false mantra of dealer service while
ignoring its main function, generation of revenue.

Just pour a cool one and enjoy the afternoon...

JT

On Sun, 18 May 2008 22:35:51 +0000, Grumpy AuContraire wrote:

>> But then, I broke it in *my* way, so I guess it should have been in the
>> scrap heap 10 years ago. But, the new owner must have done something to
>> counteract my 'abuse', right? Feh...
>>
>>
>
> Don't pay much attention to beam. Planes ain't cars. Apples 'n oranges
> for sure.
>
> While he does dispense some good info on occasion, most of his posts
> reflect a narrow personal view that is out of touch with the average
> motorist. He has also adopted the false mantra of dealer service while
> ignoring its main function, generation of revenue.
>
> Just pour a cool one and enjoy the afternoon...
>
> JT


I garnered all that a long time ago when I made an 'educated guess' in the
Honda group.

As far as a cold one, I play in a band and we had a practice/party this
afternoon (rather than in the evening) and I did just that! I like Bass
Ale.