DavaiLave

Hi,

I'm wondering what you guys think is the realistic interval for a brake fluid change on the E60. I have a 2004 525i with my last brake fluid change done 20,000 miles ago, which was over four years ago. It was done at the BMW dealer.

This car drives less than 5,000 per year and is never "hard driven" (with the 525i, there is really not too much performance anyway...)

What do you guys/gals think, what is the realistic brake fluid change interval? I have reset the iDrive brake fluid interval manually, but I got no messages about any issues.

Please share your thoughts. Thank you.

pcy

I have seen recommendations of brake fluid change interval of 2 years. And some people say they never change brake fluid. Somewhere in between those two is probably right interval :-)

Given that your car's brake fluid was last changed over 4 years ago / 20K miles ago, I recommend you plan to change at your earliest convenience. It's not something you have to run out and do it immediately.

DanL

Brake fluid is hygroscopic -- it absorbs moisture over time (which is why the change interval is schedule-based, not mileage-based) and if not changed regularly, can cause internal brake components (ABS, caliper pistons, etc) to rust and fail. Replacing the fluid is cheap and easy insurance.

smurf520i

My 520i is almost 10 years old and from the very first service, I have always changed it.
The computerised display always had it as one of the items to change during service interval which were normally every two years, as I do very little mileage (2-3k pa).
I always wondered why it would need changing every 2 years when on some other cars it is less frequent than that. Some of the answers above were very useful to explain.
Not so sure about it being cheap. The oil itself is cheap but the labour required doubles the servicing cost normally as it is time consuming, every wheel needs to be taken off in order to bleed the old oil out.

WannaBeamer

anyone have the quantity needed to do a fluid change on a 550?

(Thread jacker)

pcy

1 qt/L should be enough.

houbmw

Here is what happens when you don't change your brake fluid for 40,000 miles due to being under factory maintance (leason learned the hard way): https://5series.net/forums/e60-discu...-issue-123042/

Dishoom

I just changed the fluid on my car today, and it was pretty dark and nasty looking after just 2 years. The dealer supposedly changed it in Dec 2011 at 41k miles...I say supposedly because I currently have 57k miles on the car and I'm surprised at the way the fluid looked after just15k miles.

racingluxury

Is there a DIY post on this subject?

pcy

Brake fluid change procedure is same for all vehicles. Several DIY videos are on YouTube.