Retracting parking brake with scan tool?

FK8 Twigs said:

I've been having intermittent issues with my EPB since changing the rear pads and manually retracting the piston. My assumption was that it's confused by the new position of the piston when the brake is engaged. I've just been trying not to use it until I can go to the dealer, hoping they'll reset it for me with my next oil change.

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what issues exactly are you having?

I don't understand how bleeding would be part of the parking brake procedure. Where exactly does air get in if physically everything is ok and you are just changing pads?

baldheadracing said:

Did you bleed the brakes? (and follow the parking brake reset procedure of 5x on-off and re-bleed? )

If you didn't bleed, then that would be a different issue.

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I did not bleed the brakes, just swapped the pads

02SilverSiHB said:

what issues exactly are you having?

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Electronic parking brake (failure?) I think is what is says. What happens is I turn on the car and disengage the parking brake, and I can hear the brake disengaging, but then the brake light starts flashing and telling me there is a problem, and the car thinks the brake is still engaged even though it isn't. When I go to drive away, the warning flashes and beeps continually.

If I turn the car off and on again, and attempt to disengage the brake immediately upon starting the car, the brake light flashes a few times and then goes off completely, and then I'm usually good until I try to use it again.

It's as if the car is expecting the piston to have to travel further to disengage, so when it doesn't have far to go, it triggers a warning. Or maybe this is just a completely separate issue I am having?

My understanding is that Honda's design does not specifically require a scan tool to retract the motors (though one can be used). They can be opened manually using a torque wrench or left disengaged prior to lifting the car. The latter is not specified in the shop manual for obvious safety reasons, and is more as a cheater's way to bypass the system.

Lots of threads reporting this problem cite the wiring as the main issue. More here:
https://www.civicx.com/threads/electronic-e-brake-issue-after-brake-job.25409/page-3

FK8 Twigs said:

I did not bleed the brakes, just swapped the pads

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Perhaps a sensor connection is intermittent? Sounds electrical to me ...

Problem may be because the FSM was not followed. Pushing/turning in the piston without electronically or mechanically retracting as required may strip the gears inside.

FK8 Twigs said:

Electronic parking brake (failure?) I think is what is says. What happens is I turn on the car and disengage the parking brake, and I can hear the brake disengaging, but then the brake light starts flashing and telling me there is a problem, and the car thinks the brake is still engaged even though it isn't. When I go to drive away, the warning flashes and beeps continually.

If I turn the car off and on again, and attempt to disengage the brake immediately upon starting the car, the brake light flashes a few times and then goes off completely, and then I'm usually good until I try to use it again.

It's as if the car is expecting the piston to have to travel further to disengage, so when it doesn't have far to go, it triggers a warning. Or maybe this is just a completely separate issue I am having?

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man, that sucks, sorry to hear that. I guess I got lucky? So far so good for me

Design said:

My understanding is that Honda's design does not specifically require a scan tool to retract the motors (though one can be used). They can be opened manually using a torque wrench or left disengaged prior to lifting the car. The latter is not specified in the shop manual for obvious safety reasons, and is more as a cheater's way to bypass the system.

Lots of threads reporting this problem cite the wiring as the main issue. More here:
https://www.civicx.com/threads/electronic-e-brake-issue-after-brake-job.25409/page-3

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Thanks for this - I guess the wiring could have gotten dislodged from the connector, but I didn't notice if it did. I'll have to take a closer look.

shadow said:

Problem may be because the FSM was not followed. Pushing/turning in the piston without electronically or mechanically retracting as required may strip the gears inside.

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Possibly. But you would not be able to remove the caliper unless the actuator was disengaged.

Design said:

Possibly. But you would not be able to remove the caliper unless the actuator was disengaged.

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The caliper can be removed by releasing the parking brake.

I changed rotors but retained the brake pad. It did not require pushing in the pistons and the calipers easily went back on.

shadow said:

The caliper can be removed by releasing the parking brake.

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Which in turn disengages the actuator.

Design said:

Which in turn disengages the actuator.

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I think we are referring to two different retractings.

First is the little amount of retracting done by releasing the parking brake.

At this point were you able to push the piston in directly without doing the next step?

Second is the larger retracting done by using a scan tool or manually turning the E11 torx screw/bolt after removing the motor. This has to be done when worn pads are being replaced by new thick ones.

Looks like potmilkz has had luck without the scan tool, but some guys don't.

We can choose which way to do it. Please post your results here so we may learn.

BTW, I found a parallel thread here.

https://www.civicx.com/threads/please-help-rear-brake-pads-how-to-retract-the-caliper-piston.39003/

shadow said:

BTW, I found a parallel thread here.

https://www.civicx.com/threads/please-help-rear-brake-pads-how-to-retract-the-caliper-piston.39003/

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Thanks, good to note. The main reason I made this thread was initially, the discussion was that you needed the Snap-On crazy expensive scanner tool and a software subscription to do the EPB reset. This thread was meant to discuss cheaper alternatives as they came out, and the Autel AP200 from the other thread is the one unit we have so far that someone has tested and works. Autel also has more self-contained scanners that don't need a cell phone, so I have posted a few questions on Amazon to see if there is one that works for us.