ComJ

Hi, everyone.

I recently purchased a '00 GS300 with ~120k miles.

The car makes a constant brake noise when rolling, when I purchased it it had no fault lights but a couple of days ago, when releasing the parking brake, the light in the dash stayed on (although it dims a little when I release it).

The car doesnt brake very well (it stops but brakes are somewhat soft) and the E-Brake does nothing, I havent been able to get it up in the air to check the calipers and pads. Rotors look fine though, no lip or grooves. Brake fluid reservoir is at the max mark.

Additionally, the car has a wheel shake when going past ~70 mph, and a slight pulsating on the pedal when braking.

Next week i'll be taking the car to a friend's house to get it up in the air and check all brakes properly. But in the meantime, what do you guys think? Is the any way i could check something with the car on the ground? My OBD scanner died but i'll be getting a new one on thursday.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

Not really. It sounds like you need your brakes serviced, so do that and see how many of the issues that solves. Probably all of them, tbh.

Aeok18109

your parking brake shoes are most likely shot. dont play around with brake related stuff. get it to a shop or whoever does your work asap

ComJ

Thanks for responding!

I've done brake jobs on my previous cars, and also rebuilt a couple of calipers with new piston&square seal, brake fluid replacement and circuit bleeding, etc... But i've never done a car with drum emergency brake. I've seen a vid where they replace the e-brake pads on a '06-'01 Camry, and it doesnt look too hard. Do you guys know if it's similar with the GS?

I'll inspect all the pads, rotors and calipers when I up the car (I cant right now because I dont have space or level ground where I live, I'll be taking it to a friends house next weekend), if I see something bad i'll probably leave the car there until parts arrive and I'll replace everything that's not in tip top shape. I was asking because I've never worked on a system like this, with a pedal actuator and drum+disc, so I dont exaclt now where to look.

Ever since I got the dash light I havent taken the car for anything more than testing a couple of things going up and down the street, I have another car that I can use until I resolve the issue. So dont worry

Aeok18109

If you're familiar with servicing brakes than it's an easy job. Pull real caliper and rotor. The pads sit in the hat of the rotor. Should be similar to a drum brake job replacing shoes. Not hard. An hour tops per side taking long breaks while doing brakes lol

ComJ

Gotcha, thanks Aeok!

I'll probably post again when i'm done.