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Greetings Viewers!
Recently replaced the front pads on my 1998 Toyota Camry. It has 126,000 or so miles and I’m having an issue..
Here is some history –Changed the pads over 2 weeks ago, got a set from our local Monument Car Parts, put them on. Made sure to replace the caliper bracket slider pin boots and grease the pins. Cleaned everything. Put it all together. For the first couple of days, could smell hot brakes during hard stop and go, and they seemed to fade pretty quickly. Got all 4 corners bled but it didn’t seem to change much.
Fast forward to today. Replaced with a new set of Akebono pads which came highly recommended, as they are one of the OEM Toyota pad manufacturers.
Did the same steps. Cleaned caliper bracket pins and regreased, cleaned the pad mounts really good, etc.Engine off, pedal is rock solid. Engine running, and the pedal sinks pretty far at a dead stop. Rolling around 20mph, and the pedal is soft, but it stops fine. Now various Toyota forums say that the pedal sinking at a dead stop is by design of the ABS bleeding pressure that’s not needed. Others say Master cylinder.
Really hoping it’s not the calipers, the pistons didn’t seem to hang up when I collapsed them to change the pads.
Any ideas, suggestions, comments are more than welcome.
Thanks!
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If they are drum in the back you may need to adjust the rears.
https://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-brake-problems/dealing-with-a-spongy-brake-pedal
[quote=”college man” post=179907]I they are drum in the back you may need to adjust the rears.
Drums have been adjusted already. Had that done at the same time I got my brakes bled.
When you reset the calipers did you open the bleed screw or push everything back to the master?
If you pushed everything back you may have damaged the masters seals.[quote=”college man” post=179913]When you reset the calipers did you open the bleed screw or push everything back to the master?
If you pushed everything back you may have damaged the masters seals.[/quote]Things seem okay once I get driving. As I mentioned earlier, some Toyota folks say that the ABS will bleed the extra pressure if you hit the pedal hard while at a stop, therefore it will sink pretty far.
Even still, thinking I may replace the hoses in the near future.
[quote=”nradonich” post=179987][quote=”college man” post=179913]When you reset the calipers did you open the bleed screw or push everything back to the master?
If you pushed everything back you may have damaged the masters seals.[/quote]Things seem okay once I get driving. As I mentioned earlier, some Toyota folks say that the ABS will bleed the extra pressure if you hit the pedal hard while at a stop, therefore it will sink pretty far.
Even still, thinking I may replace the hoses in the near future.[/quote]
ABS aside, I believe older Toyota was fairly consistent with their brake pedal leniency especially in 3rd and 4th Gen Camrys. I’d bare bone the mats and take a quick measurement to see if the pedal’s in spec. You can eyeball it too or even stick your foot under the pedal at full stop to feel the clearance. Toyota/Lexus had and still has forgiving brake resistance that allows the driver to ease into a stop rather than punch it. Check the pedal to ground clearance and get back to us.
When I perform a full stop, the clearance is about 2.5 to 3 inches (roughly) with the pedal, and it does not drop any further. I’m just really concerned because I don’t ever remember my pedal being that soft in the past, nor having it sink to the floor when I press it hard when I’m not moving at all.
That being said, while I am driving and hit the brakes, I do stop pretty well, especially with the right pads, they just need to break in a bit more. I haven’t tried a full panic stop yet.
I’ve read that with ABS that doing a reverse bleed (From the caliper side) can help with stubborn air bubbles and help firm up the pedal a bit more.
This topic’s been in the back of my head for a few days since my braking issue is still wishy washy. My first after-first-post-on-this-topic thought was your drums might need to be adjusted tighter, but then I saw college man hit the nail on the head and you said they’re adjusted – bummer.
I’m checking out the Haynes for the 3rd Gen (92-96) and it reads as follows:
Brake pedal
Freeplay 1/32 to 1/4 inch
Free height 5-3/4 inches
Brake light switch clearance 1/32 to 3/32 inch
Pedal reserve height 2-3/4 inchesProbably a moot question about the drums, but how many clicks does it take to secure the parking brake? Lever-type should be 5 to 8 and Pedal-type should be 3-6. The reason I ask is because this is a surefire way of determining if your drums are relatively adjusted accordingly as long as the cable is in good shape.
Side-note: I adjusted my rear drums pretty tight (overkill) one morning for a week – 1-2 clicks on the lever-type parking brake and I wasn’t moving – and my braking experience was exceptional! Downfall, increased freeway cruising speed vibrations and my MPG decreased. It was for personal reasons and made me aware of how important the rear brake adjustment really is. Anywho, did you figure out what’s up?
Sir Potato,
Since I got the new Akebono pads, braking has been a lot better. The previous pads would get too hot too quickly and I could smell them during heavy traffic. These new ones are so much better.
In regard to the rear brakes, it takes about 5 clicks before the lever is tight. I got them adjusted at a Brake shop.Still not sure what the root cause was for my original issue, I’m thinking it was mainly crap pads. I will be getting new rotors soon, plus I have a bit too much runout (my own fault really, didn’t clean the spindles nearly good enough). I will, eventually replace the calipers, since I don’t know the full maintenance history of the car, and they’ve got 127k miles on them.
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