I was recently watching a car show on TV and they were doing a brake pad change on an ABS equipped car. One thing they mentioned was that when you have an ABS car, you should not press the piston back into the caliper to get clearance for the new pads. You should open the bleeder and then press the piston. Is this right? What can get damaged by pushing the piston back in without opening the bleeder screw?
------------- Alex
On some ABS equipped cars, you can't physically retract the piston without opening the bleeder. On those that will retract, there is a small chance of contaminating the ABS pump with crud from the caliper.
-jim
Alex Rodriguez wrote:
"Alex Rodriguez" wrote
Absolutely nothing. I've been performing brake pad replacements on ABS equipped cars since they have been around and neither I nor any other technician that I know or have worked with, opens the bleeder screw to retract the pistons. You will also not find one word of this in the GM manuals. There are some tech's that swear by the procedure (I've only heard of them online) but I can almost guarantee that at some point, an ABS system burnt them, and they assume that this might have been the cause of their problem.
As usual, one person somewhere, had trouble with his ABS brakes after retracting a caliper piston without opening the bleeder screw, and now is convinced that that caused the problem.
I watch some of these TV shows with "mechanics" and am amazed at some of the bizarre stuff they talk about or do. I got a big chuckle out of a pack of guys that were building a hot rod and had just finished stuffing the motor into it. They tried to start it, no start. Checked for fuel, yep lots of fuel. Checked for spark, yep lots of spark. How did they check for spark? They pulled the coil wire off of the distributor...yep, lot's of spark out of the coil wire (dummies). Eventually, they had the bright idea to install a rotor in the distributor. They showed all their blank faces trying to figure out what the problem was....too funny.
Having said that, it's a great example of one of the most common problems in our trade....we overlook the simple and concentrate on the complicated.
Ian
I agree totally. Pat yourself on the back for being a "real" mechanic! Glad to see there are some of us left! After reading all the bulls$#t in this newsgroup I was beginning to wonder! It's no wonder 75% of the paying public hate/have no trust in automotive technicians! Willy
Boyd Coddingtons crew on the left coast.
Just shows that even the big guys miss the little things sometimes.
shiden_Kai wrote:
"Mike Behnke" wrote
Yep, and I have no doubt that these guys are probably very sharp guys. It's happened to us all, which is probably why it seems so funny....sometimes you laugh the hardest because you've been there.
Ian
"g will" wrote
Right....but the interesting thing is that often (at least in my limited experience here on the newsgroups) the very same people that are supplying the bullshit here on the newgroups are invariably the same one's that "hate" the dealer tech, or the chain stores, or automotive technicians in general. From what I've seen, the most consistent, good advice comes from guys who (as far as I can tell) are "real, actual" technicians.
Ian
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