19 September 2023 , 14:09
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A car expert has shared a quick and easy test drivers can carry out to see whether their mechanic is trying to "scam" them at their MOT. Faye Hadley, a certified Toyota technician, has taken to TikTok to share how some mechanics persuade their customers into paying for "unnecessary services" just to earn extra cash.
However, she says drivers can easily test things out at home before agreeing to pay to have a particular service carried out on their car. In her video, she said: "Do you really need your brake fluid flushed? Or is your mechanic trying to scam you into some totally unnecessary service? The easiest way to tell is to grab yourself one of these cheap, little brake fluid testers from Amazon and just test it for yourself."
Faye, who now lives in San Antonio Texas, apprenticed with a mechanic in Providence, Rhode Island before moving to Portland, Oregon, and enrolling in automotive training classes. She is now a skilled automotive technician, educator, and an expert in her field and co-hosts MotorTrend’s All Girls Garage, and is a featured mechanic on MotorTrend’s Motor Mythbusters series.
Later in her video, she shows viewers how to check their brake fluid with the device. To start, she removes the brake fluid cap, takes the lid off the device, and dips the metal prongs into the fluid. After clicking the button, she waits and watches for its reading. She added: "Brake fluid absorbs water from the atmosphere and this is not a closed system, the reservoir caps are actually vented.
"The green, yellow, and red on the gauge correspond to the amount of water in the brake fluid. So why does water saturation matter? Well, first of all, you don't want water and metal together. That can cause rust and corrosion. You definitely don't want that in the braking system.
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"But also, brake fluid is the hydraulic fluid. It does not compress. You might be thinking water doesn't compress either. Well, true, but add some heat, and the water turns into steam and that does compress. That's going to give you that squishy pedal feel and reduce your breaking ability, which is absolutely not good."
However, water saturation is not the only thing Faye takes into consideration, as she also looks at the age of the master cylinder and checks when the pads were last serviced. She added: "Chances are, if the brake fluid is over two years old and it is fully saturated with water, it does need to flush."
Commenting on her video, one user said: "That advice was very thorough and extremely educational, thank you." Another user added: "Yo, you are a boss. You should absolutely do more segments like this. This was very informative in the best way." A third user said: "I have watched your shows and you are a great mechanic."
Brake fluid testers can be bought on Amazon for around £5.