Hi All-

'97 D1, with pretty much all the bugs worked out (furiously knocking wood). Was going to move it along but with everything in good shape, I think I'm going to move it to my shack in the mountains and keep it there for occasional use, including in snow. Yay.

Truck has 115k and what may be original brake fluid. It's nasty. I have the "Antilock brakes" light on MOST but not all of the time (I guess not ALL of the bugs are worked out lol, but I don't worry about this one) but the brakes are really good. better than I would have expected for a truck, much less an old one. I pulled apart the fluid level switch and cleaned the crud out of it, and tested it with a multimeter. I emptied, filled, emptied, and filled the reservoir to replace what was in it on the hopes it may clear the ABS light thinking the switch may have been jammed with nasty gunk. All this because I thought maybe I could clear the light. I have performed the blink test with a paperclip, but stupidly did not write it down. It was related to the ABS module though, and not a wheel module. Anywho, moving along.

I can bleed brakes, but I'm scared to with this rig based on what I've read here. Are the horror stories about soft pedal just skewed results a la typical internet forums skewing towards ppl who have issues? So with a good pedal (and I've replaced pads), should I do a regular bleed or should I stay with what I know is good brakes and what may be 25 year old fluid? IIRC there have been arguments about the "right" way to bleed these D1's--I only know the "old-fashioned" way. I know brake fluid absorbs water, needs to be replaced every 2 years, yada yada, but if it ain't broke, I'm not sure I want to fix it unless I'm 100% confident I can get it on the road same day.

Thoughts?

 

A simple hand vacuum pump at each wheel worked for me. I would get some good DOT4 in there, especially up in the mountains if there are stretches with lots of braking.

The ABS light is ON in both my rigs. Clears when I reseat (push down a fraction of an inch) the sensors, but doesn't last long. The sensor signal disappears (my theory is weak magnets) on my front left. My mechanic has a scanner that reads the ABS faults and can pinpoint which sensor is bad. Anyway, I got tired of the ABS kicking in at low speed and not stopping near the edge of the cliff, so I removed the ABS pump fuse and just live with the ABS light. I can pump my own brakes.

 

Thanks for the input. I have a power bleeder--any reason to believe that wouldn't work? And can I do it without removing the wheels? It's a PITA.

 

If the entire system has been apart like MC or Wabco Modulator removed I would perform a MC bench bleed, then bleed the Wabco Modulator. If it's just a fluid swap out then yep just a normal bleed works fine.