Weak brakes or normal?

J

johnathanng

New member
I have a 2005 4runner sport edition, and when i brake i notice that i have to press the brakes about 25% in before there is any response. When i asked people about it their repsonse was "its old, its suppose to be like that" or "its a bigger car, its like that" so i didnt give it much thought. However, after driving my uncles Honda Odeyssey ( a pretty big car) or his mitsubitshi galant (old car) or even my friends 1988 ford xlt lariat (really old big car) none of their brakes seem to be as bad as mine. Since my 4runner got into a minor accident ( i got rear ended) ive been driving quite a few rentals, like a jetta, altima and my brothers TSX, when i got back in my 4runner, the brakes were horrible compared to every other car i mentioned. My uncle said the brakepads were fine and the rotors were good, so i wanted some feedback to see if any of your 4runners are like that, and if not, what could be the problem. Thank you
 
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Try bleeding the brakes next and see if that does anything. Mine were feeling a bit spongy so I bled them and added fresh Valvoline fluid which seemed to help.
 
You can't compare your 4runner to other different vehicles since they would all have different brake pedal feels...what you need to do is compare it to another 4runner. With that said, perhaps you might need to replace the brake fluid and bleed the brakes?
 
what exactly is bleeding the brakes?
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When ever pads are replaced there's always a chance to introduce air into the brake system. This needs to be removed. And you do this by bleeding.

But usually when you have a lot of travel in the brake pedal before they engage is NOT air. With this truck it couple the calipers. Specifically two pistons on the same side of caliper are stuck. Thus causing that caliper to travel more before the brakes engage.

Did Toyota fix this design/manufacturing flaw in the 5th gen 4runners? 4 sets of front calipers and counting.
 
You may want to check the pad retaining pins. I've seen a bunch of them rust up and make the brakes do exactly what you describe. There is also a chance of a seized piston in a caliper too.
 
a pal had this same issue, took it to a service place, and they claimed they adjusted the pedal..............the brakes are now ok now.light touch and it holds....never heard of adjusting the brake pedal to resolve brake travel issues......is this procedure correct?
 
earthrealm said:
a pal had this same issue, took it to a service place, and they claimed they adjusted the pedal..............the brakes are now ok now.light touch and it holds....never heard of adjusting the brake pedal to resolve brake travel issues......is this procedure correct?
Click to expand...

There isn't much adjustment on the hydraulically assisted system the 4th gens use. I played with mine when my old one was failing, it either ended up partially engaging the hydraulic system (which the ABS module was not happy with) or being too loose.

These are different than most conventional braking systems, they have far more force than a simple vacuum booster system. There's a built in amount of pedal slack that combines with the extremely consistent pedal travel which is very disorienting for driver's not accustomed to these types of systems. What I mean by consistent is that no matter where you are pressing on the pedal, be it 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 of the way down the amount of force required is almost the same through out the entire pedal travel. In fact in an emergency stop where you slam your foot on the brake you can push the pedal all the way down; but the 4Runner will STOP and throw you into the windshield (particularly if you snap it hard and fast as the system provides additional hydraulic force on the brakes it seems.) This causes many people to feel as though the brake pedal is "soggy" when in reality if you learn the vehicle you can feel when the brakes start to bite around 1/4/-1/3 of pedal travel.

In regards to the OP's concern, he needs to drive another 4th gen to compare it with. My stepfather's LX470 (very literally just a re-badged 100 Series Land Cruiser) has a far more stiff feeling pedal, even though his is a similar hydraulically assisted system, its far stiffer feeling (not sure why his is set-up differently in terms of pedal feel to be honest with you.)
 
I've seen a bunch of them rust up and make the brakes do exactly what you describe.
4ce5.jpg
 
[MENTION=100496]blackworks[/MENTION], am not sure i got you right.
so you are saying its possible to adjust the brake pedal to reduce pedal travel?
note: the brake was holding before the adjustment, just that it travelled more before holding, now with just a light touch, it holds ....... trying to understand exactly what the techie did, and if its safe
 
earthrealm said:
[MENTION=100496]blackworks[/MENTION], am not sure i got you right.
so you are saying its possible to adjust the brake pedal to reduce pedal travel?
note: the brake was holding before the adjustment, just that it travelled more before holding, now with just a light touch, it holds ....... trying to understand exactly what the techie did, and if its safe
Click to expand...

You can adjust it some. In my experience, there wasn't a whole lot of adjustment to play with on my old unit; nor did adjustment do anything beside slightly decrease travel required before the pads felt like they were biting (pedal effort remains the same due to the stronger assisting force of the hydraulic pump. )
 
Last edited:
About 3 months ago I replaced the front calipers (AGAIN) and shoes...and the rear shoes. Did a fluid flush....

Brakes are like new.
 
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