lost my front brakes

Discussion in 'Maintenance/Repair' started by metlcutr55!, Oct 12, 2018.

  1. metlcutr55!

    metlcutr55! Newbie

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    1st post here, sure looks like the right place, I hope someone can help me.

    my truck is a 1994 2.4L, std, body lgth looks regular, don't know if there was a short/long bed option. black with grey/silver racing stripes on the side.

    ive had it for 5 years, bought from an old fellow who put 62k on it since bought new in 95, now I have 102k on it. great truck, fits me at 5'6" and 27" inseam, sold my ram because I had to pull to the roadside and crawl across the seat to open the glove. solid frame, will likely get new front fenders, some sheet metal around the rear wheel wells, and both bumpers replaced before winter. and oh yeah, time to replace the timing belt/chain, not even sure which it has, suspect chain.

    maintained by my neighbor who is a good yoda mechanic, tho he likes them from 10 years before.

    so far in ownership, 2 fuel pumps, a new gas tank with the last one, a brake line replacement, and 3 years ago new calipers and rotors and pads of course in the front. all these repairs have been flawless, and id guess the 1st fuel pump was the cheapest one I could find instead of the best.

    live in a small city of 10k folk. pulled into the LH turn lane last week, hit the brakes at 40, NOTHING. pedal was up where it should have been and hard. rather than hammer the Subaru waiting to turn in front of me, I took her over the concrete island to my left (low, about 5" or less) up the other side of the road wrongway for 50', and managed to get her stopped in a store parking lot. folk were watching and most were pretty shocked, one asshole yelled at me "if my kids had been here...…" I yelled back "what if they'd been in the Subaru..." it got worse from there, but he was a big boy and im not, so I gave him a break.

    crawled under, no brake fluid anywhere. got back in, still had pedal. left there as I was 1 miles from my daughters house. brakes worked, but felt very weak, and pedal was nearly same asa before, maybe a little softer.

    got to a safe place to test, hard dirt road, on hard braking rear end locks up, front end leaves no marks in the dirt at all. kinda drivable, but half the stopping power or less.

    took it to my neighbor, we discussed, and pulled the wheels one at a time. nothing unusual looked good. jacked the front up spun the front wheels by hand, hit the brakes and they stopped quickly. checked the rear, same all good. master reservoir full of fluid. took it down the tar road and jammed the brakes. rubber in the rear, not a mark in the front. repeated on dirt road same thing. front wheels stop if jacked off the ground but don't appear to be helping the truck to stop at all.

    time to guess, we guessed master cylinder. put on a new beck arnley, truck behaves exactly the same. with just the rear doing most if not all of the work, im not liking this.

    can anyone help?

    thanks, Ken
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2018
  2. TRUCK ACTION

    TRUCK ACTION Grand Toyotaholic

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    You check the booster??
     
  3. metlcutr55!

    metlcutr55! Newbie

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    booster is the vacuum unit right? seems good. I mean we unplumbed it and replumbed it, seems to be functioning. I don't know if it acts on both front and rear brakes, or if it helps distribute the hydraulic pressure differently to the front vs the rear. been driving truck for a few days, still the same, back brakes fine front not working enough to leave marks on either tar or dirt when slamming brakes on. jack it up, both front wheels can be hand spun then stop upon applying brake.
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  4. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Were the lines bled after changing the MC?
     
  5. metlcutr55!

    metlcutr55! Newbie

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    no, but the lines were full to the top, and fluid was added to the master cyl and allowed to begin to flow thru upon attaching. we were planning on trying this today, but is raining, probably do it mid week . I hold little hope, the old master cylinder was full of fluid to the top before removal. just for the heck of it, it was disassembled, did not appear to be faulty.

    could this vehicle have some sort of front-rear apportioning valve somewhere in the brake lines system?
     
  6. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    It has a LSPV out back but it doesnt affect the front brakes.

    Since the brakes werent bled i have to ask, was the MC bled? Otherwise you introduced a bunch of air into the system and the brake definitely wont work
     
  7. jjmartinez1987

    jjmartinez1987 Member

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    I wanna say if you have hard brake pedal and no brakes that usually means the booster is bad... if your pedal goes to the floor and no brakes that usually means the master cylinder is bad... if you have replaced the master already the lines definitely need to be bled properly. i would start with a proper brake fluid bleed/flush from this point.
     
    Erwin Merida likes this.
  8. metlcutr55!

    metlcutr55! Newbie

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    just cant put together in my head what has happened.

    1) 3 years of great brakes, nothing changed recently

    2) last week hit brakes at 35 or so, pedal was up and firm. no brakes at all. had to island hop and steer into parking lot to miss car in front.

    3) looked under truck no fluid leaks. drove truck a few miles. braking greatly reduced, no "dive" on using them. hard use on road shows front wheels not helping truck stop. leaves rubber in back, nothing in front. even on dirt.

    4) all wheels removed, every thing looks good. jack up hand spin front wheels, they stop. master cyl level checked, full to the top.

    5) booster unplugged and replugged, seems to be working

    6) new master cyl installed. absolutely no change problem is exactly the same. back brakes great, front wont lock up at all, nor does truck dive upon braking. pedal is up and firm as before

    does this booster have 2 "sides" one for the front and one for the back? or does it just boost the master equally?

    we will bleed the front end thoroughly. and ill report back.

    thanks, Ken
     
  9. jetas

    jetas Grand Toyotaholic

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    Bleed all the lines!
     

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