tennisstar

Thanks a bunch....was also thinking time to change pads now I got 60k miles on me car....this'll help mechanic I hope....lol

MyLS460

Thanks again for all of your suggestions! Below is my latest update after giving it another try on disconnecting the battery's negative terminal and as suggested, pressed the brake pedal to discharge any residual power - to no prevail, the codes remained.

I took the vehicle to a local (DFW) Lexus dealership today and the Service Advisor (SA) wanted to do a diagnostic scan (costs $50). Afterward, he said there was an error code "CP20" for hydraulic system malfunction and the first remedy was to bleed the brake system (I assume bleeding the brake lines for all 4 wheels); and that if the code didn't go away or went away then came back, the "brake actuator" would need to be replaced. I assume the brake actuator is the master cylinder . . . For bleeding the brake system (2 hours of labor), the SA quoted me $295 which I commented that that was quite pricey; he said he would work with me to keep it around $200-$225 which I agreed (the dealer also waived the $50 cost for the diagnostic).

Fortunately, bleeding the brake system appeared to work as the codes are now gone. I hope they won't come back as it would likely cost more to replace the "brake actuator". Not sure what would/could have happened if I had bled off the remaining 3 brake lines to see if the codes would clear. Supposedly one would need to bleed the brake furtherest from the master cylinder/fluid reservoir (passenger side rear, driver side rear, passenger front, driver side front) . . .

Lesson learned before working on any Lexus:

- Get on ClubLexus and search if there is/are any relevant blog threads for the task you are about to do; if not post a new blog to solicit help from the community
- On the brakes job, start by securing the vehicle with wheel stops then put the transmission in "Neutral" - this allows you to rotate/spin the rear wheels manually as needed when the car is on supporting stands.
- Make sure the auto park brake is not engaged.
- Disconnect the battery's negative terminal then give it a few minutes (~5) for the system (e.g., HDD Navigation) to log itself down, and any residual power to discharge . . .
- If you had to bleed the lines, bleed them all in the right sequence.

Again, thank you all for your suggestions!

b8b

So I may have made the mistake of trusting a friend who has a shop (and is a talented mechanic) to replace the rotors on my '07 LS460. About 3 weeks later all the lights go on about the brake system, pull over now and all that. I take it back to him, he can't calibrate or reset it with his $12k Snapon computer diagnostic tool, can't fix it.

So I take it to the dealer, they want $500 to bleed and re-calibrate the brakes. I call two other deals, one is $300, one is $200. They match the $200. Then they can't fix it because the brake actuator is stuck. I phoned the dealer who offered the $200, who competes directly with this dealer, and he opens up, says I should never take the 460 anywhere else for a break job, says he's seen a lot done by others and 80% end up back at his dealership to fix, 90% of those need new actuators since they weren't bled and recalibrated properly.

So I negotiate the $2,500 bill down to $2,000, including the part that was $1760 retail (they matched parts.com at $1415). Uhg. $2,000 so my brakes will work smoothly and the dash won't look like I'm about to drive off a cliff. Sigh. $2k for one of four break actuators, really?

As much as I love it (I do love it!), and as many LS's I have had with no issues (430's and 400's), I will likely be selling the 460 and going back to my winning formula of slightly used BMW's under warranty, sell them before the warranty expires at a profit or break-even. Bummer.

Ckslice

Ckslice

Luscombe8A

I replaced the front rotors and pads on my LS last Sunday (Brembos).

I did not disconnect the battery.
did not touch the brake pedal or even get in the car until I had completed the replacement.

I did not siphon any fluid out of the brake fluid reservoir and even pushed the pistons back with a screw driver so I could get the new pads installed.

There were no error lights or any other indicators. The new CTEK rotors and Posiquiet pads work great. I posted this effort with pictures on this forum. I have been doing break jobs on my cars for the last 40 years, I am a weekend mechanic not a professional. The Brembos were really straight forward and easy to do. I am puzzled by the issues that some are having and wonder what the mechanics are really doing.

macLexy55

Very costly to take to the dealer. I take to a reliable car shop who know what they are doing, and give an honest opinion (not all dealerships will do the same). They disconnected my battery before taking radiator out and connected after fitting, and light never came back on.

Diemellz

Wish I would've researched this when I change my rear brakes & rotors. I couldn't put on my rotors cause they where to big so I just did my brakes without disconnecting my battery or taking off the auto park, bad move😔😪, man did the car light up like Xmas tree lol, I wasn't for sure gonna take her to dealer, so I did the old paper clip trick to turn all that off,

Robb92914

wait what's the paperclip trick lol

ausLX

I change my own pads, and I have never disconnected the battery or taken it out of park. All I ever do is jack it up, take wheels off and and remove brake pad hardware, push pads back with a caliper spreader so the pads aren't pressed up against the disc and I can take them out, take out old pads and put new pads in. Reassemble clips and misc hardware and put wheels back on. Never had an issue doing it this way.

akican

Hi yyymmm31,
I try to bleed the actuator of my 2008 LS460L according to the service manual to eliminate the squawk/bark noise. I followed every steps from the guide but it always fail at step 8 of section 3. As soon as I connected the accumulator pump connector back, the pump come ON after I switch the ignition ON. As accumulator pressure must be approx. to 0.5 volts before starting the rear brake, I stuck at this step after trying multiple of time to repeat the procedure. Without pass this step I can't bleed the RR and RL. Can you give a guidance how to do this. I am using VXDIAG and Techstream version 15.00.026.
Thank you

yyymmm31

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Sorry to hear that you couldn't finish bleeding the RR brake line (and accumulator). Assuming that you are using this guide in Posting 7 by KV2: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10762895, I'd suggest that you dry-run the front brake bleeding process (just go through the steps without the need to actually re-bleed the front brakes again) from the very beginning. Make sure that (1) all of your car doors are closed throughout the process and that (2) your battery is fully charged and preferably a good charger is connected to the battery during the process. Often, an open door triggers the pump to be pressurized.
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akican

Yes I am using this guide (posting 7 by KV2). I am trying dry-run the same procedure without bleeding the front brake. Follow section 1, section 2, and section 3. Within section 3, when it asked to reconnect the pump connector ( I even wait for than 2 minute per Techstream onscreen instruction before to switch ON the ignition), the pump come ON as soon as the ignition is ON. I have the charger connected to the battery, and all doors are closed. If I bleed RR and RL individually, does the actuator get bleeded. How do I perform individual bleeding on RR and RL. For your info. I configure Techstream in US region. Does it make any difference when I select other or Europe region.
Thanks

akican

Refer to this guide, if the pump comes ON re-do the Section 1: Zero down. My question is I do the Zero down only and skip ECB invalid or I have to repeat everything from the beginning. Again thank you for support.

yyymmm31

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1) Yes, you could bleed each brake line individually. At the Techstream screen below, select "Usual air bleeding" instead of "Actuator has been removed" bleeding. At the next screen, you may select a brake line to bleed individually, one at a time. The Usual air bleeding" is for routine brake maintenance to bleed air out of the brake lines. According to Lexus/Toyota, to bleed air out of the brake actuator, you'll need to go by the bleeding procedure posted by KV2.


2) If you are using the Techstream software that came with the VXDIAG connector, you should not connect to the Internet while installing it and using it if you set your region to North America. If you are connected to the Internet and if you don't have an account with Lexus/Toyota, TIS automatically disables some "advanced" functions of your Techstream, including refreshing and writing data into ECUs. I'm not sure if TIS also disables the function of bleeding air out of the actuator. Nonetheless, to use all the functions in Techstream, you should avoid connecting to the Internet while installing and using Techstream, if you don't have an TIS account with Lexus/Toyota.
3) When you pump is pressurized (i.e., your brake actuator's voltage is more than 0.5V), you'll need to dry-run every step of the previous action as described by the instruction. Don't skip any step even though it may seem to be unrelated or unimportant. In my early experience with this "Actuator has been removed" bleeding procedure, I cut corners and it didn't work. I learned that I had to go through every step again in order to bleed RR brake line and actuator.
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