Front and rear brake job on 2004 gen 2?

there are a lot of misconceptions about prius brakes.

1) there is no such thing as a brake job

2) who told you that you need one

3) are they making unusual sounds or behaving differently?

4) rust on prius rotors is meaningless

5) they should be inspected by a qualified mech for pad thickness, rotor runout and etc. toyota has specs for all these things

6) if you do need work, the mech must be aware that opening the drivers door activates the brake actuator. so a hybrid shop is a good idea, but not absolutely necessary.

7) pricing is all over the place. it is not a more difficult job than a non hybrid

8) don't go to chains like like muffler and brake shops. go to a dealer, or try to find a reputable sae certified mech.
9) all the best!

 

Interesting, I had never heard that before. Does that mean the car will not roll freely in Neutral if the door is open? If so, that would make pushing the car by oneself very difficult! That isn't something I do frequently of course, but I have needed to do it on various cars at least half a dozen times.

 

It only means that if the door is opened, the brake ECU will take a quick look at the brake fluid pressure stored in the accumulator. If it needs some pumping up, the pump will run to bring it back to pressure. You can hear this happen if you open the driver's door after the car has been sitting, long enough for some accumulator pressure to have bled off.

There's a widespread misconception that this means the car is applying the brakes. It isn't. It's just checking the stored pressure and pumping it back if necessary, so the brakes will be ready to apply when you drive off.


On the other hand: there is another thing that can happen. I have to speak for Gen 3 here because I'm not sure if the details are the same for Gen 2. Gen 3 conducts a brake self-test a couple minutes after power-off, just before the brake ECU goes to sleep. You can also hear this happen in a Gen 3 if you power it off and just sit quietly for a couple minutes and listen. You will hear the valves in the brake actuator click, and some soft 'squish' noises of flowing brake fluid and clamping brakes. The pump will also run, if the pressure was low enough that the self-test calls for it.

So while nothing immediately happens at the wheels when you open the door and wake the brake ECU up, things can get messy when it does that self test before going back to sleep, if you have the brakes disassembled then.

 

I was told by my service rep that I needed a "brake job" when my 2004 Prius was a few years old. I had brought it in for a "chirp" when the brakes were depressed. I asked to see the service manager and told him that the "chirp" occurred when brakes were actuated and the car was not moving so it has to be an hydraulic issue. He had the brakes bled and that resolved the issue. after 288k miles and 12 years I upgraded to a 2016 Prius, but the 2004 was still operating with the original pads, shoes, drums and rotors. Make certain that the brakes actually need service before spending the money.

JeffD

 

braking systems are made up of many parts. you don't always need all of them replaced at the same time.
it's the same as a 'tune up'. what does that consist of? you need to know.

 

can you speak more about those messy parts, and how to undo problem?

 

Much better to avoid than undo. Essentially, a hydraulic piston can pop out if your brake calliper is off the rotor (front) or drum is off (rear). At least on 3rd gen, I found safest approach was to disconnect 12 volt neg before starting, and when all is reassembled pump brake pedal several times before 12 volt reconnect.

Toyota is VERY vague regarding brake service, both in maintenance sched and repair manual. For various reasons, I glean they expect (and it’s worthwhile) to do in-depth brake inspection every 30k miles or tri-yearly. This is inspection and cleaning, not knee-jerk replacement of pads/rotors.

OP appears to be gone, but anyway, info from repair manual attached. First attachment is main one.

 

If diy rear brakes, cylinders, shoes done without software, nor disconnecting 12v nor relays, and codes afterwards not read before clearing, and abs or actuator sound appears to be happening longer, more often... like every 4 or 6 pressings on brakes, then would codes be thrown if air in system?
had brake fluid change afterwards at dealer, but they only did the short bleed, not the entire system bleed which i asked for..
stating that was too complicated... #$%^.

 

Paging @ChapmanF

 

That doesn't sound to me like unusually often.

 

UPDATE
Jan 2023, brakes still going strong! 2004 just hit 200k!
thank you!

 

My 2004 Prius went 288k miles on the original brakes. I traded it in so I don't know how much longer the brakes lasted.

JeffD