CRV VSA pump fix

One of my favorite things about working on cars is helping someone out and saving them a bunch of money.  We just had the opportunity to do that with two of the most deserving people I know - our dear parents.

A while back the ABS indicator started lighting up on the dash of their 2006 Honda CR-V.  The dealer diagnosed it as a bad VSA pump (basically the ABS pump, so called because it also performs traction control functions).  The cost to restore ABS functionality to the vehicle - $1800 for the part plus labor.  Yikes!

From homdapartsunlimited.com - What a deal! How about no.

Since we had never replaced a VSA module before, we were a little apprehensive about it for fear of messing something up that would result in the brakes not working.  We did some research and of course found lots of conflicting information on forums and such about how you need the dealer scan tool to be able to manually activate the pump to bleed air out of it, or you need the tool to program the replacement pump to work with the car, or it can't be done DIY, or any various other workarounds (that ended up being bogus).

Over a period of many months, we would do some research, get discouraged, forget about it, do some more research, on and on.  Our main concern was, how were we going to save tons of money on this? The baseline was around $2000 for the dealer to fix it.  We could get a new OEM pump online for around $1400. That saves $600 but it's still pretty expensive.

We found a site online (ecutesting.com) that claims to be able to rebuild faulty VSA modules.  They claim that most of the time the fault is with a pressure sensor inside the unit, which apparently is very common for this model year.  This cost is around $240 with an exchange of the old unit, plus shipping back and forth to the UK.  On some pump models they had the option to order a rebuild model then send the old one back later, but not all of them.  So we possibly would have to take the unit out and wait however long it takes for the round trip before we could get the car running again.

Next we looked on eBay and found used pumps for around $140.  The risk would be getting another faulty or soon to be faulty unit given the tendency of these particular ones to go bad.  The upside is that this was the lowest cost option, and most sellers had a 90 day warranty - so if it did go bad we could always return it for a refund.  We figured if it eventually went bad down the road, we could send in the old unit we removed to ecutesting.com to get it rebuilt and install it whenever it comes back.  Even then it would still be way cheaper than putting in a new unit.

So with that chosen, and our skills ascending from absolutely nothing to the heights of mediocrity, we decided to look up once and for all how to change the pump and tackle the project.  Honda provides a site (https://techinfo.honda.com) that provides all of their service manuals and other technical information online for a small fee.  For $10 we could get access for one day, enough time to look up the VSA pump removal and installation procedures and save the screen shots.  It was, apparently, very simple.  We just needed to swap out the pump and bleed the brakes like normal from each caliper.

We ordered a new pump and it was on!

Dad drove the CR-V out to the garage and we got started.  Well, as soon as we got something to eat.  We decided to go get some breakfast from McDonald's down the street, and took the CR-V.  On the way back some ignoramus changed lanes right in front of us and then decided to come to almost a complete stop.  Dad got on the brakes hard and the wheels locked up and we left some nice skid marks (on the pavement, we weren't that scared).  We marveled at the relevancy of this event to our project, and noted that if we did everything right, next time the wheels wouldn't lock up.

Behold the Honda CR-V!
I'm going to try to get a pic of each car in the garage from now on.

We were pretty excited to have our dad out in person to witness Havener Garage in person. This was his first trip to the garage since we first got started and we were pretty excited to show off our tools and skills. Silently, I was hoping we wouldn't end up all standing around a broken car at the end of the day.  

Removing flare nuts from all brake line connections.

The VSA module is actually incredibly easy to access, so we weren't going to be fighting access to anything on this job.  We got started and removed the wire harness connection from the module first (seen in the picture above on the left, with the orange lever).  This was a bit confusing at first because it wasn't immediately obvious which parts separated from each other.  Turns out we just need to pull the big orange lever all the way down and it all takes care of itself.

We then removed all the flare nuts from the module, and removed the bracket from the car.  Then the module can be pulled out and removed from the bracket. Note, a flare nut wrench is very useful here, as it wraps around the nut more securely than a regular open ended wrench, which can round off the nuts.

Preparing the new pump module.

The new (to us) module came with all of the brake lines chopped off (these salvage guys don't waste time with nuts and bolts if they don't have to).  We got all the flare nuts off and transferred the bracket over to it.

Module removed with all of the brake lines hanging loose.  A shop towel

catches all the brake fluid drips.

 After the bracket is installed on the new pump we can bolt it in, and connect up all the brake lines and the wiring harness.

Installing the bracket screws.

After getting everything hooked back up we bled the brakes, working our way from front to back.  

Brian manning the bleeder valve and drain hose.

There are different ways to bleed brakes.  The basic method is one person pumping the brake while another opens the bleed valve on a caliper, making sure to only open it while the pedal is being pressed down.  There are other devices which enable one person to perform the job, such as one way valves or vacuum bleeders.  But this time we did it the old fashioned way, and turned it into a three man job with dad manning the brake fluid reservoir so we could bleed fluid furiously without running the master cylinder dry.

Dad getting into the action!

Since it appeared that the car needed the brake fluid flushed, we went ahead and bled fluid at each caliper until fresh fluid came through.

After getting through with all the mechanics of the job we needed to address the computer.  First, we needed to clear the code causing the ABS light on the dash.  I had forgotten to get the information on how to do that from the Honda Techinfo site so I checked the procedure for my TL from the service manual and tried that, assuming that Honda would have used a similar procedure on all of their vehicles.

We jumped pins 4 & 9 on the OBDII connector (which the service manual refers to as "grounding the SCS line", assuming you are using their expensive scan tool), and turned the ignition ON with the brake pedal pressed.  All the lights on the dash go out, including the ABS light.  Then the brake pedal is released, and ABS comes on again.  Brake pedal is pressed, ABS blinks and goes out for good. All went according to plan. Yes! I let out a cheer.  Things were looking good.

Referring to my Acura TL shop manual PDF for
the procedure to clear the ABS code.

Then I tried a procedure called the "Sensor Neutral Calibration" that seemed to be referred to in the manual, but I wasn't sure about what it did.  I now think this wasn't necessary, and is only for calibrating VSA sensors in the car.  Regardless, I spent a while trying to get it to work, unsuccessfully because I kept turning the ignition ON with the brake pedal pressed.  When I finally realized I was being a dummy and took my foot off the brake, the procedure worked (similar to clearing the code above, but using the VSA button on the dash).

Once that was finished, we all got in the car to test it out. After starting it, the first thing our dad noticed was the airbag indicator was now illuminated on the dash.  Oh no... I quickly thought through everything we did to try to remember if anything could have messed up something related to the SRS system.  Then I remembered I left the jumper wire in the OBDII port.  I reached over and pulled it out, but didn't know what effect this would have as I had never driven a car with these pins still shorted before. We restarted the car, but the SRS light remained.

We started the test drive, opting to go uphill first so we wouldn't end up in a pile of wreckage in a ditch if we had made a mistake. The brakes seemed to work as expected, so we took it out on the main roads and everything appeared to be fine.  We decided to wrap it up and look more into the SRS light later if it didn't go away.  As luck would have it, upon starting the car the next time the light was gone and we were home free.

I left wishing that every job was as easy as this.  No busted knuckles, no crawling on the floor, no almost impossible to reach parts, plus good times and good laughs.