Can I bleed brakes old fashion way?

The dependable answer is no. Only with a scan tool can you trigger the opening of various valves in the actuator that are otherwise closed and create dead ends that cannot be bled.

If you're very sure the only air that entered the system is still localized back near the rear brakes, you might be able to succeed in bleeding air just from those lines, without a scan tool. That would be a specialized exception to the general rule. There's no guarantee you'll get away with it.

You can't do it by pumping the pedal with the battery disconnected. That only uses the fail-safe hydraulic system, which doesn't include the rear brakes. So the system has to be powered. When it is powered, with a steady pressure on the pedal, you don't have to pump; pressurized fluid will come out the bleeder as long as you have it open (or until the reservoir is drained and air is sucked in up front).

Without being in the bleed procedure or in invalid mode, though, that excess fluid flow is likely to trigger a trouble code that will leave that line valved off.

 

I've talked to several people who have successfully bled the brakes the old fashion way, even when replacing brake booster pump. But when I go down this rabbit hole I intend to use an Autel device's bleed procedure and if that doesn't do the final calibration I'll use Toyota Techstream on an old laptop.

 

If you had the rear disconnected at the beam? Fill the reservoir up I'm assuming you let it empty fill it up go to rest of car wait for fluid to come it is coming. Wen it do spin one caliper on bleeder open rt side . Go left add caliper close it's bleeder . Let rt side drip 20 minutes . Close same on left side . Whaddya ya got? No pumping .

 

Not 'start'. Just power to the brake system (what we often call "IG ON").

You don't get errors if you are using a scan tool to make the bleeding happen, or if you enter ECB Invalid Mode first, using a jumper wire.

If you enter ECB Invalid Mode using a scan tool, you do get a code (C1451) that can only be cleared with a scan tool—by going through the bleed procedure, which is what you're there for anyway, so that shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

 

Yep gravity fills up whole actuator from mid feed to bottom and top of the aluminum block do fluid get in front and behind those opening valves that are not yet . I've lotsa issues with brake bleeding not happening no matter the scanner . Fails on first screen alot Park brake set ign on or ready and so on . Push next and fails fire it starts . But vehicles scan fine 8 can clear all take info etc do other things but not bleed . Had happened 4 times 4 different vehicles battling one today .

 

It’s not that hard.

 

Just follow this video, please don't make it too hard

 

Well he doesn't know what he's talking about but yeah this is basically manually bleeding . Dot3. I run 5 but yeppers

 

I asked chatgpt to translate what @Tombukt2 is saying. Here is its response:

<begin CHATGPT>

Because of gravity, brake fluid fills the entire actuator—from the middle feed down to the bottom and up to the top of the aluminum block. Fluid does get in front of and behind the valve openings, even though those valves aren’t being opened yet.

They are having many problems getting the brakes to bleed properly, even when using a scan tool. The bleed procedure repeatedly fails on the very first screen. The scanner gives instructions like “parking brake set,” “ignition on or READY,” etc., but when they press “next,” it fails. If they start the vehicle, it fails again.

The scan tool itself works fine otherwise: it can scan the vehicle, clear codes, read data, and perform other functions—but it will not run the brake bleeding procedure.

This has happened to them four times on four different vehicles, and they are currently dealing with the same problem again today.

</end CHATGPT>

Edit: "they" == Tombukt2

 

I love it... I'm gonna use AI to make sense of his writings in the future too!