If you’re confident at fixing and maintaining your car, replacing the brake fluid is definitely something you can do at home. Otherwise we’d recommend leaving this job for the professionals.
Fancy replacing brake fluid yourself? Follow the steps below.
What you’ll need
- Turkey baster
- Lint-free cloth
- Small container (to catch the old brake fluid)
- Rubber gloves
- Locate the brake fluid reservoir and use a turkey baster to remove as much of the old fluid as you can, depositing it in your empty container.
- Fill the system with Prestone DOT 4 Brake Fluid to the ‘max’ fill line. Do this quickly – the less time brake fluid makes contact with air, the better.
- Next you’ll need to bleed the brakes to force the remaining old fluid out of the system. If you don’t know how to do this, our guide can help.
- When you’ve bled the brakes, recheck the brake fluid level and top up if necessary.
And that’s it, you’ve successfully replaced your car’s brake fluid. Be sure to drive slowly around the block if it is safe to do so, to check that your brakes are working OK.