Replacing Brake Pads And Rotors With Electric E-Brakes?

The brakes on my wife's 2018 Mazda CX-5 are getting a little worn, so I'm starting to research how to do a brake job on that. I've never done brakes on anything with electric emergency brakes before, and according to what I'm seeing, you need a special scan tool to release the rear brake calipers in order to pull the pads. What the berk.

Is there an affordable scan tool that does this? I've seen some Bluetooth dongles that have advanced features that do things like this for some vehicles, but I'm not sure what is available to do this out there. I really don't want to bring it to the dealer, as brakes are around $1000 from them. Any help would be much appreciated!

Consult the CX platform forum. Those guys have done brake jobs and a few of them are service techs. 

Looks like I may have found something that will work:

https://www.icarsoft.us/Product/s-344-icarsoft_JP_V20.html

This thing says it will do it, among other things. Would be nice to have a real scan tool.

Also just found this: https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/index.php?threads/maintenance-mode-for-2016-2017-cx-5-electronic-brakes.123861563/

 

The car apparently has a "Maintenance Mode" that releases the rear brakes.

Switching On Maintenance Mode

1. Switch the ignition ON (engine off). (you have to press the start button TWICE) pressing once only gives you ACC power, (do not press on brake otherwise engine will start, engine must be off)

2. Release the electric parking brake. (to release the parking brake, you have to have your foot on the brake pedal, then press down on EPB switch to release it, you will hear the motor releasing and the light on the EPB switch light goes off)


• (I'll simplify remaining steps here: after step 2, release foot from brake pedal, and move over and press accelerator pedal down fully and press down on the EPB switch at the same time and hold, then press the start button 3 times quickly, you will hear the motor moving and the yellow parking brake with exclamation point light up) you are now in maintenance mode.

Now go do whatever you need to do on the brakes, for the rear brake pistons DO NOT TURN THE PISTONS, compress them straight back like you would do the fronts. After they are compressed back make sure the grooves are lined up in perfect North South orientation per Mazda instructions use Lisle #28600 for minor adjustments only.

Even if you don't plan to do your own brakes, it would be a good idea to let your mechanic know about the maintenance mode. They might not be aware and turn the piston which may damage the EPB motor.

Ending Maintenance Mode

1. Switch the ignition ON (engine off). (you have to press the start button TWICE (do not press on brake otherwise engine will start, engine must be off) pressing once only gives you ACC power

(I'll simplify the remaining steps here: press accelerator pedal down fully and pull up on the EPB switch at the same time and hold, then press the start button 3 times quickly, you will hear the motor moving back and the yellow parking brake with exclamation point goes out)

you can then move your foot and press on the brake pedal and pull up the EPB, you will see the normal red brake light light up and you're done.

 

Still not 100% sure this is the best course of action, but it's something!

There is a motor bolted to the back of the caliper that turns a shaft. All you really need to do is unbolt the motor and manually turn that shaft in the direction that retracts the caliper. Then when you put it back together it may take a couple of applications and releases of the parking brake through the button/switch for it to figure things out again. 

This is copied out of AllData:

.Remove the electric parking brake motor gear unit. (See ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE MOTOR GEAR UNIT REMOVAL/INSTALLATION .)

4.Rotate the spindle approx. 2 times in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure.

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5.Rotate the disc plate and verify if the electric parking brake has been released.

• If the electric parking brake has not been released, rotate the spindle approx. 1 time in the same direction shown in Step 4 and verify if the electric parking brake has been released.

6.Install the electric parking brake motor gear unit. (See ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE MOTOR GEAR UNIT REMOVAL/INSTALLATION .)

7.Connect the negative battery terminal. (See NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL DISCONNECTION/CONNECTION .)

8.Operate the electric parking brake switch using the following procedure to verify the operation of the electric parking brake and perform the automatic adjustment.

(1)Switch the ignition ON (engine off).

 

(2)Operate the electric parking brake.

• If the electric parking brake cannot be operated, release it once and then try to re-operate it.

― If the electric parking brake cannot be operated/released, perform a DTC inspection as a malfunction of the electric parking brake may have occurred. (See DTC INSPECTION [ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE] .)

(3)Verify that the electric parking brake indicator light turns on and the electric parking brake warning light turns off.

• If the electric parking brake indicator light does not turn on, the electric parking brake indicator light flashes, or the electric parking brake warning light does not turn off, perform a DTC inspection as a malfunction of the electric parking brake may have occurred. (See DTC INSPECTION [ELECTRIC PARKING BRAKE] .)

(4)Release the electric parking brake.

 

(5)Verify that the electric parking brake indicator light and the electric parking brake warning light turn off.

• If the electric parking brake indicator light and the electric parking brake warning light do not turn off, perform a DTC inspection as a malfunction of the electric parking brake may have occurred.

Mazda made it so you do not need a scantool to retract the pistons.

Thank you, Mazda.

In reply to Vigo :

If I can avoid pulling the motors, that would be preferable. That seems like a last resort kind of deal. I think the Maintenance Mode should do what I need to do. 

If I can avoid pulling the motors, that would be preferable. That seems like a last resort kind of deal. I think the Maintenance Mode should do what I need to do. 

What do you mean? It's two bolts per side and it's what Mazda tells you to do.  

I mean, if you don't have to that's cool, but at least unplug them while you have your hands in there. 

The maintenance mode works perfectly - you'll hear the motors turning when it activates. I posted it in my thread on doing the rears on a Mazda 3.

FYI, FORscan will probably work for a lot of the stuff you do need a scan tool for. Free PC program, all you need is an interface.