This has been a standard maintenance item for a very long time, most manufactures recommend a 2-3 year replacement interval, and Ford now says to do it every 3 years. Some manufactures recommend waiting until the fluid tests positive for contamination, but that is a stupid practice. Brake fluid typically only has a 5 year shelf life when stored in a factory sealed container, in a vehicle the lifespan will be shorter.

Our trucks use DOT 4 LV brake fluid, but more specifically it is ISO 4925 Class 6 brake fluid that meets Ford spec WSS-M6C65-A2. Make sure you use class 6 brake fluid and not just DOT 3, DOT4, or DOT 4 LV, they are similar but they are not the same.

 

It's sad that so many dealers are afraid to change brake fluid because there is absolutely nothing difficult about doing this service. I can understand why a DIYer would be frustrated by the extra tools and steps needed to service the brakes on their new F150, but the "professionals" that are complaining about it need to get some training or leave the industry because this is really basic stuff.

 

Unrelated but... I have a Corvette C8. The owners manual states transmission fluid to be changed at 3 years, regardless of mileage. Took my 21 in to have this done. Could not talk them into doing it. They insisted it was not needed. Doing it myself this weekend.

I believe my owners manual for the truck says every 5 years. I have done it once. Probably will be trading for 2025 before I do it again.

 

What is service mode?

 

I kinda agree with you 😂 I’m 51 years old owned and driven hundreds of vehicles between my POV’s and Service vehicles. And never once changed the brake fluid on any of them as part of a routine maintenance. And never had any issues because I didn’t.

 

For normal driving, I don't think you would really ever notice a difference. The problem will show up when you have a lot of heavy braking, or extended periods of light braking. Once the calipers get hot, old fluid will begin to boil and you'll lose braking faster with old fluid versus new.

 

The big issue is that if you wait until you have problems, the system has been neglected for so long that there is a good chance that none of the brake bleeders will open. I've seen plenty of people come in with one caliper leaking or a failed master cylinder that wound up needing half of their brake system replaced before they had a good pedal again. Had they maintained their brake system, they probably wouldn't have needed any additional repairs and they may not have had the initial failure either. When you wait until the brake fluid becomes saturated with water, smells strongly acidic, and becomes filled with sludge, it's rarely a quick and simple fix. It really sucks when you just want to do a simple brake job and the calipers start leaking after the pistons are pushed back in, but it happens fairly often. Corrosion pitting on the caliper pistons caused by lacking maintenance is almost always the issue.

My brake rotors all have blue highlights from being used, so I change my brake fluid every 2 years. The fluid is cheap and the service is easy, I bought a new pressure bleeder specifically for servicing my truck and while the total cost for the first service was $230, moving forward I'll only have to pay $30 for new brake fluid. Overall I prefer the pressure bleeder to gravity or vacuum bleeding, it's seems to do a better job of getting all the air out the brake system on certain vehicles.

 

Talked with my dealer today to verify what I was reading and make sure about (it's fluid - not brakes). They don't and haven't done it. Service manager says Ford system they use doesn't show it at 3 years. She also said that the bigger city dealers will nickel and dime you to death doing unnecessary stuff. So I called a bigger city dealer close to me and he knew exactly what I was asking about and said Ford finally got on board that is was a good thing to replace fluid. Really bothers me that dealer with Ford resources doesn't show it. Costs $169, so I guess I will get it done. After $60k for a truck, I guess it's worth maintaining.

 

I wonder if this is included in a maintenance plan

 

And if you never looked inside a caliper, and never saw how much corrosion had happened, how would you know?