Mobile Mechanic San Francisco area Recommendation?

What are you looking to do?

 

Did dealership give you a quote? They'll typically charge around $100~125. If it's a lot more, try some others.

It takes about an hour to DIY, plus the time to raise the car and remove wheels. Two pints of Toyota DOT3 fluid is what I use, costs around $7 (CDN) per pint for me.

Have you watched @NutzAboutBolts video? Very helpful.

You do need to be careful, have the car in "invalid mode". Don't just hire some cowboy who thinks he/she knows better.

Some Repair Manual info attached. Note, they recommend to start with front/right go counterclockwise:

 

Brake Fluid gone bad already?
How many miles and how old is your Prius?

 

Did you upgrade the 2010, or just add a Prime to your fleet?

 

You've posted this thread in " Prius Plug-in > Prime Main Forum (2017-Current) "

 

The real question: When if ever were your front brake pads changed out for new ones ?


Rob43

 

OK.

Brake Pads:
There's a reasonable chance that your front brake pads have never been replaced. "If" you have a brake pedal that has a bit more travel than you'd like, most likely it's due to pads that are near the end of their life.

Brake Fluid:
Let's assume that you have the original brake fluid. Yes, you are realistically past the lifespan of your brake fluid. So change it too.

Rotors:
Most likely they're within spec...


Rob43

 

Brake going down is likely due to water/air getting into the brake fluid? Pad wear should not effect pedal travel or firmness.

Toyota USA recommends a "fuller" brake inspection, every 30K miles or tri-yearly. They don't really spell out what that entails, apart from a mention rotor inspection in the schedule:




My interpretation is, that's a good time to pull off the caliper, clean/lube the pads and caliper pins.

Toyota USA says nothing about brake fluid changes. However, Toyota Canada has, in the last decade, started saying to change it, tri-yearly or 48K kms (30K miles). This is an excerpt from the 2014 model year schedule:



Note too the Canadian schedule for brake service ("fuller" inspection) is 32K kms or 24 months. That said, I stick with the aforementioned US interval, we are low miles, months invariably come first. Also, our car is garage stored, and our winters are relatively mild.

Nice schedule btw, I'll attach a pdf, it's an excerpt from the full Owner's Manual Supplement. With the advent of 4th gen, that same publication has completely deleted the service schedule; you have to go online to see it, and not graph format, just one service interval at a time...

For a counterpoint: Honda Canada, for as long as I can remember, recommends brake fluid change tri-yearly, regardless of mileage.

 

Oh, it most certainly does.


Rob43

 

Why?

 

I want you to think about this...



Rob43

 

Less able to dissipate heat?