TIL a $4 bottle of brake fluid saved me from a $400 caliper job on my 2008 Civic
Was doing a pad slap on my Civic in the Autozone parking lot on Broadway in Denver last Saturday because my pedal felt mushy and I figured the pads were shot. Pulled the wheel and the pads had plenty of meat left, maybe 6mm, so I was confused. Started poking around and noticed the fluid in the reservoir was dark brown and low, so I grabbed a $4 bottle of DOT 3 and topped it off, then bled the fronts with a helper pumping the pedal. Pedal firmed right up on the test drive and I felt dumb for almost buying a caliper I did not need. Has anyone else had mushy pedal turn out to be old fluid instead of a bad caliper?
Man, old fluid bites you every time. That brown color is the giveaway, it's full of water and junk after a few years. I've seen guys drop $300 on calipers when they just needed a $4 bottle and 20 minutes of bleeding, lol. Good catch before you threw parts at it.