Replacing brake fluid and bleeding brakes on a GEN II Prius without Techstream

Excellent write up.

 

Good job, buy why make life so hard?

Seriously, if you are going to DIY, just get mini VCI w/ a hacked copy of Techstream from Amazon or ebay. Obviously you'll need a laptop as well.

Hate to rain on your parade, but you will have to redo your brake flush as it's incomplete. According to Galaxee (a very helpful Toyota Service Tech here on PC), the Prius brake system contains just under One Gallon of DOT3. See post #1: What services you need and what you don't | PriusChat. You have 3 quarts of old fluid still in the system.

You could have done all 4 wheels in under 40minutes by yourself. Helps if you have a vaccum bleed tool for use on the front brakes.

I have read on here, that dealers charge $100 for this.

 

Great write up and follow up comments. I have a mini VCI w/ techstream and I'm going to replace the brake fluid in my 2008 gen II. Obviously, I don't need to jumper the port. Are there any other differences using a mini VCI vs this write up? How do you get the full gallon out of the system? Bleed more out of each wheel cylinder? Thanks in advance.

 

I have to do some brake bleeding because my front calipers need replacing due to uneven wear on the brake pads. Anyone know if there are any extra steps involved? Or is it just as simple as swapping the brake lines from the old caliper to the new ones during step 14?

 

Before you start replacing calipers, do you know they're bad? If one caliper is not releasing it could be due to the slide mechanics being gummed up and not letting the caliper release. I'm assuming you're thinking the caliper piston is sticking due to bad fluid and debris building up in the lines. That may not be the case.

Replacing front calipers on a Prius is not a simple job unless you can exercise the brakes to fill those calipers with fluid. You'll need a way to do that. A mini-VCI should do that, it's about the least expensive way I know of to do it.

I hope someone else may chime in if I'm wrong.

 

Well, I just had winter tires put on at a place called Tire World and they said that since the calipers were causing uneven wear the needed to be replaced with the brake pads.

I've thought about a mini-VCI, but since the original poster of this thread said it was possible to bleed the brakes without one, I was going to go ahead and try the jumper wire he suggested. Sounds like it's a pain to get Techstream installed on a modern computer. Though if someone knowledgeable can explain to me the benefit of using one, I may be willing to go through the trouble.

 

if you just swap the brakes line to a new caliper the abs will detect a fluid leak and the relays slam shut and you will have no brakes.
And alot of dash lights lit. Prius brakes are very tricky. You have to at the least remove relays as stated in the OP's post.
Most use mini vci techstream to manipulate the relays like the dealer does.

If you don't know what your doing it usually results in a flat bed ride to the dealer. Hilarity quickly ensues upon your wallet.

 

Alright, after looking into Techstream a bit more I learned that it also allows me to change settings in the car, like unlocking all of the locks with one button push instead of two. So I revived an old laptop and installed a 32bit version of Windows 7 on. I bought a $25 Mini VCI cable, installed Techstream, and happily changed the settings.

One question I still have is I heard that you need to keep the keys away from the Prius while working on the brakes. Is that case with brake bleeding as well? Because in step 4 he says to press the power button twice, but I can't do that without my car alarm going off.

 

PLEASE : Reread all of the above instructions (and any warnings) just to be safe.

If you are only on step #4, you should be ok with hitting the power button twice (foot off brake) while the fob is near.

After you make it past step #11 (removal of two relays) you should also be safe with still having the fob near the vehicle.

Though I've yet to do it myself, you should be able to bleed the brakes from within techstream using onscreen step by step instructions.

 

SUCCESS! Just got the new calipers and pads installed and the brake bleeding went smoothly!

I went ahead and put my keys inside the house while I replaced the calipers. (I still had the old calipers connected to the brake line, though) As per your suggestion SFO, I removed the relays right before grabbing my keys. I heard a click when I opened the doors, but no brake actuator noise. I turned on the car by pressing the power button twice without pressing the brake, connected Techstream, and started up the Air Bleeding utility. I choose Usual brake bleeding, and I was happily surprised that it let me choose which line to start bleeding first. It then walked us through steps, 14-15 zak.kapoor listed above. Once it said to start bleeding, I disconnect the brake line and connected it to the new caliper. Techstream added one more step saying to stay in the car for 2 minutes before opening the door. We then heard a click and proceeded to the next caliper

One slight mistake I made was not transferring the other brake line to the other new caliper at the same time as the first one. So when my friend started pumping the brakes it caused the other old caliper's piston to fully come out. But since I was replacing the caliper anyway it didn't matter. It just caused some extra brake fluid to spill out when I set down the old caliper. I repeated the processes for the other brake line and there were no warning lights that came on in the dash!

So if you have access to a 32bit version of Windows, then I would highly recommend getting a cheap version of Techstream with a Mini VCI cable. It's way cheaper than a $200-$300 laptop with it already installed on Windows XP. Plus you get to read error codes and configure car settings!

 

Great write up and worked a treat when I replaced a rear caliper on my wife's Gen2.
No software required and no error codes. Thanks, really appreciated

 

This is an excellent write up, thank you. re: @Billy Hansen caliper episode, I encourage everyone to read Hobbit's exemplary description of the care of sliding pins: Brake service
I have found that the sliding pins often stick and the inner pad wears down much faster.

 

Would anyone verify the hex bolt size on a 2005 Prius for the brake bleeder?

 

How do I save these posts and comments so I can retrieve it w(en log back in? May be stupid question but I spend allot of time searching for threads I’ve read and need to refer to.
Thanks

 

Its called a BOOKMARK.
Your web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc) has the ability to save the web pages that you like/visit often, for easy/fast retrieval.

As you find PriusChat threads that you like or find useful, BOOKMARK them. Now you will be able to instantly pull-up the thread w/o having to do a search.

 

Great question actually, and I wish there was a better answer.

Whenever you post to a thread there should be a record of it here : https://priuschat.com/search/member?user_id=142229

You can change your alert settings here : https://priuschat.com/account/alert-preferences

It is possible to follow threads that you haven't posted on, by clicking the 'Follow Thread' link in the upper right corner of the first posting where the thread was initially started (page 1). Depending on your alert settings, you should be alerted when there is activity on a 'followed thread'.

Though I could be mistaken, there is no way to separate 'watched threads' from contributed threads, its all one big mess of history.

 

Some assumptions regarding what you have, but you could print what you need, or print to pdf, or highlight the text, copy, and paste into a text document.

Lots of ways to skin a cat.

Bookmark is my first option too, but when I really want to squirrel things away, I use the more permanent methods. Videos for example: there are ways to download them to your hard drive.

 

Thank you Prius pals for your reply’s.....Bookmarks it’s is!!!!! Have a great day

 

There is a procedure for brake bleed without Techstream in the third gen Repair Manual, sadly haven't found similar in the second gen Manual.