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Ok to re-start Techstream brake bleed?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Technical Discussion' started by corystal, Apr 2, 2024.

  1. corystal

    corystal Junior Member

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    I just replaced the dreaded brake assembly/pump which I thought would ber the hard part... but now I'm trying to do the post-repair brake bleed, and my techstream keeps randomly telling me it lost connection. When/if it does connect back it has to start at the beginning.

    I did this a bunch of times and managed to make it through the part where it raises and lowers the pressure (or something) a bunch of times, to the part where it was going to calibrate the line vale I believe, and bam... loses connection again! :mad:

    So now I'm wondering if I should try again... I can keep clicking "Next" for bleeding each wheel but that pressure procedure seems like something to be done once only.... so how do I get to the line valve calibration and whatever comes after that?

    Also... what do you suppose is causing the problem... the software, the connecter, or (with my luck) the supposedly brand new part I just replaced?
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    If it's a brand new part it's probably not the problem are you talking about you're getting all the way to the linear valve offset? Or are you literally stopping somewhere along the lines doing the individual wheels or the part where you have to pump the brakes 30 times and 30 seconds to set off the valves inside of the actuator itself It's kind of important. What I usually do is bleed the wheels with the blue relays out of the car Do the front with an assistant sitting in the car pumping the brakes like you did in the old days. Then after I get done with the fronts I don't put the relays back in immediately since I'm already on the ground I go to the back of the car and I cracked the bleed screw on the driver right side first see if brake fluid comes dripping dunk dunk dunk dunk those are the drips let that do that about 30 times the drops you'll see them hitting the inside edge of the wheel roll over to the left side of the rear and crack that same procedure again about 30 or 40 drips If the drips change pace all of a sudden speed up that's air that's behind those strips and then it'll slow down again back to the same speed the drips were coming now close that fitting. Go back to the front of the car and you should be at the point where it's telling you to put the relays back in what you do and then the next procedure is the one that's going to activate the internal valves and you have to pump the brakes 30 times and 30 seconds You do that then after that procedure I think it's going to tell you because the relays are back in go to the back right side and now the person's going to step on the brake pedal and hold it down you're going to crack the fitting and brake fluid is going to come squirting out with some force and you're going to hear a pump come on close the fitting back up tell your person to lift their foot push their foot back down crack the fitting again now you may hear some air sputtering close the fitting foot up foot back down no need to pump crack the fitting again little bit of air then it'll probably stop and become a straight stream if you're not careful little squirt you in the face. Do the other rear side driver same thing's going to go on now your person in the car. Is going to take their foot off of everything and reboot the car and just let everything come on and see if all the Amber ABS traction control and all those lights are off If they're not it's probably going to be needing to have the linear valve offset redone which if you look through the brake bleeding business you'll see that you first have to clear the learned value for the original linear offset valve then come back and try to learn procedure for the linear offset valve for the unit you just installed because it's new if it was old it might be able to hold the old value it's done that to me a few times. If your battery is not up to snuff you will need to have a battery charger or a battery booster attached to your battery I personally have not had to do this in any of my four generation two's but people here talk about it all the time I get through the brake bleeding procedure in 12 minutes so it never taxes my 12 volt 1518 at the most minutes try that and see what you have going on and if it doesn't work you can give me a call later because my number is everywhere or you can't No no matter The other day I bled one of these cars and you should hear that story it was hysterical but that's for another day and I was 120 mi away from the shop Good luck man.
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Geez Tom, ever try reading one of your missives?
     
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  4. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    It does this quite often on a lot of different Prius try it again where is it stopping or disconnecting or what have you when this happens is your 12 volt down You test it with your meter You got less than 11 volts might need to square that up there are posts here about people having the same problem I don't know whether you're making it to the relearning of the solenoid valve or if this is happening when you're pumping the brakes the 30 times and 30 seconds?
     
  5. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    If you got all the way through the bleed proper, including all six reps of depressurizing and repumping, and only wiped out doing the linear solenoid offset learning, I would just restart the linear solenoid offset learning. There's a utility in Techstream for just that (and also a non-Techstream way to touch it off with a jumper wire). No need to go through all that bleed aggravation again.
     
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  6. corystal

    corystal Junior Member

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    @Tombukt2 Thanks for that detailed procedure! Does that cover a basic brake bleed?.. the techstream didn't mention anything about removing relays or 30 pumps/30 seconds. I just did the "pump a few times, hold down pedal , crack the bleeder, the fronts squirted a little but didn't do much, tighten bleeder, release pedal" for each wheel.

    BTW, my battery is tip-top AND was on a charger, so I don't think that's what was causing the disconnect. When I was at the simulator bleed step, I would hear a little click coming from the assembly, and then a click right when the disconnect notice would show up, which made me wonder if it was the module causing the problem. It's "new" but I'm always suspicious that unscrupulous sellers sell bad parts as new.

    @ChapmanF Thanks I'll look for that.

    I think I will just re-do the simulator bleed where I have to bleed that, and then the fronts again within 30min (I don't think I got that right the first time), and then look for the line valve calibration utility... is that the last thing in the process or are there any other utilities I need to do one-offs for?
     
  7. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    The linear solenoid offset learning is usually the only loose end. It's included automagically at the end of the bleeding program, but if it doesn't take for some reason, there's a procedure to do only that. You can tell if the car wants you to do it because there will be a C1345 code (or blink code 66 on the ((!)) light, if you get your codes that way).
     
  8. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    If it doesn't force you to do the linear valve offset don't do it and see if everything works like that I don't know about a new part and unscrupulous dealers you mean Toyota dealers I hope because you can't just buy this part from unscrupulous other dealers than Toyota I don't think matter of fact I'm pretty sure what did you pay for the part about $1,436 at the dealer if you ordered it online and picked it up at the dealer you had it sent to More if not. Usually if you're bleeding with text dream the minute you bring up the bleed menu it talks about pumping the front brakes and putting a hose and a cup of fluid and pumping the brakes and so on and so forth and then it talks about removing the relays etc I'd have to go in and get the thing out and bring up the screen but it definitely talks about that and then you put the relays back in and then it goes through the thing where it's going to activate the valves inside of the actuator where you're pumping the brakes 30 times and 30 seconds in a red line goes across the screen of the gray window that's open in tech and all of that then when you put the relays back in this is going to liven up the system so when you go to the rear to bleed all you do is crack the fitting while you're human is standing on the brakes and you hear a pump start pumping fluid and air squirting close it let him off the pedal for a minute few seconds hit the pedal again crack the fitting again you'll hear the air pissing out and then you'll see a straight stream of fluid come closed the sitting a little bit and make the fluid not squirt out so hard while you're doing that observe if you see any air probably not close that one roll over and do the other side the same way The linear valve offset if it doesn't force you to do it don't do it initially and see if all your ABS lights go off in the car breaks on the street out in front of the house properly and if you're good with that leave it alone. But I would think a new part would force you into the linear valve offset because it's a new part and it should not have any values for the linear valve offset because it's new unless that linear valve offset information is stored in the car I'm not inclined to believe that but I'm not sure because a few times that I've used used actuators in my personal cars when I pull the actuator out of the other car from real careful to keep the fluid in it and put the plugs in it move it to the car that I'm going to put it in and I put it in bleed the brakes manually with the relays out then do it with the relays in and the pumping the brakes the 30 times. And I don't have to do the linear valve offset either the car knows some value from the other one or the one I took off and I'm putting in the car it's just using that learned value I don't personally know but I've not had to do it but once or twice the linear valve offset.
     
  9. MrPete

    MrPete Active Member

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    I am going through this hassle myself right now. Bled rear bakes due to axle replacement. Tried to follow directions... it wanted blled, clear memory, linear solenoid...
    * Have never seen 30-pump instruction yet
    * I skipped past bleeding front. Was that a Bad Idea?
    * after linear solenoid (not at all certain it did anything)...

    * I now have brake+ABS+skid LED's
    * c1202 and c1345

    Sounds like at least try linear solenoid again. Could bleed front...
     
  10. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Generally when I'm doing this job I'm changing the actuator so I change out the actuator get all the lines connected back up to the actuator and then unclamp my feed hoses that leave my reservoir and go to the three feeds over on the driver side of the car where the brake fluid goes to the fat hoses in the metal green hoses on the firewall to the actuator the thing next to the actuator and wherever the other one goes I don't care they just go they're clamped off when I'm doing the job now they're unclamped then fluid is moving by gravity from the reservoir to the actuator now I loosen the bottom ferrule first. Look for the air bubbles coming between the ferrule and the metal tube once those little bubble stop I tighten that up go up the line and do them all. I have the relays already out because of just that way and I go ahead and get Mama in the car and pump the brakes and bleed the fronts just like you would a regular boring car and then because I'm already on the ground and the relays are out I go to the back of the car and I make her pump the brakes and bleed the back in the same way. Then I get up come back to the front of the car I go ahead and put the relays in. Now I start up tech the first thing it talks about is making sure the relays are out and bleeding the front which I've already done and the relays are back in. So I next next next next next through all of that fitting the tube and putting it in the bottle and pumping the front brake and waiting for the fluid to come out next the next thing I come to is to put the relays back in and we're going to operate the SRV and the VSV valve in the actuator and I'll have to pump the brakes 30 times and 30 seconds I click next and the red line starts to move and I'm pumping the brakes and I hear the little silly valves in the actuator clunk clunk clunk whatever. Then after that I think it tells me something about the rear brakes and because the relays are in now all the person has to do in the car is just push down on the brake they don't have to pump for the rear so I tell Mama to push on the brake pedal and don't let off of it and I crack the back farthest away from her and I can hear the pump come on I hear a little air squirting The funny noise and then there's nothing then I close the fitting I tell Mama to take her foot off the brake and put it directly back on then I open the fitting I hear nowhere but I'm very careful not to open the fitting very far because brake fluid will come squirting out under pump pressure I see no air in that mess so I close up that fitting roll over to the driver side rear and do the same thing now when I get up the pedal should feel normal and be ready to go I usually turn off the car and get out of the brake bleeding gray screen turn off the car and reboot it light should be out brake pedal should feel normal. And after the 30 pump business it'll tell you to turn the car off don't open the doors so on and so forth so I usually have a windy down and when I get to that screen I exit the car close the door leave everything in the car just as it was for the 2 minutes and then reach in and reboot the car after the 2 minutes That's never seemed to make any difference a few times I've turned the car off and you know less than 20 seconds not thinking and it hasn't caused me any issues.
     
  11. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    But yes you can restart the bleed procedure start all over pick up in the middle next out of part of it and go right to the next step It's not giving me any problem doing that. And usually I'm installing actuators from other cars from tow lots and junk yards I almost never clear my learn values for offset solenoids or any of that until I'm done and something's not working I don't know what learns the valve offset the car's computer or your setting it within the actuator itself but since I'm using used stuff I don't clear any of that out until something's not working and I'm forced to or I think it's a good idea once you clear that value I don't know what loses what memory but then everything is stupid and has to be relearned again The actuator that I've taken out of the other car I've not cleared it stored values and the car I'm going in I've not cleared it stored values so maybe it remember enough to make it work for a minute I don't know but until the car tells me that the linear valve offset needs to be fooled with I don't touch it.
     
  12. MrPete

    MrPete Active Member

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    @Tombukt2 you have mentioned "relays" a few times. I don't see relays mentioned anywhere in relation to brakes/bleeding.

    What relays are you talking about? You do have Gen3?
     
  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    In the Gen 3 correct no relay pulling.
     
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