Frozen Calipers - How many others had this problem?

[abyen]

I have an '07 with 40,000 mi. The dealer just told me I had seized calipers during a recent service. I found it highly suspect since I haven't noticed anything amiss. They said it is very common. The fix is $1500 but Toyota would reimburse 60%.
I decided not to do anything until I actually notice something wrong.
What do you think?

 

[Redstone8]

I have an '07 with 40,000 mi. The dealer just told me I had seized calipers during a recent service. I found it highly suspect since I haven't noticed anything amiss. They said it is very common. The fix is $1500 but Toyota would reimburse 60%.
I decided not to do anything until I actually notice something wrong.
What do you think?

Are you kidding? $1500? Is that price for both sides or just one side? I just had mine done for the front driver side under my extended warranty so it did not have to pay anything, but according to the numbers on the paperwork it would have been just over $400 for parts and labor. So that is why I think $1500 is excessive even if you were replacing both front calipers.

If you have about 40,000 plus miles on the car and you haven't replaced the pads yet then at some point in the not too distant future you are gonna need new pads and either get the rotors resurfaced or buy new ones and this is where you will run into some trouble with that frozen caliper because you will not be able to get the new pads in. Keep that in mind. In addition you might not notice anything, at least not now. In my case it wasn't until I was going to change my brake pads that I discovered the frozen caliper. At 42,000 miles the car felt completely normal when braking except I knew the pads were getting worn. An even after putting the old pads back in and driving the car for a few more days with the frozen caliper until I took it to the dealer, nothing felt out of the ordinary even though I was now aware of the issue.

 

[docfeelgood]

This seems to be a very common problem. How about you? Both of my front calipers had frozen inside pistons at approx. 48,000 miles of highway driving. Dealer would not fix - "out of warranty" and quoted me over $800 to fix. I went to an national brand brake shop and it cost me a little over $500. They told me that this is a very common problem!! Outside pads had more then 50% left as did the rear pads. The inside front pads were less then 1/8" thick.

Hey Toyota, you have a problem and should be responsible for the fix!

How about you? Have you had frozen calipers?

Yes. My '04 has just under 74k, and when I tried to replace the pads and rotors, lower piston on the driver side has ceased. I live in south NJ, by the water.

 

[teampwr2]

So I have a question ? theory on the frozen Pistons in Brake calipers.....Those who have had frozen pistons are your 4 runrs 2 wheel drive ?? If they are 4 wheel drive do you ever use 4 wheel drive? More specifficlly ever have ATRAC engage ??/ I Just replaced my STOCK brakes at 53,000 miles Calipers were fine pistons were free and easy....I Have v6 4wd and I 4 wheel Every week and ATRAC and DAC are always hammering away ... my thought is the ATRAC and DAC both Are pounding the brakes and the pistons dont ever go very long without .." the Hammers "" going on /off any thoughts ??? Or Am I Just out in left field ?
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[CJ3Flyr]

Or Am I Just out in left field ?
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Maybe a little but not far I think you might be onto something with the ATRAC/DAC exercising the pistons harder/father than normal braking does is probably a good thing. Good, hard ABS applications do it too.

There's no doubt there's a design/alloy choice issue but periodic, full-travel movement of all the pistons has to help. Just today I rotated my tires and took the extra 6minutes to crack the bleeders and push the calipers all the way in. Not the slightest hint of stuck... The 7th minute was for topping the master cylinder after I pumped the pedal back to firm.

 

[ollie]

Posted this in my original thread but is is buried so: Our truck now needs front brakes again and guess what? More seized calipers! Good times, so much for that "updated" design, Toyota. I guess I should be thankful only that it is only one calper this time...also the truck has only gone another 30,000 miles (first happened at 60,000 kms and now it has 113,000 kms). Sounds like it dragged enough to hose the rotor, wasn't making any noise or pulling either. So the lesson learned is calipers are a regular replacement part on a gen 4 4runner. I know all vehicles have some issues but this is pretty weak, if you ask me. We are preparing to order a new 2010 Gen 5 limited as well and will go ahead but I really hope this issue has been resolved in the new truck.

 

[Atlanta_man]

Was into mine last week and they were OK
85K miles

calipers never changed out on this truck

 

[Jed]

.... We are preparing to order a new 2010 Gen 5 limited as well and will go ahead but I really hope this issue has been resolved in the new truck....

Don't count on it. The 5th gen using the same calipers as the 4th gen. It's just a matter of time before we start seeing these same complaints in the 5th gen forum.

 

[byrden]

Just did the front brakes on my 2005, with about 60k miles. After reading about the caliper issues on here I went ahead and bought a rebuild kit for the calipers. The caliper pistons on the inside had considerably more corrosion than the outside ones, the bottom ones being the worst. My driver side inner/lower piston was just starting to get sticky. I ended up getting a reman caliper to replace that one as the corrosion had eaten up the the sealing surface of the piston. I then took the four best pistons from the two old calipers and made one good caliper with the rebuild kit.

The problem was definitely corrosion related on my truck. It creeps under the dust boots on the pistons and wreaks havoc. Once the corrosion gets under the boot, its a matter of time before the piston will stick. My guess is poor/cheap material selection. The only other car I've owned that had a sticky caliper piston was a '88 Accord and it was 10 years old with 170k miles at the time.

It would be nice if we could get phenolic/resin caliper pistons. It would definitely take care of the piston corrosion issue. I wonder if the 5th gen trucks have them?

 

[Jed]

Just did the front brakes on my 2005, with about 60k miles. After reading about the caliper issues on here I went ahead and bought a rebuild kit for the calipers. The caliper pistons on the inside had considerably more corrosion than the outside ones, the bottom ones being the worst. My driver side inner/lower piston was just starting to get sticky. I ended up getting a reman caliper to replace that one as the corrosion had eaten up the the sealing surface of the piston. I then took the four best pistons from the two old calipers and made one good caliper with the rebuild kit.

The problem was definitely corrosion related on my truck. It creeps under the dust boots on the pistons and wreaks havoc. Once the corrosion gets under the boot, its a matter of time before the piston will stick. My guess is poor/cheap material selection. The only other car I've owned that had a sticky caliper piston was a '88 Accord and it was 10 years old with 170k miles at the time.

It would be nice if we could get phenolic/resin caliper pistons. It would definitely take care of the piston corrosion issue. I wonder if the 5th gen trucks have them?

Yes, corrosion is the problem. It seems that guys who live in Canada or the U.S. snow belt have to deal with seized calipers earlier/more often than guys in the south. I'm from New York and my 4Runner sees a ton of road salt every winter. My lower inner pistons were frozen solid on both sides, so I just replaced both front calipers with remans. It's such a common problem on these 4Runners that I'm sure just about everyone will be affected eventually, even if the vehicles doesn't see any considerable road salt.

And as for the 5th gen, the part number listed for the 2010 matches the part number for the 4th gen, so I'm quite sure Toyota did nothing different with the calipers on the 5th gen.

 

[ollie]

As point of reference, we live in Vancouver, BC which rarely sees snow or freezing temperatures therefore there is little to no salt used on our roads. We do, however, see our fair share of rain so perhaps that's the issue.

As for the Gen 5 calipers having the same issue, I think that is a given so that is something to consider as we look to replace our truck. It is unreasonable for Toyota to assume that a brake caliper should be replaced with each brake job so there it a point in the MDX column for us.

We have 2 kids under 2 so I don't have time for much these days...I had to pay Toyota to install a new caliper, machine the rotors and install the pads, no cheap date!

 

[TechWrench]

Just finished replacing front calipers, pads, and rotors on my '03 with just over 90k. I had replaced pads and rotors at about 50k, and calipers were OK then. This time both inboard pistons on each side were frozen, and because the inboard pistons didn't move, the inboard pads were rusted in place and wouldn't move. Outside pads were almost worn through on both sides, I guess the outside pads were doing all the work. Considering I live in upstate NY, and they use a lot of road salt in winter, I am not that surprised the calipers were toast.

Interestingly, I just did the front brakes on my wifes '91 Honda Accord w/109k because of severe brake shake, and found her front calipers were frozen. This is the 2nd set of front brakes on it, but the first set of calipers.

 

[PA 4Runner]

Not A Good Weekend

Lost half my weekend as I took my 03 4Runner to my local shop for a siezed front drivers side piston; driving home from that repair noticed a pull and shaky steering - so I go back the next day and I'm told the passenger side had siezed. $800 later all is alright but I still have to get the AC fixed (I've got the bad relay switch but my mechanic says the relays working fine)!

 

[e5game]

Frozen Calipers - own3d by the bill

Took my car in for NY inspection and I found out that I have frozen calipers.
Since only one piston was working on each, it damaged the rotors and it worn out the pad unevenly. New calipers + rotors + brake pads + bleeding of the brakes + labor = 2k.
I feel ripped off. This is the first time I regret having my 4Runner.
By the way, this vehicle has always been serviced by dealers and kept up to par with recommend service maintenance by Toyota.
I also have 67K miles.
:dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit::dammit:

 

[Atlanta_man]

Good grief, pretty low mileage for that sort of problem, what year is you 4Runner ?
Is the cause winter road chemicals ?

 

[beeftube]

Good grief, pretty low mileage for that sort of problem, what year is you 4Runner ?
Is the cause winter road chemicals ?

I'm betting it's largely from environments that use heavy road salt -- I'm from Atlanta, too, and rust underneath the vehicle is almost never a problem (grunge and grime is, though, of course).

I dont have any 4Runner experience with the calipers, but I did purchase a 2001 Tacoma several years back from a guy up in NJ. I'll never buy a car from up north again. I went to change the brake pads and the retention pins were so cemented in place I had to order new calipers because they couldn't be removed. Tried everything -- WD40, soaking in PB Blaster, a drill, etc.

The shots of siezed calipers in this thread bring back memories of that debacle.

 

[mtskibum16]

Didn't read the whole thread, but my fronts froze too. Passenger front around 90,000 (lower inside piston IIRC) then the drivers side (same piston) at around 100,000. I got the vehicle at 85,000 so who knows if they were replaced before I got it. It's a 2003 V8 Limited. I bought the car in MT and they do NOT salt the roads there and there was actually very little rust on the calipers or underneath the vehicle so I don't think corrosion is necessarily the cause...just a bad caliper design I guess.

 

[joeveto]

Here's what I did...

When I bought my 4Runner with around 35000 on the clock, both rear calipers were frozen. The brake were a total mess. I used this as a negotiating point.

At any rate, the day after I drove it home, I yanked both calipers and disassembled them. I put a piece of wood on the piston and then gave it a nice whack with a hammer. I pulled both pins and gave them a light sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper. Applied some copper grease and reassembled with new pads.

Then I flushed the whole system with fresh fluid. The job took me less than an hour a side from truck up to truck down and cost me around $100.

I now have 56000 miles on my T4R, and the brakes still feel like new.

 

[jacktahoe]

No brake problems here...

I have two 4Runners, a 98 with 250,000 miles and a 04 with 100,000 miles. The 04 goes through pads like crazy(35K miles) , and the 98 tends to warp rotors but not that bad.

My Dad from Wisconsin gave me a used Explorer. Those had frozen calipers. Got one of those IR sensors and measured the temp of my disks...this is a great way to tell if you have a problem and if it is from the regular break or the parking break.

 

[034RUNNER]

I had it happen last year to one of mine on my '03. Not sure why it happened. They don't use salt up here for winter but I am in NY a lot where they do use it. I was at maybe 75k then or so.