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Assuming you have no ABS fault light on (amber light), you should be able to bleed the rear brakes. The modulator should be in the home position automatically that will allow bleeding. Are you pressurizing the master cylinder or pumping the brake pedal to force fluid out the rear brake cylinder? You will need to do one or the other to get the fluid moving. One other possibility is the brake hose is corroded and plugged and will not allow fluid to pass through. You could disconnect the hose to see if fluid comes that far in the system. You could also crack the bleeder screw on the opposite brake cylinder to see if fluid comes out. There is also a rear proportioning valve in the system but that should not prevent the rear brakes from being bled. Good luck!
Did you look at the brake hose? I had a 1993 Chevy pickup that would not bleed the right front caliper. The fitting on the end of the brake hose was so rusted that no brake fluid could get through.
Nodak 81,
You noted that your S10 always had great brakes and no trouble lights. This typically implies that both front and rear were working fine and did not have any appreciable air in the circuits. It also implies your ABS valves were not clogged and allow normal braking where the fluid just passes through.
I don’t know exactly what is in your brake circuit, but my guess is you still have the hydraulic proportioner with the built in warning switch that will light the RED brake light indication a foundation (i.e. normal) hydraulic brake failure. The YELLOW ABS light will turn on if there is an electrical or sensor failure of the ABS system, but the full function of the foundation brakes are maintained. Newer systems have eliminated that external valve and everything is controlled in the ABS/ESC unit.
So assuming no other leaks to the front, the warning switch was working properly and no air in the front then there are two possibilities I can think of…
1) You thought the pedal went to the floor when it was just a very long stroke since you lost one half of your system. This is a common sensation for some drivers in this situation especially if the seat is far back. Also pickups and SUV have relatively large rear brakes compared to passenger cars due to the payload requirements, so that would also imply more travel loss in event of a circuit failure.
2) There could have been a false ABS signal that commands a pressure release mode which would then have allowed the fluid to be routed to the internal storage accumulators in the ABS modulator instead of to the front brakes. This kind of false signal has happened, especially on early ABS units, but it is usually triggered by going over a bump or driving on rough surface where the wheel speed sensors get fooled.
3) There was some other internal leak in the proportioner valve/pressure warning switch that only showed up in failed system mode.
Good luck on solving this one. Keep us posted what you find out.
Eric,
My apologies for the bad karma (It was very late at night when I wrote!). As you get more familiar with the tool it would be great if you could demo how it does using a single tension setting on three or four different bolt head sizes. It would be interesting to see if “one tension adjustment fits all.” That might make it worthwhile to purchase for that time saving feature.
Your video and website information has helped to educate (and save skinned knuckles) of many of us home mechanics.
Keep up the great work.
Eric,
Great job as usual on your tool tips. However, on the auto adjustable pliers you just reviewed, isn’t the one big difference that once you set the grip tension screw, the same tension applies to all sizes of nuts that you try to grip for both large and small size nuts? Whereas on the conventional type. you have to adjust the tension screw independently for each screw size. If that is it’s main feature, I don’ think that point was made very clear.Keep up the great work on you videos, they are both educational and entertaining.
Dave R.