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Recently, I bought another Vitz/Yaris/Echo and it has a spongy brake pedal.
I flushed the brakes and bled them over and over with DOT4 fluid and it made no difference, I tried slamming the brakes on a few times engaging ABS and that made no difference. I’ve already serviced the calipers, the hoses are the factory hoses, they aren’t new and shiny but also are not cracked or showing signs of wear.
The previous owner had slotted discs and and performance pads fitted. I’m not sure if this could be the cause, the car is the sport version with the bigger engine and disc brakes all around. The discs and pads fitted are a reputable (and expensive) brand.
Should I replace them with OEM ones or look into other components? I don’t want to replace them without ruling out everything else because they aren’t worn and they’re quite expensive.
The other one I have is the smaller engined model with smaller discs and drums in the rear and the pedal feel is much more immediate on that car.
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I would leave the rotors and pads if they are good. You have service everything that matters.
The only piece left is the mc. I would replace the hoses first to see if things change. I know you
said they look good but you won’t see the expansion. What you could try is clamping off the
rear hoses and see if the pedal comes up. this will tell you if the mc is working and the rubber
lines are at fault. If you can find stainless braided lines for the car install them.[quote=”college man” post=167491]I would leave the rotors and pads if they are good. You have service everything that matters.
The only piece left is the mc. I would replace the hoses first to see if things change. I know you
said they look good but you won’t see the expansion. What you could try is clamping off the
rear hoses and see if the pedal comes up. this will tell you if the mc is working and the rubber
lines are at fault. If you can find stainless braided lines for the car install them.[/quote]I agree. Rubber brake lines may have been damaged when the upgrades were installed?
Go in and adjust the drums. If they are far enough out of adjustment nothing other than adjusting them will change that. A good indicator is how far the parking brake handle or pedal has to be applied before it grabs.
I agree; check for rear brake shoe wear or if they’re way out of adjustment.
A problem with wear or adjustment on rear drums can mimic a bad master cylinder, cause a longer stroke, etc.As I said, its the “performance” model with disc brakes all around so no drums to adjust.
I put steel braided lines on my other car and it didn’t make that much difference under normal driving conditions so I’m reluctant as they are expensive and hard to find for the rear disc models.
I might consider replacing the lines with new OEM ones but I don’t know if I should try the MC first.
It could be that the brake hoses are old and stretching under the pressure when you press the brake pedal, try replacing the hoses.
Why would clamping the rear lines make any difference? I would need to fashion something to clamp them with as I’ve never felt the need to do things that way, also if they are actually damaged, clamping them might just finish them off. Having said that the hoses do look fine, I’ve seen enough old cars to know when the hoses need replacing, most of the time you can hear them expanding if you brake hard whilst stopped.
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