Brake Bleeding Order

[GT4 20]

Anyone know the correct order for bleeding the braking system on an ST205 with ABS?
Cheers
Gary

[Perky]

Well ... the Celica Haynes manual I have does not cover GT4s, but it prescribes this order for all other Celicas:

Right rear; Left front; Left rear; Right front.

However; though supposedly international, the pictures in this book show a left-hand-drive car, which has the master cylinder on the left; so when I bled my ST206, I reversed left and right so that I bled the furthest caliper first:

Left rear; Right front; Right rear; Left front.

This is pretty standard I believe.

The manual does not mention ABS with respect to bleeding. On some cars, apparently, ABS units have a fluid reservior that is not purged by ordinary bleeding. A special device must be used to cycle the ABS while bleeding. In some cases this device actually uses the ABS pump to bleed the brakes.

Now, no-one could tell me whether this applies to Toyota. The ABS diagram in the Haynes book is schematic so, although it shows a separate ABS reservoir, it doesn't show how the system is physically realised.

It seems that pretty much everyone just ignores this potential complication and bleeds ABS in the regular way. One suggestion that is about on the net is to bleed once, then go out and activate your ABS a few times, then bleed again. I can see how this might mix the fluid in the ABS reservoir a bit, but surely it won't all be pumped out. Since I let a bit of air in the first time, I did follow this advice, but I can't really see it making much difference.

Good luck,
Russell