How do you bleed brakes equipped with ABS

[spelunkerd]

The biggest challenge for those of us with partial knowledge is to know our limits. I believe there are special procedures to bleeding hydraulic brakes when the system is equipped with ABS. That said, I have been successful at bleeding brakes equipped with ABS if I don’t disassemble the whole system and if I don’t bleed the MC dry. Can anybody offer some general advice?

Topic

[Shaun_300]

In 6 years of working at the dealership, I haven’t had to bleed the ABS system different than the conventianal brake system. I always start from the farthest wheel from the master and work my way towards the master, (R/R, L/R, R/F, L/F) Always got all my air out without doing anything else. However there is an ABS automated bleed procedure on the scanner available if needed. But if you have good a good pedal after regular bleeding, don’t worry about it.

[spelunkerd]

Thanks, Shaun, that’s reassuring. I hate the feeling that I’ve messed something up, only to take the car in to a professional. Is it accurate to say that the ABS system is ‘under’ the brake fluid minimum level of the MC, meaning that normal bleeding should not affect ABS unless you go further and open the ABS system to air?

[jbone]

+1 shaun..If MC didn’t go dry then your allset….When i did all my brakes i also replaced all my brake flluid with new fluid…It’s good thing to do if fluid is old….

[ClicknClack]

From what I’ve heard at training classes and read in books, appearantly you can damage ABS components if you don’t pinch off the brake line before you push the piston back in. However I’ve personally never damaged anything ABS related by simply doing a brake job and not pinching off the line off, and no one i’ve worked with has either. I’ve only been working in a shop for a little over a year, but a few people in my shop have more than 20 years under their belt and they’ve never had such a problem.

[EricTheCarGuy]

MOST systems you bleed the same way you do any other HOWEVER late model vehicles are getting to a place where you need a scan tool to bleed the brakes (and in some cases retract caliper pistons) on an ABS system so be sure to check the service procedure for the vehicle your working on before you open up the system.

@ClickAndClack I HAVE seen damage to master cylinders by not opening the bleeder on a caliper when doing a brake service as well as the fact that puts brake fluid all over the firewall (brake fluid eats paint). Having been a flat rate tech for many years I can say that any time you can save = money in your pocket but it only takes a few extra seconds to pinch off a line and open a bleeder and can prevent an expensive repair and an unhappy customer. Just my 2c.

[jbone]

@ eric. I will take your .02 over a dollar anyday…..Your experience speaks for itself….Keep up the great work.

[Author]

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