Master Cylinder Rebuild - DIY

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@YardPig I'm going to post some picture of master seal as you request, in next post.

First let me say; I've never had a leak at master to deal with on a 100 series. What I have dealt with on the Master Assembly of the 100 series is corrosion of control wire that connects between ABS to pump motor, dead booster motor and failed ABS unit. That is in order of issue that I see most often.

When I use to work on GM, Ford, Chrysler, etc. I was rebuilding master cylinder often. They would leak at plunger seals. We could see this fairly easily by looking in foot well around master or something in engine bay on firewall just below master.

I just don't see this on Series 100. I'm not saying the seals of plunger don't fail. Just that I've not had to deal with. IMHO the number one reason the plunger seal failure may be related to brake fluid. Either not flushing fluid as often enough or adding "wrong or bad" fluid that's damaging to components. Toyota did have a recall (2005-07 IIRC) for master seals, but not on the 100 series. It seems the issue was with adding non Toyota fluid causing seals to fail. My money was on the rubber that was used. As any DOT I, II or III should have worked just fine, but didn't.

Keep in mind we are only talking about master assembly herein this thread. But be aware, the parts down stream like caliper piston seal, flexible & hard lines we're seeing fail more and more with age. Inspection is key!

I'll state what I feel is obvious as to which leaks/failed seals in the 100 series need addressing. But first I'll restate something that was just posted in the "Brake failure thread". It is the one part that will fail and with little to no warning, no matter how well we maintain or inspect. It will cause brake failure or at least until all but bottom of peddle travel and then very little braking. This is the Booster motor. The motor has brush that wear out. Interestingly I've found commutator worn-out (dead spots) and bushes still have enough material to last for hundreds if not thousands of hours. I'm seeing this failures around 250K miles. BUT Miles aren't the key to motor life, it's hours of motor run time. City stop and go drive using brakes often vs all HWY miles is obviously going to have motor run more and so failing at lower miles. Other issues can cause motor to run often such as moisture in fluid, air in system (fluid), leak(s), weak accumulator. It's also possible for the ABS to not delivery current to the motor or the resistance wire to go bad. But I'm just seeing motors bad. In any case, if that motor fails, booster pressure is not regained with use and peddle will go to the floor.

I've been replacing motor and cleaning up wires for those that are on a tight budget. But really the best is to just go ahead and replace the accumulator assembly with new in our aging fleet. I found www.partsouq.com has the best deal at $800. It includes motor, pump, accumulator and wire.
Accumulator assembly circled in black
MASTER Accumulator pump assembly.jpg


Here is wire corrosion I find in about 30% of all rigs I've inspected. Why...it may be related to overfilling reservoir more than anything else.
00LX 245K brake booster pump failure 7-5-18 (2).JPG
 
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As per your request I'll state what I feel is obvious as to which leaks/failed seals.

The plunger has multiple seals on it (see picture above in post # 231) It's the only seals in master assemble that get fiction with every press on the peddle. Weak seals here could be very hard to detect and yield the soft peddle feel of first pump of peddle. Not only reason for first pump soft peddle issue, just one in the system. It could also allow pressure drop (forward seals on plunger) which kicks on booster motor often, without any loss of fluid leak. Rear seals of plunger failure could yield a leak resulting in loss of fluid.
MASTER Plunger.jpg

Reservoir grommet leaks can yield loss of fluid but will not affect brakes per-say, unless fluid gets below minimum. Although fluid may get into boot of wire attracting moisture and may corridor wire and connection.
MASTER reservoir Grommets.jpg

The O-ring of pressure senor seal should be replace if removed. A leak here would be fairly easy to see.
MASTER pressure sensor O-ring.jpg

The pump to accumulator seal (o-ring) would be replaced if removed. A leak here would be fairly easy to see and make it difficult for pump to build pressure in accumulator.
MASTER Accumulator O-ring.jpg

This gasket is not available to my knowledge, it's between booster motor and pump. This appears to just be a moisture and dirt seal. But take care to not damage if separating pump and motor.
00LX 245K brake booster pump failure 7-5-18 (7)c.jpg
 
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I had a soft pedal and 2nd pump issue on my 1998 LX. Everything else on the brake system was working as expected and checked out as operating properly (pump run time, brake pedal height, etc...). I decided to try the master cylinder piston replacement to fix these issues. I just completed the replacement as outlined in this thread and want to report that it fixed these problems.

Gotta love the people who contribute to this forum!
 

I've been replacing motor and cleaning up wires for those that are on a tight budget. But really the best is to just go ahead and replace the accumulator assembly with new in our aging fleet. I found www.partsouq.com has the best deal at $800. It includes motor, pump, accumulator and wire.

Just to add to the "pump failure" portion, there are other options and currently you can get OEM for ~$800, (see below). Great pump failure thread at the bottom of my post, and here is my brief synopsis of linked thread;

I'm in the middle of repairing the ABS pump failure where you get the "triple threat"; ABS & BRAKE dash lights & audible warning. And you're immediately left with about 5% braking! (fortunately the wife was just pulling out of garage!) This is typically, as 2001LC so eloquently stated, the pump failing. I am on this thread because I'm doing the MC rebuild at the same time as PM.

If anyone gets the triple threat, and it is determined it is pump failure, the options typically are;

-Drive into the stealership ~$2-3000
-Buy a used one from wrecker or ebay, which is a gamble ~$2-400.
-Buy a new OEM unit from toyotapartsdeal which is only sold as pump/acculmulator combo ~$800
-Buy a 'rebuilt' one from Rock Auto or equivalent, (Orielly, Autozone, Carquest don't carry), ~$600
-Or have the pump rebuilt ~$2-300 (Eurton Electric in LA, which is where mine is now!)

After reading Eurton's specific page on what they specifically rebuild coupled with how many mudders have sent theirs from all over the country, I thought this was my best and low cost solution. They rebuild their ABS pumps with an approx 2 week turn around:

Toyotapartsdeal.com OEM part;
PUMP ASSY, BRAKE BOOSTER W/ACCUMULATOR
Currently $807 + tax/shipping

Here is the pump thread that talks about Eurton in the initial post;

Good luck!
 
I am now convinced that every one dealing with double pump issue should try adjusting the clavicle length where it connects to the brake pedal. I had the double pump issue and even though my pump and booster were working like a champ at 240k miles, I replaced the pump and booster assembly (47070-60010: Pump Assy, Brake Booster W/Accumulator) and rebuilt my master cylinder (04493-60330: Cylinder Kit, Brake Master) and still had the flipping double pump issue :bang:

After paying to the local Lexus stealership to bleed my brakes I still have that issue :mad:, Finally I ended up tweaking the length by may be 1/3 of a turn and voila! The difference was instant and very gratifying :bounce:
Now my 3 ton truck's brake response puts our much newer and lighter Sienna to shame. And gives my 530xi a run for its money :D

Moral of the story: adjust your clavicle length before your spend on anything else.

Oh by the way my still working brake booster and pump assembly will be posted for sale soon.:rimshot:

@ClassyJalopy thank you for this. Are there instructions posted for this adjustment or is straight forward? I did not have the double pump issue until I fixed a sticking rear caliper. No fluid leaks anywhere. This is a 2004 with 188k miles.
 
See if this pic helps:
1925824


The red arrow points to the pin that you want to make longer by twisting it counter-clockwise
 
Thank you.

Can it be turned with clevis pin still installed?
No - You will need to pull the clip off the clevis pin and then take the clevis pin out. Then loosen the check nut and then you should be able to adjust the length easily. I suggest being VERY CONSERVATIVE in adjusting the length because if you make it too long - it will drag the brakes.
 
I'm curious, since this adjustment is quite sensitive from my own experience, why hasn't there been much emphasis on setting it correctly when doing the piston rebuild? There are warnings about dragging brakes, etc by lengthening it, but isn't its position completely reset when doing the rebuild? When I lengthened it only slightly I felt the brakes grabbing. Now that I'm about to do the rebuild I'm wondering how I'm supposed to set it up. I've seen the manual description, but that's the same process that most people remarked as being quite involved and was sort of evidence of why the rod lengthening should be viewed with caution. I don't even recall mention of setting it during the rebuild. Am I missing something here?
 
@Qtonic

Mine seems to be fine after rebuild, what I did during uninstall was count the number of rotations when unscrewing clevis, then install onto new MC piston with the exact same distance.

While barbaric and leaves room for error if the 20+ y/o piston is any different than new, it seems to be functioning normal.

For the record my clevis came off the piston threads at 8 and 1/8 rotations.
 
@Qtonic

Mine seems to be fine after rebuild, what I did during uninstall was count the number of rotations when unscrewing clevis, then install onto new MC piston with the exact same distance.

While barbaric and leaves room for error if the 20+ y/o piston is any different than new, it seems to be functioning normal.

For the record my clevis came off the piston threads at 8 and 1/8 rotations.

I did this same procedure and checked pedal height and Freeplay according the the FSM when I was done and did not have to perform any additional adjustments.
 
Has anyone found the master cylinder plunger rebuild to fix pump/accumulator issues. My 98 lc 187k keeps throwing low accumulator pressure code with brake light/buzzer. I have replaced the pump's motor and accumulator's tube/spring/o ring ... Problem goes away for about a day then returns. I've ordered a pump and accumulator but am wondering if I should do the master rebuild while I've got the assembly out. I have no pedal issues and the brakes function fine as far as I can tell besides the alarm/codes/warning light.
 
What is your booster motor run time from full evacuation of accumulator to stop?
Is booster motor running often, even when you've not touched the brake pedal?
 
Depends, sometimes short cycles 5 sec on 5 sec off, sometimes runs for 5 min till time out sometimes runs as its supposed to for 30-40 sec ...

Generally since I last had it apart it seems to run as long as it is supposed to but more often than I would expect.

Specific to your question I have not evacuated it since I last had it apart (except at the beginning of the bleed process) to check the run time ... At the beginning of the bleed process it ran for 5 min till time out. Per fsm I repeated the evac again because it ran more than the specified 30-40 sec. It still ran 5 min till time out. I can evac the accumulator tonight to see what it does.
 
FSM states re bleed if not within 30-40 seconds. I find more often than not after a bleed (flush job), I've got a leaky bleeder or two. The bleeder sometimes need a little more torque than factory spec. If I hit say 12ft-lbf of torque and still bleeder is leaky, I replace the bleeder.

Leaks can be at bleeders, lines, calipers or master. They can be very very small leaks, and test will run to say 41 or 45 seconds. Good test result is usually 35 seconds.

If no leaks, you may have a failing accumulator (one possibility). I've not had to deal with that yet, but have read about some that have. The nitrogen charge just goes bad sometimes.
 
Also I see form another one of your threads you have been through a lot with the flare nuts. Would you happen to know the size of the flare nut where the brake line comes out of the booster/master cylinder assembly? One of my flare nuts is in rough shape and may be the cause of a very slow leak.
 
I just checked the run time after evacuation. I tested three times.
1. 41 seconds no brake light/warning noise
2. 45 seconds no brake light/warning noise
2. 1 min 25 seconds with several short instances of brake light/warning noise

Not sure what this means, I will check closely for leaks tomorrow. One of my flare nuts is sketch and I will probably remove, replace, and re-flare but can't locate the size. One post suggests 10mmx1.0 but no one was able to confirm.
 
What brake fluid did you use and how much to flush?
Do you have good pedal feel?
Why did you replace the motor in the first place, because it ran to long?
Do you have a rusty undercarriage?

Could the leak be internal master cylinder requiring the rebuild or just where the brake line attaches?
Leak(s) Could be anywhere.
Also I see form another one of your threads you have been through a lot with the flare nuts. Would you happen to know the size of the flare nut where the brake line comes out of the booster/master cylinder assembly? One of my flare nuts is in rough shape and may be the cause of a very slow leak. .
I don't seem to have receipt around,, I'll keep looking and post size if I find.

If not leaking don't worry about that flare nut. If it is and you do want to re-flare rather than just getting a new line with nut. Cut it off by sliding flare nut back and just cut tip of line, so you save as much line as possible. Then take flare nut to a brake line builder. He'll have assortment of flare nuts. Parts store do also, but builder usually have better.

I just checked the run time after evacuation. I tested three times.
1. 41 seconds no brake light/warning noise
2. 45 seconds no brake light/warning noise
2. 1 min 25 seconds with several short instances of brake light/warning noise

Not sure what this means, I will check closely for leaks tomorrow. One of my flare nuts is sketch and I will probably remove, replace, and re-flare but can't locate the size. One post suggests 10mmx1.0 but no one was able to confirm.
Interesting the time of test keeps climbing. Anyway before we go there check hard for leaks.

Remember to actively and aggressively use brakes with key on, just before inspecting for leaks.
 
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Brake fluid: just using cheap dot4 synthetic from walmart. I use about 64 oz each time I flush the system.

Pedal: has always felt great even before I replaced the pump. (makes me think it isn't the master cylinder o rings since most people who did the rebuild on this thread had pedal issues)

Pump Motor: replaced due to Brake Alarm/Light/Techstream codes for low accumulator pressure and another about the pump. I did not replace the accumulator, I have a motor/pump/accumulator coming from a junkyard.

Rust: yes, I'd say mild to moderate based on the range of photos I've seen here. On the lines specifically there are spots of surface rust here and there, seems like rust has developed beneath the protective coating, I plan to expose all these area by removing the coating on these spots and treating everything annually with fluid film. The brake hoses are cracked but not leaking. Thinking I should replace these when I do the pump/motor/accumulator but not looking forward to dealing with siezed flare nuts.

There does not appear to be any leaking around the flare nut. I'll hold off on it for the moment. I inspected everything yesterday and tightened down things a bit more but still getting the Alarm/Light off and on. One of the bleeders looked like it might have a very very slow leak but I kind of doubt it. I'm going to check it again today after stomping on the pedal a bit. Yesterday I took it for a drive before I checked it. Probably not a great idea to be driving this thing...

One other thing I noticed on two occasions.... Say I'm going for a 20 min drive, the first 5 min stop and go with the light/alarm going on and off loosely associated with braking, then for 10 min I'm not braking at all and there is no alarm/light, then the last 5 min it is stop and go again but this time no light alarm. I did this drive twice with the same result.
 

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