My daughter is a little nicer. I get lippy and she just tells me, “remember I get to pick the last place (Nursing Home) you get to live at”!!!
Actually they are both pretty good to me. We are always badgering each other and have a good time doing it.
Yosemite
There is almost no labor involved to open the bleed valve if it isn’t stuck. A little wire and a dry plastic bottle are most of the work. It’s not hard to poke a hole in the top of the bottle for the wire. You actually get to bleed some of the old fluid out which doesn’t hurt. When I did my brakes I felt good because I followed the directions.
I had an advantage because I did one brake a day. Two or three extra minutes don’t count for much when four days together have 96 hours. I had an 02 GMC 4WD and my arms and hands don’t work very well but I don’t mind working a little to save about $700. Those rotors are heavy to me.
I’ve worked on many different brand over the years. And I can’t recall any factory service manual for an ABS car which directs you to crack the bleeder when pushing back the caliper piston
There’s a couple of possibilities . . .
I’m lying
My memory isn’t what it used to be
The manufacturers have a global conspiracy to sell ABS hydraulic units
The manufacturers are misinformed
etc.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to crack a bleeder . . . if you know what you’re doing, don’t suck any air back in, and top off the reservoir afterwards.
But I refuse to concretely believe that all these ABS hydraulic units had to be replaced because somebody didn’t crack the bleeder
For now
Perhaps somebody can post an article from a respectable automotive magazine . . . geared towards professionals . . . which proves without a shadow of a doubt that not cracking the bleeder 100% guaranteed leads to ABS hydraulic problems down the road.
Not speculation, not common sense, cold hard proof
Preferably where professionals dissected and/or disassembled numerous ABS hydraulic units and showed the crud inside, and are able to prove that the crud did them in
By opening the bleeder, you are partially flushing the brake system which is a good thing…Forcing old and possibly contaminated brake fluid out of the calipers back through the ABS and into the master cylinder (possibly overflowing the master) might work okay but opening the bleeder is a better way to do it…
When you are done, start the car and gently pump up the brakes until the pedal is firm. Then refill the master as necessary…
"which proves without a shadow of a doubt that not cracking the bleeder 100% guaranteed leads to ABS hydraulic problems down the road"
Why would it have to be 100% definitive? Heck if it ruined the ABS even 1% of the time count me in for not risking it. Especially because its so easy to avoid.
Half the people on this board change oil at traditional intervals because they fear the consequences. Taking chances with fouling up an expensive component to avoid cracking a bleeder would seem to be a hard sell…
I’m not convinced the ruined ABS hydraulic unit due to not cracking the bleeder ISN’T just an urban legend at this point
I’ll have to admit that I checked both my Acura factory manual and my Olds factory manual and neither one of them mentioned cracking the bleed screw for brake pads. OTOH they had large sections on diagnosing ABS problems. Who knows but now that I’m doing it, I’d be hard pressed to change. I think @tester was the first one I heard mentioning it years ago so maybe he has more basis for it and will chime in sometime. I’ve been doing it ever since though and have never had an ABS problem-yet.
I open the bleeders to prevent possible damage to the ABS pump.
http://my.cardone.com/techdocs/PT%2012-0001.pdf
I also do this to see the condition of the brake fluid in the calipers. Because the color of the brake fluid in the master cylinder doesn’t always reflect the color of the brake fluid in the calipers.
Tester
Tester, I read the linked information, and while I agree with the principle of purging fluid into a half full pee bottle, I cringed when I saw the direction to pinch off the flez line.
They’ve been making brake hose pinch-off pliers for years.
They really come in handy when swapping out calipers.
Tester
TSM the “conventional wisdom” (is that an oxymoron?) has changed over the years from never pinching off a brake hose to always pinching off a brake hose. It has also gone (as I hear from old-timers) from no need to resurface rotors when changing pads to always resurface rotors and back to don’t.
I always crack the bleeder open. It makes pushing the piston back in so much easier/I don’t have a C clamp, just my hands. I then proceed to flush the whole system or at least the half that I am working on. I only work on my own cars, so time is not a big factor; the heaviest labor to me is getting the rims off and on. If I have gone that far, I might as well splurge the extra $5 on new brake fluid and get everything back together properly.
The only time I had a problem was a caliper that disintegrated, this was on my Dodge Caravan. Had to bike to Autozone on Sunday night and buy a reman caliper to put back on. It might had been a good thing though-my wife was the primary driver of the car.
@galant; you were doing all the work. She should have peddled herself to town as your parts runner.
Yosemite
Never found the need to flush the system? Before you go putting words in my mouth you should be rather careful. I flush all my systems and have done so always. Why on earth would you suggest that I don’t? Do you view me as a Rookie Yosemite? If so, that would be quite THE mistake on your behalf.
As for opening that bleed nipple…Yeah I see the reasoning behind it, Still I haven’t done it…Probably wont in the future either. When I have trouble as a result of pushing in the piston without the nipple open, I will adjust my method… But the FACT remains that I haven’t had a SINGLE issue thus far…NOT ONE…and I do A LOT…A LOT of brake pad replacements.
I wont argue the principle behind why they say you SHOULD open the nipple as I actually agree that it is a possibility… I just don’t see many or any systems with CRUD in the caliper…If i DID…I more than likely would not be doing a simple pad replacement… If there was Crud…The caliper would probably be acting up in some way.
There are so many things that I probably do “Incorrectly” when it comes to “The BOOK” but I think we are all guilty of this. When I encounter a problem from doing what I do I will ALTER what I do to prevent it from re occurring…I mean I’m not an idiot. If it causes an issue…Of COURSE I will pay attention and change my ways. I just haven’t EVER had an issue…EVER, Dems just the FACTS and I DO NOT like to introduce a reason for having to bleed the brake system when I’m just changing pads, opening that nipple could seriously mess things up and require A LOT of xtra time in bleeding the system just to correct.
Anyway…don’t go putting words in my mouth, that’s just stupid, so is assuming what I know about cars…also Stupid. If my method causes an issue…I will of course correct my method. Until then…the nipple stays where it is… I’m guilty of not following all the rules i guess… I think many if not ALL of us here can say the same…if you’re honest anyway. If after reading my answers on here you still think I’m some sort of hack, don’t know my stuff and or that you are the better wrench than I am…go pin a ribbon on yourself n do a dance…Cause I have work to do and I assist people when I can because I’m a nice guy. If you need to try to make me look stupid while I try to assist people on my own personal time, then its clear who the A-Hole would be. Enough said…
Blackbird
Re: ABS damage when replacing brake pads.
This particular mechanic – who’s advice has always seemed pretty good to me – says the important thing is to not introduce contamination into the ABS modulator. His advice, rather than open the bleeder screw prior to forcing the piston open, is to flush the brake system first, before starting the process of replacing the pads:
“When servicing the brakes, cleanliness is imperative. Pushing caliper pistons in, when replacing brake pads, can back-flush debris into the modulator. The brake fluid should always be replaced, before attempting brake service.”
“I think many if not ALL of us here can say the same…if you’re honest anyway.”
I’m guilty as charged
I freely admit that I rarely torque the lug nuts. I do that at home, on my own cars. But not on the fleet vehicles I work on. A 1/2’ drive air impact wrench does quite nicely. I regularly see these vehicles, so if my method caused warped rotors, I’d know about it.
I also replace 5 year old leaking batteries without cleaning, recharging and retesting. Even though I might get a few more months service out of them, if I went to all that trouble. After the new battery is installed, I’ll quickly make sure the charging system is good, before I move on
posted; September 20
@db4690; you are right and I was just thinking about that while I was eating dinner.
I appologize to @Honda Blackbird, it was wrong of me to assume something that I know nothing about. It was a rude move on my part.
My wife cooked again so you can be assured that I will suffer tonight.
Yosemite
@Yosemite
Rare or still moving?
A rare porkchop!!! The cheese was moving though!!!
Yosemite
@Yosemite; When it comes to fixing stuff on the car or around the house, my wife is spoiled. She thinks all men should be able to fix everything and anything. She recently wouldn’t park the car for 2 hours for me to change the oil. Finally gave me 45 minutes and was standing and waiting for me to be done. The next week, I scheduled a coolant exchange for her car at the dealer as a lesson (I also had a coupon and decided I would rather not deal with coolant recycling this time). She spent the whole morning getting this done (drop car off, shuttle ride back and so on), so now she appreciates it more.
On a different note, I was thinking I have not had ABS issues with any of my cars, and I just brought the curse upon myself. The '05 Camry had flashing ABS lights this afternoon. Went away with restarting the car, but I guess I might get a code reader and see what comes up; Argh.