brakes are totally screwed

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G

Ganndolf

10 Year
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Threads
6
Messages
50
Location
Oklahoma
My 3 month old 2004 just s*** the bed. As I was driving around a neighborhood I heard a loud "woosh" followed 2 seconds later by another loud "woosh" this is actually a very similar sound to Darth Vader exhaling. then I heard a terrible screech. This is all coming from my accumulator pump/master cylinder. I noticed something was weird when the strange fax machine noise of the pump came on twice when I turned on the car this morning. car functioned fine all day, then tonight this happens. I got the car back home and the brakes never lost any of their power at all. it kindof sounded like the accumulator pump just wouldn't turn off or something and made the system overpressurize. then this large amount of pressure might have caused the pump to make that screeching sound. what do you guys think is wrong? If I take it to a dealership I know they are just going to want the $4000 to replace the entire master cylinder and that is basically a third of the price of the car(which I paid in cash). So I either have figure this thing out myself or I'm totally out of a car. I don't know how Toyota ever sold such a s*** Box like the landcruiser, if I designed something that broke this much in an engineering competition at my college I would be kicked out of school, these companies just want to make money I guess, and nothing is as reliable as a toyota so I guess this is as good as it gets. Maybe I'm the next Henry Ford.
 
Take a deep breath and start diagnosing - that is after all what engineers do. So, what is actually the problem? It sounds like you lost brake pressure, but you state that the "brakes never lost any of their power at all".
 
Ganndolf said:
My 3 month old 2004 just **** the bed. As I was driving around a neighborhood I heard a loud "woosh" followed 2 seconds later by another loud "woosh" this is actually a very similar sound to Darth Vader exhaling. then I heard a terrible screech. This is all coming from my accumulator pump/master cylinder. I noticed something was weird when the strange fax machine noise of the pump came on twice when I turned on the car this morning. car functioned fine all day, then tonight this happens. I got the car back home and the brakes never lost any of their power at all. it kindof sounded like the accumulator pump just wouldn't turn off or something and made the system overpressurize. then this large amount of pressure might have caused the pump to make that screeching sound. what do you guys think is wrong? If I take it to a dealership I know they are just going to want the $4000 to replace the entire master cylinder and that is basically a third of the price of the car(which I paid in cash). So I either have figure this thing out myself or I'm totally out of a car. I don't know how Toyota ever sold such a **** Box like the landcruiser, if I designed something that broke this much in an engineering competition at my college I would be kicked out of school, these companies just want to make money I guess, and nothing is as reliable as a toyota so I guess this is as good as it gets. Maybe I'm the next Henry Ford.
Click to expand...

As RND1 said, take a breath. Its 3 months old *to you*. Its a 10 year old vehicle regardless of miles driven...it also cost $50,000+ new. It is WELL out of warranty and I've never seen a machine last forever (good luck to anyone who thinks they can design one).

Fax machine noise?

This?
 
It is the same exact noise this guy had, mine had several wooshing noises, but the incredibly loud screeching is all the same. here is the forum post that goes with it: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-g...8-4runner-abs-pump-problem-any-solutions.html They never fixed the problem, he just kinda halfassed it. Maybe I should just drain and bleed the system to start out with? I won't do that, I'll just take it to the shop, anyone know how many wheelbarrows of $100 bills I should bring for that?
 
I almost think this has to be the accumulator though, It must be getting old and leaking. It's only $250 so maybe I'll have them replace that and completely refill the system, anyone know if the 100 has a an accumulator pressure sensor I can replace with it? It's odd that this guy with the 4 runner never had the problem again though. My pump has been running longer and longer on startup lately though so I still think that must be the problem.
 
Bummer. Certainly no fun to have something wrong and not know exactly what it is. MUD's a huge help, though. Here are a couple of threads from the FAQs and if you type "brake failure" into the search box, you'll get several threads with information. You'll probably end up knowing at least what to check and maybe knowing exactly what's wrong. Use MUD too as a source of information for parts.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/master-cylinder-rebuild-diy.406533/

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/no-brakes.31653/
 
@Ganndolf - Just make sure you get to the right diagnosis. When my brakes went out a couple months ago the brake and ABS light came on the dash accompanied by a high pitch buzz. Since I had stopped near an AutoZone, they checked the codes w/ an OBDII reader. Compared the codes with those who had similar issues on Mud. Then took it in to a trusted shop and had them further diagnose it. I ended up replacing the entire assembly, but thanks to a Mud vendor, got the parts for a significant savings (IIRC, MSRP is around $2,922). All in all, I had it replaced (parts + labor) for less than the MSRP of the parts.

Review the threads posted by @Sandroad above and a few others. There's a chance you might be able to repair it without replacing the entire assembly.
 
It's spent most of its life in Missouri. I think the fluid has been changed on the service schedule, as far as I can tell from the service history. If i hit the brake pedal 30 times or so while the car is sitting at idle I can get the famous abs lights and warning siren to come on. is this normal? as i said I didn't feel any loss in brake function.
 
Sheeeeeee

Question for anyone: Would changing the brake fluid at the appropriate intervals be the only required service to best avoid this incredibly expensive repair?
 
@Ganndolf - Not sure if it is normal or not. I can't remember coming across a situation like you describe above. I know when it first happened to me I had just returned from a trip to southern Utah the day before. I was out running errands and planned to stop and get gas before heading home. While driving, the ABS and brake lights came on. I was able to pull into a gas station w/ full brake pedal. However, after getting gas and pulling out onto the street, I pressed the brakes and they were out. Barely averted running into a line of cars by using the emergency brake and pulling into the gutter. ABS and brake lights were on w/ the buzzing sound. It seemed like the first time this occurred it was merely a "warning".
 
Well what do you guys think? should I replace the accumulator and hope for the best? It seems like that would be part of the major repair anyway. And I would like to take it one step at a time. There is a specialty Toyota place in town who I think I'll call to see if they've heard of this before. and since the guy with the 4 runner never posted again I'm going to assume it never happened again, and that there was not a problem with the master cylinder.
 
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