Can I bleed ABS brakes myself? 2000 Caravan

2000 Caravan 3.8L rear drums with ABS. The Haynes book I have says only a
shop can bleed the brakes because they need to have a DBRII scan tool to do
it. Is this true?

Then the book goes on to tell you how to bleed the brakes yourself starting
with the port (brake line) closest to the booster. Odd.

Can I replace the master cylinder and bleed the ABS brakes (lines) myself?

Also if it is getting close to replacing rear shoes should I do that before
bleeding the lines (assuming I can do them myself)?

TIA
Gary

 

No.

You can bleed an ABS system if all your doing is changing out old fluid, or
if your
replacing a caliper. The critical thing is that you cannot introduce air
upstream of
the ABS system. That means when you are bleeding, you cannot let the master
cylinder run dry - if you do and it sucks air, your done.

To bleed the system if your replacing a master cylinder means the ABS valves
all have to be open. The DRBII has a diagnostic mode that lets you do this.

Alternatively, any garage that has an OTC Genisys system can trigger the
ABS valves too. There probably are other brands of scantools that can
also do it.

Of course, you can replace the master, bleed it as best you can, then drive
it carefully to a dealer or garage and have them only bleed the brakes.

Ted

 

you can bled the brake system the old fashiopned way to get it somewhere were
than can bled the abs pump with a scantool
trapped air in a abs pump unit can damage the orings swelling them up