Need scanner to bleed brakes?

[97TaurusGuy]

I have a 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE. I have heard that you need a scanner to bleed the brakes on these vehicles. Is this true? Is it really necessary? Can I do harm if I do it the old fashioned way? I have to put new rear wheel cylinders, front calipers, rotors and pads on this weekend and would like to know before I do the work. Thanks!

[RIP]

This is a warning from a maintenance manual which you should already have:

"On conventional (non-ABS) brake systems, if air has entered the system due to low fluid level or master cylinder replacement, all four brakes must be bled. Warning: If this occurred on a model with an Anti-lock Brake System (ABS), or if the lines to the Hydraulic Control Unit or Integrated Control Unit (1998 models) have been disconnected, the vehicle must be towed to a dealer service department or other repair shop equipped with DRB II scan tool to have the system properly bled."

That is the only mention of using a scanner in the half page bleeding procedure.

[97TaurusGuy]

So scanner or no scanner???

[Bear]

If the ABS system has not been tampered with or brake lines removed and replaced you can bleed the brakes in a conventional manner (I have '96 with ABS and have done it several times with good results). Bottom line, no scanner required.

[manlystanley]

Originally Posted by 97TaurusGuy

I have a 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager SE. I have heard that you need a scanner to bleed the brakes on these vehicles. Is this true? Is it really necessary? Can I do harm if I do it the old fashioned way? I have to put new rear wheel cylinders, front calipers, rotors and pads on this weekend and would like to know before I do the work. Thanks!

I have a 95 Plymouth GV that among other things, I had needed to replace the ABS modulator. I got one from a local junk yard, replaced it and successfully bleed the breaks. However, I'm still not sure about the ABS system though. So, I unplugged it until we get a good snow here and then I'll plug in the cable going from the modulator to it's computer and see what happens when I do some breaking skids. To be safe, I wanted to test out the ABS in a controlled environment to make sure that it did not pump air into the brake lines during a skid.

The DRB-II tool is only used to bleed the various chambers in the modulator itself. Also, two garages told me that if I put in a used modulator that I would not need to bleed the actual modulator chambers.

I bleed my breaks fine after replacing the master cylinder and the rear wheel cylinders--however, I had problems after replacing the modulator (there was air trapped in it that I couldn't seem to get out). Playing with the 6 bleed screws on top of it I found two that allowed me to pump out the trapped air. Now the breaks worked fine.

So if your just doing normal type of break repairs, I don't think that you'd need to work about the DRB-II.

Best Regards,
Stan