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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / February 2005

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brake work on anti-lock brakes

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nospam@wtez.net - 23 Feb 2005 23:42 GMT
I'm a shade tree mechanic who has done his own brake work for 25+
years.  I've always had older cars so I have never  worked on one with
anti-lock.  I've a 99 suburban that probably needs new pads and I might
as well replace the fluid.  Can I do this work like I always have or
are them some gotchas that I need to keep in mind now that anti-lock is
part of job?

tks
don
Mike Walsh - 24 Feb 2005 16:58 GMT
The commonly replaced parts e.g. shoes, wheel cylinders, pads, calipers are exactly the same with or without ABS. Some parts are different. If you replace a rotor and hub assembly it must have the teeth for the ABS speed sensor. Some people have said that you can not flush brake fluid with ABS without some special procedure or tools, but I have done several just like in the old days without any problems.

> I'm a shade tree mechanic who has done his own brake work for 25+
> years.  I've always had older cars so I have never  worked on one with
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> tks
> don

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                  Mike Walsh
           West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

N8N - 24 Feb 2005 19:50 GMT
There are a few special instructions.

1) when pressing the pistons back in the calipers, open the bleeder
screw so as not to push brake fluid backwards through the system.  You
don't want to get debris from the calipers back into the ABS control
valves.

2) If you are replacing the calipers, pinch off the brake hoses with
some plastic hose pinch off tools so as not to let the master cylinder
run dry.  If any of the circuits run dry, you will have to bleed the
ABS control unit which requires the GM scan tool.  Likewise, you can
run fresh brake fluid through the system, but as Mike says you can't do
a traditional flush in the sense of emptying it, flushing with alcohol,
and then refilling.

3) If you have to replace the hoses, it might be best to let someone
with a scan tool do the job as you will definitely have to bleed the
ABS control unit when done.  Same thing goes for replacing the master
cylinder or proportioning valve.

good luck,

nate

> The commonly replaced parts e.g. shoes, wheel cylinders, pads, calipers are exactly the same with or without ABS. Some parts are
different. If you replace a rotor and hub assembly it must have the
teeth for the ABS speed sensor. Some people have said that you can not
flush brake fluid with ABS without some special procedure or tools, but
I have done several just like in the old days without any problems.

> > I'm a shade tree mechanic who has done his own brake work for 25+
> > years.  I've always had older cars so I have never  worked on one with
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>                    Mike Walsh
>             West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.
TeGGer? - 25 Feb 2005 04:44 GMT
> 2) If you are replacing the calipers, pinch off the brake hoses with
> some plastic hose pinch off tools so as not to let the master cylinder
> run dry.

Another way of doing this is to put some Saran Wrap on top of the master
cylinder. Wet the lip of the master cylinder with brake fluid, make sure
the Saran has no wrinkles, and secure it with a rubber band. Fluid will
drip until the Saran is stretched concave, then it will stop.

Of course, this only works with a round MC...

Signature

TeGGeR?

greenflag@mgci.com - 25 Feb 2005 06:37 GMT
Nice tip, tegger.

Something else to watch for: damage to wheel speed sensors,
particularly when banging around with a hammer...  Go ahead, ask me how
I know...
y_p_w - 25 Feb 2005 02:57 GMT
> I'm a shade tree mechanic who has done his own brake work for 25+
> years.  I've always had older cars so I have never  worked on one with
> anti-lock.  I've a 99 suburban that probably needs new pads and I might
> as well replace the fluid.  Can I do this work like I always have or
> are them some gotchas that I need to keep in mind now that anti-lock is
> part of job?

ABS is tricky.  Flushing and replacing the fluid is usually pretty
simple.  I remember the instructions for a certain Honda car was to
attach a hose and let the pump cycle a few times until the fluid
was gone, then replace.  The tricky part was that a special
electronics part was needed to properly reset the ABS.  Even a
Japanese car specialist told me he wasn't able to buy the part,
and recommended I go to the dealer.
 
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