[Blitzkrieg]

I just read a small F.A.Q. on brake repair and it stated that "Only a professional mechanic should bleed brakes equiped with ABS." Is this true? Has anyone bled their own ABS equipped brakes? I'm doing new brakes soon and I'll be completely replacing the brake fluid.

 

[GetOuttaMyWay]

Re: Bleeding ABS brakes... is there a trick? (Blitzkrieg)

I did mine on my A2 Jetta with ABS. Bentley says to be super careful cus ABS pumps put out mad PSI. With the car off, pump the brake pedal 25-30 times and the pedal should go dead-stiff. Apparently when it goes dead stiff that means the pressure is out of the system. Then you can safely crack the bleeder valves.
The cool thing about having ABS is that for the rears, you just crack the valve, have somone just push the brake pedal like 25% down and the ABS pump turns on and pumps the fluid out for you, no pumping the pedal.
That's how it is on the A2, checkout someone's Bentley to see if its any different on yout VR6

 

[Surf Green]

Re: Bleeding ABS brakes... is there a trick? (GetOuttaMyWay)

I have the $40 pressure bleeder from Adirondack. It's really slow with the rear calipers, so I just do a little pumping to help it out. I've never tried it with the car running... I'd be scared about how fast the stuff will come out.
The reason they say it takes a pro to do it is because of the fluid in the ABS pump won't be replaced, unless the pump runs. There's a function on the Ross-tech tool that will run the ABS pump, and (in theory) shoot fluid through the system.
Since I bleed my brakes every 6 months (or before every road course event), I don't worry about having some older fluid still in the pump. It doesn't stay there that long, as I use my ABS extensively.
I am replacing my ABS controller this week.

$$$ And I will have to use the VAG tool, cause the new pump will be full of air.

 

[GetOuttaMyWay]

Re: Bleeding ABS brakes... is there a trick? (Surf Green)

My car didn't need to be running when I bled mine, just the ignition on so that the ABS pump turns on when u put the pedal down, its a really cool way of doing the rear brakes http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


[Modified by GetOuttaMyWay, 7:29 PM 4-9-2002]