I have been driving my 4runner i recently bought for 3wks now, in that time i have put about 3,000 miles on it. The brakes felt fine when i bought it and i started to feel a slight drag or pressure last week, i continued to drive it, today i was driving and it would come to a complete stop on a downhill slope if i wasnt on the gas, i was giving 3/4 pedal and going 40mph. when i got to my dads house i stopped and parked it there and went to dinner with him. came back and the brakes were ok until they heated up again and it was the problem all over again. I have heard that the brakes on these are prone to warping, is this what i am experiencing, i assume new rotors are in order and my pads are gone anyway. I am kinda pissed my truck is already haveing a problem and i have only had it 3 wks. anyway explain to me whats happening plz

 

I'd check to see if the rear seals are leaking, look for wetness on the back side of the rear brakes or around the edge of the drums. If they are leaking, the oil gets on the shoes and causes them to bind on the drums, especially when hot...

Doug

 

probably should have said its the front disks, they were red hot after a 5 min drive im sure its the fronts

 

what do you mean they were red hot? could you actualy see them red in color? smoking? burning smell? Your calipers could be frozen (stuck) thus making the pads grip the rotor causing warpage, brake fade, etc...

 

yes they were red hot, u could smell burning horribly, im probably taking it to a brake place tomorrow and letting them deal with it i just hate paying ppl to fix things for me, i know i could do it just how long it would take me and i dont have time and need it monday

 

Wow, first time I've heard of front brakes locking up like that. Do you live in the rust belt? Make sure the slider bolts are lubed up with anti-sieze when you put it back together.

If your rotors weren't warped before, I wouldn't be surprised if they are now. Let us know what happens.

 

hmm, i too haven't heard of front brakes freezing stuck like that, but its not to say it cant happen. Maybe the pistons in the calipers got overextended, or just from age/conditions it was driven in could have let to them to getting stuck gripping the rotor.
If your going to fix it yourself, pull the calipers off and check the conditon of the rubber seals around the pistons. If there is any leakage, cracked/torn boot-youll need to either rebuild or get some re-manned calipers along with new pads and rotors.
Or you can pull the calipers off, disconnect the brake like, take out the pads, and push the pistons back into the caliper. if they dont go back - theyre frozen, if they do, they could be fine and just need a little movement back and forth to get them working properly again. good luck.

 

well i took it to les shwab and they gave me a estimate 2 grand needless to say i got a second opinion and took that. turns out the stupid (insert word(s) here) po that i bought it from took it to a weekend mechanic that put power steering fluid in the brake reservoir, yes it has me baffled, wth was this guy thinking so my mechanic said worst case scenario is 1100 buck, less the shwab but still alot. k im done with my rant lol

 

holy crap. sorry bro. I bought a car once and not even 2,000 miles later the engine crapped out on me. I know the feeling.

 

so, i know the wrong fluid isn't good, but what do they have to do to get it back to good again? $1100, does that mean an entire new brake system front and rear?, lines?, anything with ABS? that's crazy! sorry to hear.

 

everything abs system and all, mechanic is a personal friend and isnt charging labor, it sucks

 

$1100? that's ridiculous. do it yourself, it's not that hard. what's the worst case? two new calipers, new pads, new rotors, new shoes/springs, and new rear cylinders. maybe a couple of drums. shouldn't be more than a few hundred bucks. flush the lines out well.

 

new abs system, new lines, new pads, new rotors, new master cylinder and the shop has already tore it down

 

theres no need for new lines unless they're leaking - just flush the system. ABS system? so are you saying theyre replaceing your brake booster and all the hard lines? wow, that suks man - sorry to hear that.

 

Just do a complete flush on the system with a power bleeder and see where that gets you. I wouldn't go replacing everything until I at least did that. You'll need to run alot of fluid through the system but it could save you alot of cost if it worked. Anyway, try that first!!!

 

My 99 tacoma had the same thing happen. My front calipers were locking up. The more i used the brakes, the more it locked up. It seemed like the caliper was able to get the fluid, but not release it as fast.

It happened when i was on my home from work this past summer (5 miles in to a 60 mile trip). I actually discolored my rims from the heat. I had to pull over and crack the bleeders just to release the pressure. When i did so, i was almost ran over by my truck cause it creeped foward.

I ended up replacing the:
rotors $30/2
calipers $70/2
pads $20/2
lines $38

What i think happened was one(or both) of the brake lines collapsed.fluid was able to piss into the caliper, but was trapped and could not escape

After doing all the work, which by the way isnt that bad, i still had the flush out the master cylinder cause i had debris "floating" around. No problems since then. Hoped that helps !

 

too late, the truck's at the shop.

 

i got a call yesterday that the parts were coming in this morning and if he figured out what it was it would ne alot cheaper than expected, if not may be a few more days, i hope to have it back tonight but havent heard from him yet