Is a scan tool,needed to bleed the brakes. Thanks

 

no. You are welcome.

 

Some scan tools can help you bleed the ABS pump if you have air in it, but I cannot find one that you can use on the Crossfire.

 

Bleeding brakes is a no brainer for most, however has anyone used the obd 3 scan tool or gone to a shop or dealer when the scanner was needed and, did the procedure correct a softpedal.?Thanks

 

Soft brake pedals are not caused, nor fixed, by anything electronic. Soft pedals are caused by air in the line(s), a "weeping" master cylinder (or even wheel cylinder) or bad leaks.

 

If you have air in the ABS pump then you need a scanner that can cycle the pistons inside the pump to rid it of air bubbles. Some You Tube videos suggest going to a gravel road and getting the ABS to work a few times. I am dubious about that though but ....
When you bleed the brakes normally the pistons do not operate and I think the ABS is more or less bypassed.

 

The manual does cover the use of the scan tool, but only if the system has been compromised at the HCU, master cylinde has no fade, pads are dry, may do a gravity drain. Pentoson dot 4 flushed through the system.😶

 

Ok, now that is news to me.

On the OTHER Hand, at tech days, while Nick and Zach are bleeding my brakes and putting pads on, I"m fixing sticky keys and working on car audio problems - I have ZERO experience actually working on brakes.

And the ABS system is a bit of a mystery to me........

 

What I don't get is why it does it if the car hasn't been driven for awhile? I just bled mine again yesterday because of the soft pedal after doing a complete flush with new fluid awhile back that fixed the problem.
And the last round really didn't improve it much.

 

I don't get it either. However, it's happened to lots of us. As far as bleeding the ABS system ..... don't mess with it unless you must. The shop that bleed mine introduced air into it and the first time I activated it on the race track was the last time I had brakes that day. I managed to get all the air out eventually. It took lots of bleeding and braking on slick surfaces, bleeding, braking on slick surfaces again, etc. BTW, the best surface I found for a though ABS cycling was grass.

Les

 

If you apply the brakes with the ignition OFF the pedal on my car goes to where I think it should be when applying the brakes.
Turn the ignition to ON and with the engine running the pedal drops too close to the floor with the minimum of effort on it.
Why is that?
The master cylinder piston has travelled very little with the ignition OFF and has to have travelled much farther with the ignition ON. Why is that?

I have a theory but I want other peoples ideas as well.

 

Les, do you have SS brake hoses? I'm wondering if the OEM rubber hoses are as bad as the rest of the German plastics are.

Or maybe the caliper pistons get stuck or leak after sitting?

Dave, I was wondering the same thing so with the car running I pulled the vacuum hose from the booster and the pedal firmed up again. Probably because it takes 2000 psi to move the brake pistons.

 

Yes, Stoptech BBK and stainless hoses. I can't find any leaks. The calipers have been refreshed twice over the years. My pedal has been low since new but once it hits resistance it will deform your brain.
The only problem I've had over the years ....... well, I go through rotors, pads, seals, etc. regularly .... is when I had my brakes bled by a performance shop. They "bled" the ABS module which resulted in a near death experience on track. Lesson learned. Recently I purchased a Motive power bleeder. I like it except for the wasted brake fluid.

Les

 

What about the master cylinder? Have you replaced that too? Somehow air is getting in but no sign of fluid leaks.

I'm thinking of raising the back of the car to bleed air getting trapped in the MC like this guy did. https://www.slkworld.com/slk-r170-ge...ake-pedal.html

Or just bench bleeding it.