Don’t hear electric motor and brakes feel very mushy in traffic

[Dirtrider216]

Just today noticed a few things going on with my brakes, sitting at a stoplight with constant pressure from me onto my brake pedal I would catch myself rolling forward and have to push the brakes harder to stop again, it’s gotten to the point today already that I put the vehicle in park at stop lights. As I started paying more attention, I noticed that I haven’t heard the electronic motor sound that usually comes on rather frequently At all today. And just now before getting on the interstate I noticed I could depress my brake pedal all the way to the floor with relatively little effort. No vibrating or shaking when braking but I think once , under longer braking it felt like the brakes were releasing a little bit and grabbimg again.
I have oem 5th gen Brake pads, centric 5th gen calipers and toytec stainless brake lines front and rear which were all installed by a Toyota dealership.
Any thoughts on what my issue could be?

 

[cbailey1523]

First - it sounds like your vehicle is a danger to yourself and others. Get it fixed immediately...

Second, it sounds like you either have air in the system or a bad master cylinder. It's not likely the booster because your problem doesn't present as "hard" brakes.

If you have air in the line that means you probably have a line that's gone to crap and is shooting fluid out. Check for wet spots at your calipers, at the master cylinder, and along the body where the hard lines are.

If that's not the case I would say it's probably the master cylinder.

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[cbailey1523]

Oh - do you have any warning lights?

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[Dirtrider216]

Update: pulled off at a rest area, barely. There’s brake fluid all over my drivers wheel well and leaking from where the hard line connects to the caliper. Currently waiting on a tow truck. No warning lights what so ever came on to signal any issue

 

[cbailey1523]

Well there's your problem

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[Bumbo]

Thanks for the update.

Sounds like the dealer botched the install on your SS braided lines or did the problem appear out of the blue?

 

[Dirtrider216]

Been driving on these brake lines for about 2000 miles. Appeared out of the blue this afternoon

 

[Dirtrider216]

This is the area where the brake is leaking- the hard line connection to the caliper itself and it’s only the front driver side

 

[AuSeeker]

This is the area where the brake is leaking- the hard line connection to the caliper itself and it’s only the front driver side

Easy fix if you have tools and a little ability, you just need to replace the hard line from the caliper to the steering arm and then bleed that caliper, you need to get a 8" hard line with Japanese fittings from the parts store, more brake fluid and line wrenches, the hardest part will be gently bending the new line to shape without kinking it, I had the same issue and had it fix within 30 minutes, cost less than $25. most of that was 2 quarts of brake fluid and I still have one of the quarts I never opened.

You were a luckier than I was, my line broke completely and I lost all brakes within 2 depressions of the pedal, I was 90 miles from home on Thanksgiving night and nothing was opened, I drove all the way home slowing down early, using downshifting and my parking brake at the very last after getting down to less than 10 to 5 MPH, I was lucky that there was little to no traffic all the way home so I only had to stop and or slow down at traffic lights and stop signs, I learned many, many years ago how to drive in this manner if needed, my father taught me, and I would suggest everyone practicing it and learning how to do it so at the very least they can bring a vehicle to a safe stop in an emergency!!

 

[Bumbo]

Regards to repair, the only concern I would really have is running the master dry, I understand the bleeding procedure is a bit more complicated when you introduce air into the master.

At least that is what I gathered from when I did my brake job & upgrades.


On a side note: I hope I never have to experience a loss of brake. Very sketchy.

 

[AuSeeker]

Regards to repair, the only concern I would really have is running the master dry, I understand the bleeding procedure is a bit more complicated when you introduce air into the master.

At least that is what I gathered from when I did my brake job & upgrades.


On a side note: I hope I never have to experience a loss of brake. Very sketchy.

As I posted above, my driver's hardline completely broke at the caliper, after 2 strokes of the brake pedal I had no brakes what so ever, the reservoir for the front was completely empty but not from the 2 strokes but the rest drain out via gravity, after I replace the broken line I only bleed that brake line with the engine off until no air came out, I had a full pedal after that, that was over 3 years ago and my brakes are still good, as long as you don't get air into the ABS valves it's just basic brake bleeding, to get air into the ABS valves the ABS system would have to activate with the reservoir being empty.

I would advise everyone to learn how to stop as I described in my last post, once you learn how to do that you will be able to stop as long as you're not following to close and can think quickly, as I mentioned I learn that many years ago and it's second nature to me to do it as I described if my brake fail, I have use it many times in my younger days in older vehicles, the downshifting at once is the key at the right time and then go to the parking brake.

 

[Dirtrider216]

Easy fix if you have tools and a little ability, you just need to replace the hard line from the caliper to the steering arm and then bleed that caliper, you need to get a 8" hard line with Japanese fittings from the parts store, more brake fluid and line wrenches, the hardest part will be gently bending the new line to shape without kinking it, I had the same issue and had it fix within 30 minutes, cost less than $25. most of that was 2 quarts of brake fluid and I still have one of the quarts I never opened.

You were a luckier than I was, my line broke completely and I lost all brakes within 2 depressions of the pedal, I was 90 miles from home on Thanksgiving night and nothing was opened, I drove all the way home slowing down early, using downshifting and my parking brake at the very last after getting down to less than 10 to 5 MPH, I was lucky that there was little to no traffic all the way home so I only had to stop and or slow down at traffic lights and stop signs, I learned many, many years ago how to drive in this manner if needed, my father taught me, and I would suggest everyone practicing it and learning how to do it so at the very least they can bring a vehicle to a safe stop in an emergency!!

2 things
First, I can do a fair amount mechanically but brakes are something that have always and always will escape me. I could not bleed brakes to save my life
Second, that is a very interesting technique, sounds similar to rev matching when you shift a motorcycle/manual transmission without the clutch I’ll have to try that some time

 

[Dirtrider216]

Having the dealer put on new oem 5th gen calipers pads and rotors for the front to get this done and over with