1997 XK8 vert, 117,900 miles; driven only <200 miles in the past 2 years, barely 2000 miles in past 5 years. Oil change today. Had to grab Kendall Liquid Titanium 5-30W synthetic and a questionable $15 WIX oil filter. Tech says his test strip shows some copper in the brake fluid reservoir. IS THIS A PROBLEM?

 

Yes. Most definitely. Don't let techs put test strips in your brake fluid.

 

Think it's just an expensive sales gimmick?

 

No flies on you!

Your brake fluid is due for change every 2 years if you go by the very conservative schedule of most OEMs.

 

Today, brake fluid can be accurately tested to determine replacement needs. This is because the most common issues stem from the levels of dissolved copper and depleted additive package in modern brake fluids. The level of dissolved copper in brake fluid is an indicator of the health of the brake fluid’s additive package. When the additive package of brake fluid is depleted one of the negative results may be internal brake system component corrosion and or sludge build up. A combination of anticorrosion inhibitors, anti-wear additives, anti-rust additives, acid neutralizing or pH balancer additives, anti-foaming additives and viscosity stabilizers are blended into brake fluids.
In modern vehicles brake fluid needs service when the copper content is 200 PPM (parts per million) or more. This will renew the additive package of the brake fluid.
The steel lines on a vehicles brake system start off as a flat piece of metal. It is then rolled into a hollow line and brazed with copper from the inside out making a seamless line. The copper alloy used to coat the inside of brake lines is where the copper content of brake fluid comes from.

As Mikey said, manufactures are now requesting that the brake fluid be changed every 2 year.

 

Thank you both. I'll take it back in asap.

 

Local experience here is that the test strips are prone to giving false positives. Brake fluid only six months old sometimes indicates as a fail.

I'll go by the OEM recommendations as conservative as they might be.