Bleeding brakes on Highlander hybrid

So I made a boo boo last night with my wife's car and didn't check to see if there was a special procedure to bleed these brakes, and there is! Well I skipped an important step and now am stuck.

You are supposed to remove the abs relays so it doesn't pump air in the accumulator. Now I have air in the accumulator. The manual says to use a pressure bleeder, which I have at work, but I'm at home without it and trying to get the car ready for work tomorrow. I'm not sure a vacuum style would work in this case. There is a bleeder valve bon top of the accumulator. Parts stores are open today and I have the pump part of the tool, just not the adapter I need. I was trying to locate a cap that I could turn into an adapter but it's a dealer part.

Any ideas?

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A quick bodge the might work is to open the bleed nipple and push the pads back.

I went digging in the Troubleshooter for more info, and I see what you mean about the ABS relays. :silly:

So, now that you know to remove them, can you not just perform the bleed procedure as normal? There's also options in the scanner for actuator and master cylinder removal. Maybe one of those is the ticket?

Yeah, now that I'm reading it again, I don't think I have air in the actuator since that reservoir never got low to allow air in the hose. I think I just have to follow the procedure as Tyler said, starting over. I may have to do the front and back.

I'll report back later. Thanks!

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All is good. I'm not sure what was going on before. The bleeding procedure was the same except at the end you have to zero down the accumulator, a scan tool function.

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It's a goofy hydraulic system, that's what was going on! :silly: Well done.

What scanner did you use? Just for anyone searching later.

Sorry, I missed this one. I used a scanpad 071 by launch.

I've actually switched my flush/bleed style over to a vacuum set up. I have a fluid evacuation pump that you can manually pump or use shop air and I put a brake Bleeder attachment on the end to suck brake fluid and it works awesome.

I'm thinking that this all would have been avoided if I used that since pressing the brake pedal is what activates tge weird stuff on this car.



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No worries!

Tutti57 wrote: I've actually switched my flush/bleed style over to a vacuum set up. I have a fluid evacuation pump that you can manually pump or use shop air and I put a brake Bleeder attachment on the end to suck brake fluid and it works awesome.

This is exactly what I do. Though, I usually find that I have to give each wheel one manual bleed each, just to get the last of the air out? Is this your experience, or do I just suck at it?