2017 Accord Hybrid Brake Fluid Flush

Joined
Jun 14, 2011
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354
Location
MN
I did mine over the weekend using two people pump and bleed. At some instances, rear right and front left, as I remember, took a little longer to pump out the old fluid with brake pedal. After it was all done, I have all kinds of errors, ACC, Brake System, Lane assist,.....I cleared the error codes with a reader but the lights still there. I'm posting here to see if anyone has done this before as well as a warning to those who is thinking about flushing a hybrid brake fluid. I'll be taking the car to the dealer eventually if I can't fix it on my own. The car drives fine otherwise. Putting in around 35 miles. I was hoping that it would clear after driving and shutting it off; disconnect and reconnect the battery. So, chime in if you've run into this.

Posted this in an accord forum as well.
 
One time when I did a flush on my 2006 Honda Pilot I had to do an 'ABS Reset'. Don't recall the process exactly but it didn't involve any special tool/gizmo/whatever. Not sure if that applies to you, might be worth a search though.
 
Not entirely sure what the hybrid has to do with it. I think the brake system is all hydraulic/vacuum assist (I wonder if there is a vac reservoir or supplemental pump, like on my old MB diesels, now that I think about it, because you can be braking with the engine off). The ABS and other pumps are 12V just like any other car.

I did just recently do my fluid in my 2014 HAH. I pressure bled it and it worked like any other vehicle. I was surprised how nasty the fluid was. Worse than any other car Ive ever done. Like, floaters in the reservoir even after flushing. I think its because this fluid gets used less and doesnt get heat in any portion of the system because the brakes are relatively lower use due to the energy recovery...

No lights or issues with pressure flushing. I had to buy a special adapter...
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try what I did on my 06 Hybrid Ford Eacape. Bought a pressure bleeder and bled the heck out of the calipers and foundation system. Then across two days took it out on backroads (covered with several inches of hardpacked snow) and did the braking thing. Brakes worked but not comfortably. Mostly to ensure I was safe to get to a dealer.

Hm-m-m... came out on day two and had to add about a cup of fluid to the reservoir before going out...

Started up and no ABS light! Hm-m-m...

Took it out and the ABS feature worked just fine and... Still no yellow ABS light. But had the red Brakes light... Came in to park it and bleed the calipers again to ensure no air in the foundation brake system... the red light went out.

Bled each caliper for 5 minutes: no air bubbles.

Back out and to the Post Office on hard surface road. Repetitive brake applications on paved road and it worked fine... no yellow ABS or red brake system lights and no check brake system readout either.

Conclusion: the ABS system has a pressure pump that cycles when you open a door or click the unlock button on your key fob. I believe that this also provides a self purging capability for the ABS. You can't just drive away after system work that opens it up and introduces air. But if you can take a day or two after doing work, along with a safe place to test it, the system can bleed itself with out the software.
 
I bled my 2014 Accord Hybrid last week with a cheap hand-held vacuum pump with no serious issues. No ABS or other brake system lights. Brakes are really firm now. Fluid was really nasty after 3+ years. Had rusty fluid briefly come out of the right rear caliper after resolving a blockage. The pads and rotors last forever if brakes are well maintained.
 
Originally Posted by iowagrad
I bled my 2014 Accord Hybrid last week with a cheap hand-held vacuum pump with no serious issues. No ABS or other brake system lights. Brakes are really firm now. Fluid was really nasty after 3+ years. Had rusty fluid briefly come out of the right rear caliper after resolving a blockage. The pads and rotors last forever if brakes are well maintained.


Interesting, one of my Rear calipers had a corroded and clogged bleeder when I went to open it. There were chunks of corrosion in the stream out for a second. Seems I'm not the only one!
 
I just did pressure bleed on Toyota and VW, and all went great. Will do soon BMW. I do brake fluid flush every two years, never had an issue on any vehicle similar to that. I do not see a reason what could trigger it unless it is Honda specific.
 
Thanks for the reply, JHZR2 and iowagrad. I thought it was just that, a simple bleed. Open caliper bleeding valve, pump out old fluid in reservoir, clean and fiill with new fluid, have a second person pump brake pedal to remove old fuild, shut bleeding valve when fluid is coming out clear. I did not doing anything else to the car so, the process of elimination to find the errors lies in the pumping action. Reservoir was always full during the whole process and the drain line was always full, without any air back filling into the caliper.
 
Just got the car back from the dealer.

Diag and Advice

DTC B2A60-97: Dust or Dirt on the Camera

DTC P2583-97: Dust or Dirt on the millimeter wave radar and position slightly off

Cleared DTCs and re aimed- test drove, both cameras are working OK now. Miles out 98116


$82.69 later. I don't remember bumping the radar or the camera. I even washed the car and the radar before I took the car in. Weird.
 
The camera DTC was probably there before you washed the car.

MMWR units are indeed very sensitive to alignment, as well as any coating on top of them. The signal strengths are small, and just about anything can attenuate the signal.

If you look back at Robotic pics from a decade ago, some guys had the bright idea of putting automotive MMWR units pointing in all directions on some robotic vehicles. It looked really cool. Problem is, the units they selected were only useful on the front and back. They had too much internal programming built around that assumption to be useful any other way.

But back to your car... sometimes vehicles have what I call a "CANBUS crash" and the codes just pile up. The service they provided may have been as simple as removing a few things and burnishing the contacts, put it back together, clear the codes... and viola', happy car.
 
If the Honda's braking system is anything like the brake by wire on a Toyota hybrid, you need a scan tool to work through a bleed routine to disable the braking system to bleed the fronts, then use the brake actuator/ABS pump to bleed the rears and perform a "refresh" of the fluid supply to the core braking system(brake actuator/accumulator/stroke simulator).

Tesla and Honda on their cars seem to use a conventional braking system - vacuum booster and the ABS modulator takes care of brake balance and regen/dynamic braking. No need for a scan tool for a brake system flush but nice to have.

If a ADAS system failure happens, wouldn't that be a message on the instrument cluster to check the system or visit a dealer/mechanic?
 
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