[miatatony]

So I was thinking about buying one of those fancy scanner tools that has abs bleed function on Amazon, my local mechanic I usually take my car to said he didn't have the scan tool so he couldn't bleed my brakes so I ended up taking it to a dealership.

A bit of back ground, I'm used to driving a 2000 model year Miata where it was a simple mechanical bleeding procedure, never used a abs scan tool before.

I'm wondering what exactly is the order or process for using this function, do I bleed manually first, then do abs auto bleed? Or auto bleed first? Or bleed, auto bleed, then bleed again?
Is the abs bleed function done with the bleeder nipple open for each corner or is it done on an enclosed system? Never done this before and any help would be appreciated.
Also any recommendations for a specific scan tool preferably from Amazon would be helpful as well.

[Alpha1BC]

Depends on what you're bleeding for. If just to do regular fluid swaps for track days or regular maintenance, I'd argue that the bleed tool isn't needed. Can just do a manual bleed and call it a day since there's not much old fluid that'll be left behind and the old stuff won't make it to the calipers if ABS does get cycled after. Recommended bleed order in that case is RR, LF, LR, RF due to how the cross-split brake system works (as opposed to the traditional front/rear split systems).

Where the ABS tool comes in handy is if you get air into the ABS module itself since that bleed procedure is specifically made to clear air from the module. No matter the reasoning (whether needed or want to do it just because), if you do the auto bleed sequence on a brake system that hasn't been fully emptied you should be fine just doing the auto bleed and that's it. Every time I've done it there's plenty of fluid pushed through to clear the ABS and all the lines/calipers at once.

As for the process with the scan tool, they're typically a step by step procedure on the scanner screen that says "Open X bleed screw and pump the brake pedal" for a certain amount of time until it tells you to stop and switch corners. For the front corners on your car you'll have an inner and outer bleed screw. I'd suggest running the ABS tool procedure through the inner bleed screw then doing a couple of manual bleed cycles on the outer screw to make sure the caliper is all fresh fluid. Can do this between automated bleed cycles if the scan tool lets you, or after all the automatic bleeding stuff is done.

[TJay74]

As said unless you have air in the lines or the ABS module there is no need for the tool for the ABS system in order to bleed the brakes.

[miatatony]

Originally Posted by Alpha1BC

Depends on what you're bleeding for. If just to do regular fluid swaps for track days or regular maintenance, I'd argue that the bleed tool isn't needed. Can just do a manual bleed and call it a day since there's not much old fluid that'll be left behind and the old stuff won't make it to the calipers if ABS does get cycled after. Recommended bleed order in that case is RR, LF, LR, RF due to how the cross-split brake system works (as opposed to the traditional front/rear split systems).

Where the ABS tool comes in handy is if you get air into the ABS module itself since that bleed procedure is specifically made to clear air from the module. No matter the reasoning (whether needed or want to do it just because), if you do the auto bleed sequence on a brake system that hasn't been fully emptied you should be fine just doing the auto bleed and that's it. Every time I've done it there's plenty of fluid pushed through to clear the ABS and all the lines/calipers at once.

As for the process with the scan tool, they're typically a step by step procedure on the scanner screen that says "Open X bleed screw and pump the brake pedal" for a certain amount of time until it tells you to stop and switch corners. For the front corners on your car you'll have an inner and outer bleed screw. I'd suggest running the ABS tool procedure through the inner bleed screw then doing a couple of manual bleed cycles on the outer screw to make sure the caliper is all fresh fluid. Can do this between automated bleed cycles if the scan tool lets you, or after all the automatic bleeding stuff is done.

Thank you very much, cleared everything up for me.