MyLS460

With help from a friend, I recently turned the rotors and replaced the brake pads in my 2008 LS460 with ceramic pads by Akebono. We didn't follow the right sequence so before releasing the automatic parking brake, I pushed the brake pedal to start the engine forgetting that one (driver-side front) of the old brake pad sets had already been removed - the consequence was that one of the brake pistons was pushed out beyond its norm (not completely out) and brake fluid oozed out . . . We pushed the piston back in, bled the fluid line and all seemed to work well just as any new brakes would (slight hesitation as the pads are being broken in, particularly after a few miles as the brakes got hot - expansion)

Well, my problem now is that despite the new brakes appearing to be working fine, the ABS, VSC, brake lights are on and we don't know if something is wrong, or the brake system just needs resetting.

Have any of you LS460 owners in the forum experienced this problem and how did you get it fixed? If this was a dealer job, how much did it cost to get it fixed/reset?

Please note that the brake sensors were carefully removed and reattached; i.e., no damage observed.

Thanks for your help!

G-SharK

It sounds like you will need to get it reset. Try discounting the negative battery terminal off and wait a few minutes and reconnect. Hopefully that will help, if not you will need the dealer to reset it.

Lextrician

did that on a caddy once and i ended up screwing up the mastercylinder this seems like you might want to bleed the master cylinder or just reset it an see if it goes away.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

you need to bring your car to dealership to reset the computer

never do brake jobs on the ls460 with the battery connected. even if you didn't have the mistake with the pads / pistons, bleeding alone could throw those lights already.

try disconnecting the battery and see if it resets, otherwise, time for dealership

adamls2

I'm planning on switching out the rotors and pads soon. Would a regular brake specialist shop not follow proper procedure? I'm hoping the dealer wouldn't mind switching them out for me, but it depends how much they charge me.

I would def take it to the dealer. Hope everything gets resolved!!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

you don't necessarily need to go to dealership, but you need someone who knows what they are doing. someone came to my garage to install the brembo brakes on my ls460l, never any codes / errors. trust me, a lot of these "specialist shops", they might not know much

the thing is when brake fluid goes in the wrong direction or anything out of ordinary, it triggers the codes and have to be cleared at dealership. so what my guy did was to disconnect battery completely before installing anything.

(i hold no responsibility to anything that happens)

brianlin87

iTrader: (11)

i secretly blame you for everything and anything in the future that ever goes wrong w/ my car

rominl

iTrader: (4)

lol show us your brakes first, shall we?

Road Rage

You're assuming that all shops know all procedures. I've worked for Honda, Chevy, Toyota/Lexus and none of them have the same procedures within the product line much less the brand itself. Food for thought.

Bleeding the rear brakes on a LS 460 is different than the front. Doing either wrong will set off the light show. But it can be done in a driveway without disconnecting the battery. But that's for us pro's to do.

lei_z_ass

Here are some instructions to front and rear brakes is anyone needs them. I been reading up and getting info since i will be doing my brakes soon.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/47391522/Fr...es%20LS460.pdf

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/47391522/Re...es%20LS460.pdf

lei_z_ass

i can also get access to any break down information needed for the car. My aunty has a repair shop so she has all the files on a computer. If you want anything just let me know.

adamls2

Good stuff ^^^ Thanks!

And Brian, at least give us a tease!

Lextrician

dont need to even mess with the pistons when doing the brakes, with that being said dont really need to disconnect the battery if you know what you are doing. rears are different from front, front pads slide in and out without removal and rears if you take em
out in two pieces your fine.

MyLS460

Thanks to all for your suggestions so far - please keep 'em coming! I may need to take it to the dealer for a reset but before I do, will the brake computer reset itself after awhile, say after 50 miles of driving or so?

Also, any suggestions on how to adjust the rear automatic parking brakes to make sure that the right clearance between the brake shoes and the inner surface of the rotor is achieved?

Thanks again!

Lextrician

once you take the rear rotors off there is a sprocket like mechanism that you can use to adjust the parking brake since it is drum like. if you take the rotors off you will see what I am talking about, and make sure your parking brakes are off lol. not sure which way but one way is tight the other way is tight.