I am not certain what forum I should place this thread in. Maintenance and Troubleshooting or Technical Discussion. Hope I'm making the right guess. I want to change, flush the brake fluid in my Gen. II. I know there have been many posts on the subject of brake bleeding, because I have read a number of them. I am still in the process of learning about the Prius brake system but for now all I want to do is just flush the brake fluid. There is a lot of BS on YouTube, much of it is sketchy, and some of it may be beneficial, but what I would like the communities opinion on, is one procedure that I watched. It seems very simple and if it works, I'll be on my way. Again, I am flushing not bleeding the system. No components have been replaced and there is no air in the system. Procedure: Ignition On, brake pedal depressed, open the bleeders one at a time (RT R, LT R, RT F, LT F) The system pump provides the necessary pressure to move the fresh fluid. That’s it. Oh! There were a couple of incidentals like, keeping an eye on the brake fluid reservoir and a method for keeping the brake pedal depressed. What do you all think? Can it really be this simple? If so, it is easier than bleeding an old traditional system.
Following as I want to bleed and replenish my car with fresh brake fluid. Just acquired recently with 195K and I don't know the history. Front pads look fresh but the rear shoes look thin and need to be replaced. This Prius is my first hybrid. For my Hondas and older Corolla, I've always gravity bled the brake lines.
You can gravity bleed these brake lines too. I've done it a couple of times. If your fluid looks good in your reservoir which generally they all do you can just let it run out of a rear wheel cylinder until it's almost empty Do you see it start to disappear out of the feed tubes. Then let it continue to run out of that side on the rear for another 5 minutes close it off and open the other side let it run about 5 minutes I should put the back with fresh fluid. There's no need to be flushing that would probably do more damage than good reliable to loosen something and get it caught inside the internals of the actuator and then well have a problem there Why? The system stay very clean the pH of the brake fluid will change over time which can be problematic there are test strips for it if it's a big concern Prius doesn't have a lot of problem with overheating brakes and all this kind of stuff and the electric motor breaking does very well so.
No idea. I have always followed "book" procedure. (Combo of scantool, pressure pot for the fronts, and having the system pump through the rears). Try it your way and report back. I guess it should work for a basic flush. Might throw a "hydraulic system fault" code and block that corner if you go too long. Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Curious to read more on this. It's all fun and games until you convince the car it has a leak at one corner. I've previously just disconnected the 12v battery and used a vacuum tool at each brake bleeder to pull fresh fluid through the system. The color shift of the fluid makes it very obvious when the new stuff arrives.
Oh! How I had hoped that the verdict would be, something along the lines of, no problem, I’ve done it that way many times before. The guy in the YouTube video makes it look so easy. He actually bleeds/flushes all four wheels in real time without any problems. 2007 Toyota Prius Flushing the Brake System Without Using a Scan Tool Let’s say this guy is FOS and I end up tripping a code and shutting down one of the wheels. Then what? I am up for testing out this method and then reporting the results back to this community but don’t want to create a problem that can not be resolved with just a reset. My understanding of the Prius/Hybrid braking system is very rudimentary at this time. In fact, it's all from the book with no hands-on experience and I have yet to find material that details the theory of operation. Likewise, the learning curve is pretty steep right now when it comes to the CAN bus and OBDII. Although it has been frustrating at times, this is the first Prius that I have owned and had the time to dink with. I have owned four, counting this one. The other three were purchased off the lot and under warranty. Now I am retired, got more time than money and for the most part I have been enjoying learning about my little Prius.
This is all I do, too, even in the hybrids. Just disconnect the negative battery terminal and do the old-school drain. I use a very handy hand-held suction device and I'm on my 2nd one....let me find it.... (I've tried about half-a-dozen but kept coming back to this one....you can hold the hose over the drain valve with one hand and pump with the other.) You'll see lots of air bubbles as it drains but that's normal....it's NOT letting air in the brake lines. Amazon.com: Mityvac MV8000 Automotive Tune-up and Brake Bleeder Kit, Selectline Hand Pump (MV8010), One Finger Vacuum Release, Ergonomic Design, Gearless Diaphragm Gauge, 4.5oz Fluid Reservoir, 4 Tapered Adapters : Automotive
I have a scan tool with bleeding function but your linked video makes the process seem easier and simpler without needing a helper to pump the brake pedal. Risk seems minimal if you begin the process with cleaning out the old fluid out of the reservoir then top off with fresh clear fluid and not let it run dry during the bleeding process.
Have you looked for the New Car Features manual? That's what it's for. Toyota Service Information and Where To Find It | PriusChat
That method works to flush new brake fluid from the reservoir through to each corner, but it will not completely flush brake fluid through the brake actuator. If you should mess up and cause a DTC to appear, you will need a scan tool to clear the code(s).
Maybe check what a dealership would want for this. Somewhere in $100~150 USD used to be the going rate. I’ve done a couple of brake fluid changes on our gen 3, loosely following the method proscribed the non-Techstream repair manual instruction. IIRC there isn’t a similar instruction for gen 2, it’s Techstream only.
