Changing the Actuator

yeah the hydraulic fluid is caustic enough to eat paint so .. def. want goggle on if there is the remote possibility of spray occurring -- I'll bet there is an OSHA incident around brakes .. for sure there is on tires .. here in FL. and not living close to ocean .. so rusty line shouldnt be a problem as this car has always (as far as i know being 2nd owner) stayed in state -- I did go to beach but did no bottoming out .... I dont miss 'frozen waste land' of NY ... once people have had 1 or 2 'black ice' incidents they usually question heavily why they remain there .. not to mention there is NO -WAY a prius (or any car) would last 16 years if the car is being used much on the winter roads with salt ...

 

For injection injuries, it doesn't even matter much whether the fluid is naughty or nice ... just the fact of it being pressurized enough to jet through the skin is enough.

 

I have been hoping this guy has the procedure down WITH_OUT scan tool --
I remember having to bleed long ago on prius and had a shortcut that dindt involve much heavy technicalities:

His procedure is : CAR IS OFF
on a rear wheel ....
1) open bleeder nut
2) use pedal depressor hooked to steering wheel (could be pipe of proper length)
3) go back observe bottle periodically pumping and filling bleeder bottle
4) close bleeder nut
with his pedal depressor still down (engaged) 1 or 2 "
he goes to repeat steps 1-4 on a front wheel caliper

 

Any procedure like that is going to leave some of the passages in the actuator unbled, because the ECU has to be told to switch some valves to bleed them. That's why the real procedure has "you know, a whole lot of steps" as he says in the video about his "shortcut".

It turns out YouTube will let you put up a video whether you know what you're talking about or not.

 

My big takeaway from that video of 'mr. electric' is .. can the prius wheels be blead properly enough to drive
so that one might( in the hopefully near future) either take the car to a mechanic shop with the proper computer control for a proper ABS bleeding or do it at home with their functioning techstream utility.....

 

Functioning Techstream utility for the win!

 

if u got air in the system .. how is turning on a pump to compress air and fluid going to move the air/fluid out of the system ? -- maybe there is a 'pinhole leak' at the other end of the system .. maybe the good deal on the 'junkyard pull' was only a fleeting happiness down 'think of the money i saved' lane ...
such is my case -- i didnt learn enuf from the last C.L. deal i did (due to much time between) and may have done it again ? it sure is possible that a pump can work and the valve system could be bad in the 'accumulator' ---
Guy said '30 day warranty' -- how do i even know how to test (the valves)? The pump .. ( ohmed out motors) -- seems good and it does pump ... however there were some pins that were of concern and .. the set of 'fine ' (or tiny ) pin rows -- 20 some on top of a plastic divider and 10 below .. (which are really numbered 4 more from the nice confusing 2 'un pins' or ghost pins on each side of the real ones ..
then there is the big note title : '' the 1st 2 measurements are these 2 pins and those2 pins .. not the ones listed in the test ' -- i'm ready for more box wine soon ..

Currently I have pulled out the mity Vac -- and have pulled out prob. a pints worth or more of fluid - all 4 wheels combined .. yes .. vaccuum from the wheel cylinder .. instead of relying on the pump to push the fluid ..
I still get the C1256 .. it has FF data ... seems the best thing out of this bleed operation will be to flip flop the tires in a side to side rotation .... (sarcasm: alot of work and still 3000 # paperweight in driveway .. but hey i rotated the tires ) ...

I have discon. the aux. bat. in an attempt to 'reset things' --- next i might try again that 'paperclip' special OBD connector reset golden moment many utubes glorify ...

 

I don't think the Tc to CG reset chicken dance does anything a Techstream "reset those codes please" doesn't. If you're stuck using Tc to CG to find out what the codes are, they figured you might also like a way to reset them after finding out.

If the code is reporting a real condition, it'll be right back as soon as the condition is detected again.

What's the INF code in the FF for that C1256, and what's the accumulator pressure value? What does that value do as you tromp on the brake pedal or listen to the pump run?

 

the FF data shows there is zero megapascals at the wheel cylinders ... but i heard the pump motor and i saw some fluid raise in my bottle .. but the air in the line could mean no pressure can accumulate ..
the last time i tried to get the TS / brake system -- the aux bat ran out (had car on too long without engine running ) -- funny because the HV battery still showed over3? bars .... and the car died when i pushed the brake pedal so have the charger at the front car bus bar and its alive again .. charging battery from front ... dark and will prob tacle some in the AM ...
1) will look for the INF code --- I did 'save data' in the FF so i will boot the win laptop inside and try and read off some data or post a pic of it all ..

i don tthink the accumulator was getting much pressure .. is it possible to have the brake pump working and the accumulator not accumulating ? ... I should be able to see the last few sets of data in FF .. but i am not (with this half functional v13 TS able to run much live data ) --

 

Fluid should drop from the reservoir, not rise, when the pump runs.

Air in a line can definitely be pressurized; it just has to be forced into a smaller volume. Liquid can be put under pressure without changing its volume. (The accumulator actually works by having some 'air' (nitrogen) deliberately trapped in it to begin with.)

The wheel cylinder pressures darned well should be 0 MPa except when you are actually trying to stop the car. There should be a separate pressure sensor showing you what happens in the accumulator.

 

well that is a positive response .. with that optimism I will neglect superbowl (except for commercials) and get this tech-stream file uploaded for your expert review ... though .. it may not be readable except by TS software. ..
properties of the file state ' opens with : techstream application' ... so .. sounds kinda propiatary ..

 

Lots of people just do screenshots ... or just report the values.

 

ill do one better .. found a usb stick to shove in this old dell laptop and get the file .. because accuracy !!!
actually .. Prius chat is complaining about a 'non-allowable extension' .. they apparently dont want TS data files uploaded ?
so it is a compressed file .. when u uncompress it of course then u should be able to load it in your TS ...
----

 

I have that on a beater laptop that never goes near the internet or other computers.

That's why I usually just post photos off the screen ....

 

well the techstream file is there .. can u uncompress and read on your techstream ?
I tried to open this and all i seem to get is a bunch of blank fields using the 'open scan data file '

I'll do it again in the AM .. aux bat is charging and will be able to grab FF data again and take a shot and post .. hopefully INF data will be present ...
--- pic of driveway job 'boy i wish it was in the garage ?' .. --- and 'coffee is important' ....'dont forget the rolling tool-cart!!!'

 

Ook heer is the shot of the C1364 W/C pressure Sensor:
FF data ...
(the only thing not shown is parsed screen over to reveal 1 item "ECB Main Relay2 : ON ")

I see that all wheel cylinders have a ~.5V with exception of RL which has nearly 5V .... hmmmm

 

So started car and carefully drove back and forth .. then went for about a block drive to see .. i did this because it was stopping more than it was before accumulator replacement .
So the braking seems fine .. I do here the abs pump on about every pedal .. i guess this is almost normal .. maybe i didnt know what it was or 'to listen ' for it before ...

The C1364 is still there and the low? voltages of .5v on 3 of the 4 brake cylinders is still there on the T.S. after short drive.

I am almost ready to drive the car out of the neighborhood __except___ this really big show stopper of the car dying .. It does this when you sit in the car waiting for TS to connect and grab the data (minutes) ... and then you press the brake .. as if the aux. battery were too weak to keep computers alive.
Perhaps this is a TS thing ... I guess the thing to do would be try it again without the TS connected to see if it repeats the behavior ...
((speculation: maybe the AUX battery is not charging through the battery charger connected to the engine compartment fuse box))...

on the engine: i have a P1118 which is the motor? driving the thermos hot water for cold start .. is this a common failure on gen2 ?

 

The rear left (RL) wheel cylinder being at 4.9 volts is certainly an issue that will need to be sorted out.
Directly below that is the accumulator pressure sensor. This voltage reading is representative of the brake pressure. I don't remember the exact values for the 'pump stop' trigger or the 'pump start' trigger, but I do know 3.23 is at the very bottom end and typically what I see when our black 2005 is cycling the ABS pump every 9 seconds, even with no brake pedal operation. It will usually raise up to about 3.5-3.6 and turn off and immediately start leaking down again. If your voltage is drifting downward after the pump turns off, you're still experiencing a leakage problem. Our cars that hold pressure extremely well will typically cycle the pump on after 3 or 4 presses (up and down) of the brake pedal. With no pedal cycling, they will hold pressure indefinitely, or at least until you give up watching due to boredom.That voltage should stay high once the pump turns off and should not fluctuate unless you are operating the brakes.

 

ah .. good explanation .. -- getting good brake because fronts are operating (2/3 of braking power) -- I imagine the ABS is having issues .. namely it hasn't been blead .. I havent seen any leaks yet ..
I should have tried to look up the torque required for the brake lines to the accumulator .. but not sure i would even be able to attain them .. torque socket driver i have fits on a 1/4 3/8 or 1/2 inch drive i dont have one for an open end wrench ... prob. putting a couple wraps of teflon on the threads of the brake lines would not have been a bad idea .. i've seen video of a guy putting 4 wraps of teflon tape on his bleeder nuts ... (so they can better seal during his bleed operation)

The resoirvor seems to be maintaining level between min and max .

Gonna go for another block drive and see what the FF data has to say ... I should be able to get live data if i could find the phone with the TORQUE app installed .. i dont think my v13 techstream is stable enough to run a live data session.

 

You don't see internal leaks. The fluid just gets past an internal valve and returns to the reservoir. Nothing leaves the system.

Ixnay on the eflontay. Don't get any foreign substance in there. It isn't the threads of a flare tube connection that seal in the pressure anyway, it's the flare on the end of the tube pressed against the seat of the joint. The nut only supplies the pressure.