1997 LX450 Brake Bleeding Woes

[michaelmontero]

Good afternoon,

I’m curious if anyone else has ran into something similar. I have searched on these forums and have seen a couple threads on people having bleeding issues with their 80s.

This last weekend I’ve changed out every rubber brake line, some of the hard lines, deleted ABS, rebuilt all calipers, and put in a new OEM master cylinder (bench bled it before installation). I just spent the last 4 hours of my life bleeding these brakes, when I get to the last caliper, the pedal will feel fantastic. It’ll feel great in the first minute of the test drive and then it’ll just go soft again. I cannot physically see any leaking brake fluid anywhere under the vehicle or in the engine bay. Nothing is wet. But I’ve clearly got a leak somewhere yea?

I’ll bleed all brake calipers in the correct order until it’s nothing but fluid is coming out. No air. The pedal feels fantastic. Then I get to the driver side front caliper and it just seems like non stop air in the system. Thinking maybe the rebuilt calipers are messed up or there’s some air trapped in the master cylinder?

Just at a loss right now, had to step away from the vehicle for today, grab a shower, and crack a few beers open.

Any insight is greatly appreciated, have a great night!

 

[76lcmike]

Do you work for a Danish owned used car dealership WTF

You'd be surprised the cheapness of dealerships and other shops, that's all i can say.......

 

[landtank]

Dang, I guess i deserve the criticism. We use dorman religiously at my job with no issues, but then again my job is "buy the parts for as cheap as possible and get the vehicle tf outta the shop asap"

I tried the grease the bleed fitting threads and have not had any issues since, been daily driving it the last couple days and loving it.

Maybe after my next overseas desert trip I'll buy the correct oem parts and rebuild everything properly. Hopefully the dorman holds up until then

I use Dorman all the time and have for years. no issues at all. I'd like some context to what was the item and issue.

 

[NeverFinis]

I have used a few Dorman products and have had no issues with them. I am glad they are making reproduction parts.

 

[MissahPapaJ]

You'd be surprised the cheapness of dealerships and other shops, that's all i can say.......

Ya I know all too well, it’s taken some time but I’ve been training my boss and service adviser not to act like it’s their money. I don’t like doing a job twice due to s*** parts, so I get the parts I want unless only garbage is available if you offer a 2 warranty on your work you better put quality shizz on even if the mark up isn’t as good as you’d like.

 

[TheBussman]

I use Dorman all the time and have for years. no issues at all. I'd like some context to what was the item and issue.

no context on these brake parts, but other dorman parts:

cummins replacement engine oil pan, painted on inside and out, the paint fell off on the inside and clogged the oil pickup and trashed the engine. they were willing to replace the pan for free just not the engine.
lug nuts: super rusty after 1 year
chystler 2.7l aluminum upper coolant housing, nice that they made it out of metal instead of plastic, comes with a coolant temp sensor pre-installed. sensor is way off and tells you the car is overheating when it's really at about 140 degrees just getting warmed up.
toyota 8" rear diff cover (weld on ) parking brake cable guide tab in the wrong spot.
5vzfe fan bracket bearing fails in less then 1 year.
lots of their pre-pressed together toyota truck rear axle shaft and bearing combos fail in a short time. Now the customer has thrown away they're good toyota parts only because of a bad bearing last year....

these are just a few of the examples i can think of off the top of my head their are WAY more. i go out of my way to buy the least amount of their parts as possible. These examples are were other people bought the parts and i had to clean up the mess. You might be fine to buy their fasteners i suppose.

 

[shocktower]

I use a garden sprayer modified with a Toyota master cylinder cap and 2 hose clamps I swear by this method I believe you should check the rod length for the master and booster oh yeah mot a fan of dorman for much

 

[landtank]

no context on these brake parts, but other dorman parts:

cummins replacement engine oil pan, painted on inside and out, the paint fell off on the inside and clogged the oil pickup and trashed the engine. they were willing to replace the pan for free just not the engine.
lug nuts: super rusty after 1 year
chystler 2.7l aluminum upper coolant housing, nice that they made it out of metal instead of plastic, comes with a coolant temp sensor pre-installed. sensor is way off and tells you the car is overheating when it's really at about 140 degrees just getting warmed up.
toyota 8" rear diff cover (weld on ) parking brake cable guide tab in the wrong spot.
5vzfe fan bracket bearing fails in less then 1 year.
lots of their pre-pressed together toyota truck rear axle shaft and bearing combos fail in a short time. Now the customer has thrown away they're good toyota parts only because of a bad bearing last year....

these are just a few of the examples i can think of off the top of my head their are WAY more. i go out of my way to buy the least amount of their parts as possible. These examples are were other people bought the parts and i had to clean up the mess. You might be fine to buy their fasteners i suppose.

Everything that I’ve bought has been for an 80-series. Needed exhaust manifolds and bought theirs. Brake masters , sensors switches. All rock solid. Bearings for belt tensioners made in Thailand.

 

[michaelmontero]

Hey guys so I actually figured out the issue. My brake booster was failing apparently lol causing a mushy pedal. It was a bendix unit.
Context - my brake booster failed on Monday on the way home from work. Yea super solid brakes, clearly no air in the system lol. New brake booster arrived Friday morning. Installed it (holy s*** this job sucks lmfao) and now my brakes feel brand new it’s incredible actually. No more mushy pedal, just nice and solid and firm, yet easy enough to push on with the new booster. Going to be making a separate post reviewing the booster later on today. Seen only one other post about that brand of booster on this forum.