Bleeding brakes with ABS

So I want to flush/change out the brake fluid on my truck. It's a 2000 Silverado 2500 ("new" body style). I've never done this on a vehicle with ABS before. Also, the brakes are hydro boosted, not vacuum. Do these items add anything to the job? Or is it still just a matter of opening the bleeders one wheel at a time and pumping fresh fluid through? I don't have a power or vacuum bleeder, I'll do it old school. Tips and tricks appreciated. Just to note, there is nothing wrong with the brakes, I'm just doing this as I'm sure it's never been done the truck and it's 10 years and 160,000 kms old. Hopefully just preventative.

The way they taught it in my brakes class last year was that some ABS units you can activate and cycle through a variety of means, (OBDII port of some vehicles, jumper across the correct pins on the ABS modules connector, etc.), or you bleed the brakes, jump in, drive lock up the brakes to activate ABS, circulate the old stuff out, come back, and bleed the brakes again.

In my limited experience, it takes a lot longer to get the fluid through the system in ABS-equipped vehicles using traditional or vacuum bleeding; a pressure bleeder is about the only thing that speeds it up, and even then it's slower than on a non-ABS system.

When I do my biannual changes, I simply flush as I normally would, then go out and get the ABS to activate a few times and call it done. I figure the amount of fluid left in the ABS unit is relatively small and don't see a need to flush again immediately as long as I keep up with the regular schedule.

on that year / make / model the ABS unit does not have its own reservoir of fluid. griffin's recommendation is right on the money. flush from the MC to each of the four corners, then go do a 60-0 @ max pedal effort to activate the ABS front and rear. no need to flush again, but you can if it makes you feel better. i do this every two years on all my cars.

My Chevy Factory Service Manual says to use 2-3 quarts of fluid when doing a proper bleed/flush. That way, you're sure to get all the old fluid out. Fluid is cheap in the grand scheme of things, so use plenty.

And remember as always don't let the master cylinder suck air. Bench bleeding the master sucks.

Thanks for all the help. Much appreciated.

griffin729 wrote: And remember as always don't let the master cylinder suck air. Bench bleeding the master sucks.

no.. pulling air into the MC sucks...