03 4runner brake job

[bridge253]

Found bad caliper piston and need to replace. I have never had to bleed brakes before and was hoping someone could give me some pointers. I heard theres an order of sequence but Im not sure. thanks

[Ron Helmuth]

I believe I saw this posted on 4x4wire and there may be a writeup or two over on Yota Tech also.

[WristPin]

137 views and nobody know how to bleed brakes??!!


you know there is a search function of this forum. that helps sometimes.

this is something I posted for a guy who installed new calipers and could not get them to bleed out.

I am going to post all the info, in case you attempt this and screw things up. but the gist of what you need to start doing is this:

you need a helper to pump the pedal, hold it, while you go to the right rear, open the bleeder, when the fluid stops squirting, after a moment, close it. then have your helper pump and hold again. when he holds, the pedal will go the floor. do this until the fluid is no longer black, and is clean. usually about for cracks of the bleeder screw.

then go to the left rear, right front, left front. check the fluid after each wheel, and after 5 cracks of the bleeder. have your helper pump in a manner that is gentle. do it slow. dont let him jam on the pedal, like you where panic stopping. but once it is held, has to be held firmly. and then let up slow.

Originally Posted by WristPin in an earlier post

clamp the three brake hoses. one on the rear axle and two on each caliper. use specified brake hose clamps or needle nose vice grips. (not too tight)

what you are doing is isolating the trouble area.

push down the pedal.
if the problem is downstream of the clamps, the pedal should be rock solid.

if its a wet noodle, keep the clamps on. have a helper operate the pedal.
crack the line on the master. have helper push down and hold. tighten fitting. do this to all fittings on master.repeat 2x.
check fluid level. if pedal is still soft, have helper pump slowly three times and hold pedal. open fitting. close fitting. repeat 2x on all fittings.

check fluid. if by this time pedal is soft, you have a defective master. i dont care if its new or reman. remans are especially junk. you will have best results from OEM parts.

onto if the pedal is rock solid.

take off one clamp only. check pedal.
when the pedal goes down, you found the trouble area.
bleed in the same manner as above.

your rear drum brakes wont make up much of a differnce for this test. most of what you will feel will come from the calipers.