2016 Fit LX. We only drive about 5,000 miles per year so usually we end up doing maintenance items because we reach a recommended time period rather than a recommended mileage.

The Honda manual and other topics on the forum recommend changing the brake fluid every 3 years.

1) In order not to give Honda an "out" on our warranty or extended warranty should something go wrong, does this have to be done by a Honda dealership or can our local service place do it (I religiously save all service receipts and have some 32 year old ones for my other car!)? This place has a good reputation with trained mechanics and isn't some guy doing it in his back yard.

2) On our other car I use silicone brake fluid. I live in Minnesota where they do use salt on the roads in the winter. Should I do this with the Fit too?

3) Along warranty lines, should I drive to the dealership and buy some Honda brake fluid and ask our local place to use that? I know it is likely to be the same stuff but I know companies love an excuse to not honor warranties if they can find an out.

I could have Honda do it but it is a nuisance to go to the dealership and then pay double to have them do it.

 

You do not have to take maintenance work to the dealership. You can take it any mechanic you like. You can even do it yourself. Just keep receipts and date of work. As for brake fluid, just make sure the specs are equal to or better than Honda Brake Fluid. I think the manual has the specs for the brake fluid.

 

I was disgusted by my brake fluid change at 20000 mi (17 months of ownership) and the brake fluid is original/factory fill. In the reservoir (which was capped/sealed appropriately) was a coating of green fine particles and the fluid near the bottom was filthy grey. I decided to wipe the cap's black rubber liner and it was orange and the towel smelled of rust when I wetted it later. So my conclusion is that the brake system has a fair amount of fine metal or rust that formed. I wonder if it came from the Mexico plant that flooded.

Anyone else notice an issue with their 2018-2019 Fit brake fluid being dirty (new)?

Anyway - here's some of my tricks for cleaning up the reservoir that consumed a large can of DOT3 brake fluid:

1) used an older WD40 spray extension fitted into my dropper that I had to use to get all of the fluid out
(2) it appeared that the bifurcated reservoir was dirtier on the right than the left "chamber"
(3) had to flush the reservoir 6 times to get most of that material out
(4) wiped all the reservoir internals with a non-woven (lint free made by KC) wipe made for fine engine cleaning - all wetted parts had a green-grey coating
(5) refilled the reservoir with clean DOT3 fluid from sealed container - used a Ford funnel to transfer the fluid since the reservoir is under the cowl (good job Honda)

Reservoir prior to flush

Flush and original brake fluid

Swabs - notice the orange from cap and green-gray particles from reservoir wetted parts

Dropper implement for getting all of my brake fluid out

Ford oil funnel to fill the reservoir without mess.

Last bits from the original brake fluid

(6) removable filter is coated with green-gray particles

I'll have to contact the dealer to document the work and to get it on my record. I'll likely call Honda of America to get it documented as well.

I'll have to change the brake fluid every 6 months-ish until all of the material is gone.

Pictures attached

- Jazu

 

The reservoir is under the cowl but you can remove the part of the cowl that is above the reservoir..

I removed my brake fluid by simply sucking it out at the nipple, with a hand vacuum pump, at each of the 4 wheels. Unfortunately I did not have tubing that made a tight fit to the nipple, so I pulled out air as well as fluid, Because the tubing did not make a snug, air-tight fit around the nipple, air got into the tubing at that point. Anyone know where I can get tubing that fits the nipples?

 

Update on my last message. I'm thinking the air was coming in from around the threads on the bleeder valve, rather than from between the nipple and the hose. I'm ready for my next fluid change, and I think that this time I am going to use a helper to push fluid out. That way I can look at the fluid coming through the translucent tube, and see if there are bubbles in it or not. My brakes are not spongy by the way, so I think that confirms that the air was not coming from the inside the system.

 

I have a question about the master cylinder reservoir. It is divided into several sections. There is a hole going to a left chamber, and a hole going to a right chamber. The car has a dual master cylinder of course, and most likely one chamber is for the Front Left and Rear Right wheel, and the other chamber is for the Front Right and Rear Left. Although I don't know which is which. Here's my Q: I have a 60 milliliter syringe with luer-lock end, with an adapter that screws onto the luer-lock end, and with 4 mm ID tubing which attaches to the adapter. This tubing will fit into the holes in the reservoir, and therefore I can suck fluid out of each of those 2 chambers. My question is: Is there any risk in doing that? There seem to be 2 more chambers below these – larger-looking chambers sitting right on top of the master cylinder. If I suck too much fluid out of either or both the chambers, can I introduce air into the system somehow? I would of course not open any bleeder valves, or press on the brake pedal, until I first replaced the fluid I sucked out, with new fluid. It is hard to see what is going on in all the chambers as I suck fluid out through the 2 holes.