Had a brake bleed by the dealer 12 months ago…

 

 

Do your brakes work as normal?

Yes they work fine. I’m thinking the brakes weren’t bled properly or I’ve triggered off the damn PITA manoeuvre braking half a dozen times (turned it off now) and there may be some dirty fluid that was in the ABS. Car has done 60,000kms
 

 

Sorry, what is the problem with it? Just the yellow color? It could be just the brand they use. I recently changed mine and it is yellow. The worst thing can happen is the moist in the braking fluid which you can test by the tester.

Looks like bits in it?

Mixed fluids, dot 4 and 5? I've never mixed them, so don't know if they react.

 

As you can see the fluid is cloudy and dirty looking. I’ve never seen any fluid look like that. 

 

Have you scooped any out to see if it's lumpy or soft?

Could be bacteria growth in water?

Don't they bleed the ABS unit, are there no bleed points on it?

Was the cap done up tight on the reservoir?

It's not normal to bleed the ABS Unit. It does not have bleed points. To bleed the ABS you use a diagnostic tool to invoke and then follow a bleed procedure. Also that is assuming that particular ABS unit requires that and doesn't just bleed as part of the standard brake bleeding.

That diagnostic procedure is only done on ABS unit replacement as it would be dry or if air had got into the ABS unit unintentionally, say due to running the master cylinder dry.

It does look contaminated. 

 

Not sure what with. Edit: it’s not that clear from the single shot photo. 

 

I’d suck what you can out of the reservoir, with say a large syringe / turkey baster etc. fill new fluid and flush through by bleeding. Maybe bleed through to the closest wheel first to get all the old fluid you can out first.

 

is there a brake operation fault? 

Edited 27 December, 20223 yr by TheClient

It has probably migrated up from the clutch master cylinder, I bet they didn't bleed the clutch at the same time as they should have.

 

You know that you can remove the gauze screen dont you?

 

Do that and clean it out, you may find the particles are larger than the gauze in which case the contamination is from outside either from when they filled it or possibly the float switch/gasket deteriorating.

Edited 27 December, 20223 yr by J.R.

Did you ever find the answer to this? I had my brake fluid flushed recently (as it looked like this) just checked it and it looks the same now 

Sometime ago (years now), Castrol had a bad batch of fluid, they claimed it works fine but turns this black hen hot. Replace the fluid.

Or if you're happy with Castrol's assurances that it's not a problem as such, but still want clean fluid in the bottle, take out the sieve, drain the fluid out from the bottle and clean out the bottle, repeat every few weeks until no longer an issue.

 

Edited 28 August, 20241 yr by dieselV6

They always have some grey sludge or crusty stuff in. Dealer probably didn't remove that filter and clean it out.