New car brake question?

Hey all I have what I hope to be an easy brake question for "new" cars... I am talking 2000 up...

Can you push the pistons back into the caliper gently like I do on my older cars when I change pads?

I know it says you are not supposed to...

The car in question is my s.o's 2007 Ford Escape AWD 4 wheel disk... (70k miles)

Thanks!

How else are you supposed to do it? They either push back in, or they rotate in. Either way, that sumbitch has gotta go back in the caliper.

I agree! But they mumble something about putting brake fluid back into the master cylinder... and I have never done pads and rotors on an abs car...

Where else is the fluid supposed to go? At this day in time, the fluid really should be flushed out anyways.

Just did it on an 03 F150 and it was fine.

the way I do it is to loosen the bleed screw and push the piston back in ... you aren't then pushing fluid back through the system + you're actually getting rid of fluid that has been exposed to the most heat/abuse (that fluid that is actually in the caliper) then after the pad replacement I top off the reservoir

wbjones is right on the money. only thing i'd add is that you could wedge a cut off broomstick or something between the drivers seat and the brake pedal, just putting enough force on the pedal to depress it an inch or so, to make sure the comp ports in the MC are closed. that way, if you happen to walk away in teh middle of teh job and leave a bleeder screw cracked, you don't drain your master cylinder.

Depends on the parking brake setup. Is it mechanical?

Ah good point, regarding electric parking brakes. For those you have to use some computer to tell the car to retract them.

Sweet! I will try the bleeder trick...

Thank you!

keep in mind that you can actually do it without cracking the bleeder screw ... just much harder to squeeze the piston, and you're not getting rid of any "used" fluid

wbjones wrote: keep in mind that you can actually do it without cracking the bleeder screw ... just much harder to squeeze the piston, and you're not getting rid of any "used" fluid

OP's vehicle has ABS, and the ABS hydraulic controller can be damaged by pushing skanky old fluid upstream from the calipers. hence the requirement to open the bleeder screws before pushing the pistons in.

Even older cars can be that way. I ruined an abs unit on a 88 Audi 90 by not opening bleeder screws.

AngryCorvair wrote:

wbjones wrote: keep in mind that you can actually do it without cracking the bleeder screw ... just much harder to squeeze the piston, and you're not getting rid of any "used" fluid

OP's vehicle has ABS, and the ABS hydraulic controller can be damaged by pushing skanky old fluid upstream from the calipers. hence the requirement to open the bleeder screws before pushing the pistons in.

forgot that he had said it was ABS .... before it was pointed out to me how much easier it was to push back the piston, I was doing my Integra without opening the bleed screws ... got lucky ... no damage

I just use a big c-clamp.......never had any problems.

yeah.... lots of people use them ... I use a extra large Channel Lock ...with taped up jaws