Kruso

I've had this GS300 for about four years and never had any brake issues. The lower ball joint broke and had to be replaced when I was out of town by a friend. Long story short, he ended up replacing the brake line but due to only him being there did not bleed the system, I just bled the system in all four wheels and the issue is still the same. As of right now the car is dangerous to drive as it wont stop in one pump and I cant figure out if there's a specific way the brakes are bled on these cars or not. I've bled a thousand cars before and have never had any issues bleeding the system this is by far my first road block as far as bleeding any brakes.

Ive searched and gone through quite a few threads but have not seen the answer. This issue has been addressed several times with people having replaced the BMC and calipers to no avail. Any insight appreciated.

Kruso

DrLex

iTrader: (2)

I've seen air get trapped in the ABS actuator, can be a real pain to get it out.

My rule of thumb is bleed from the furthest wheel to the fill point, to the closest.

Kruso

As of right now I've bled the system in the "Lexus specific" order and every which way one can think of. I looked around and there's no bleeding screw of any type nor a "top" bolt that might let the air out. I'll try again possibly tomorrow to see if it yields a better result.

GS300_1996

go upto your master,, specially if it was your front...

twojayzee

As your aware there is still air in the system. With ABS, since there is more volume to the system its more difficult to purge since there all kinds of areas for the air pockets to accumulate. I just purchased a 25$ tool from harbor freight is the shiznit. Its uses compressed air to create a venturi effect and draws air and fluid out of the system. It works amazing. Took me about 20minutes to do my landcruiser by myself. Works freaking amazing. If you dont have access to the tools, I recomend finding a shop in the area that can do a power flush. I've screwed around using the other methods for hours before.

VIP_Dreamz

dumb question, but did you make sure the master cylinder was filled with brake fluid when you bleed the brakes? if not then you might of got air trapped into the master cylinder.

Kruso

No harm in asking.... Reservoir was always topped off. Will make my way to harbor freights first thing tomorrow twojayzee, thanks for the info. Any idea on the name of the tool or part number?

twojayzee

Part number 92924 http://www.harborfreight.com/brake-f...der-92924.html

Kruso

Update: Went and purchased the bleeder, appeared to have worked... but the issue continued as it was. Finally broke down and purchased a new brake master cylinder and then used the bleeder and STILL same issue. I'm starting to get very frustrated with this issue. There has got to be a definite answer to this issue as prominent as it is.

twojayzee

How much fluid came out when using the tool ?

Kruso

Half a quart on every side.

Kruso

twojayzee

Damn thats a pretty good amount ! I didnt even get that much thru mine.

Does it stop well once the pedal is down at the bottom of the stroke ?
Is there a vacuum leak at the booster at all ?

Kruso

The car eventually stopped but if there is a kid that pops out playing on the road... he'd be road kill thus it wasn't road worthy. Checked the booster and the vac going to it and everything is perfect.

Update: I was able to resolve the issue and by doing the damnedest thing... I had gotten to the point where I ruled all the items out by simple replacement and eventually it came down to the calipers... specifically the one on the side the initially caused the air to be sucked in. The issue disappeared as soon as I replaced that one caliper and bled just that side. A few things I want to share with someone who could benefit from this in the future...this is a very common problem amongst all Toyotas (after doing hours of research on all Toyota related forums) but no one has a definite answer to it. One of the symptoms that led me to the conclusion was that one of the pistons on that caliper, although moving, was moving slowly compared to the other piston when I depressed the brakes so it was not completely frozen. To this date, this has been the biggest and longest time consuming problem that I've ever tackled and this is coming from a guy who's best time is 60 mins pulling the motor and trans. So anyone looking at this to resolve their "spongy" brake problem, look into the calipers once you've done the basics and another thing... alot of threads suggest that the ABS module on this car needs to bled even though the TSRM says otherwise... dont pay any attention to this thought... it does not require bleeding.

Kruso