Low Brake Pedal-Corolla

Have you changed the fluid? It absorbs water over time. The brake fluid and water mix will compress a lot more than fluid alone. I have a '94 DX. I've changed the brake fluid every 5 years and noticed the car brakes with less pedal travel and provides better braking feedback through the pedal both times.

If you have the original brake fluid in there, its overdue for a change.

Have you checked the items you know to check? The only other thing that could cause a low pedal is master cylinder pushrod adjustment, but if the master cylinder has not been touched, then pushrod adjustment wouldn't change.

Not to say that the original fluid isn't overdue for a change, nor that you are actually experiencing the phenomenon you describe, but water (any liquid) is incompressible, at least at the pressures an auto brake system is likely to see. That you have bled any air that had gradually become entrained in the lines is, I think, the more likely cause of what *you* are experiencing.

I would think more likely causes of *Larry's* problem would be warped rotors or (less likely) improperly adjusted wheel bearings (excess runout means more pad travel), anyeurisms in the flexible lines, or movement of brake components, e.g. loose backing plates, wheel cylinders, etc. This assumes that he's correctly performed all of the more likely adjustments he mentioned.

Warped rotors would give a kickback through the pedal.

I am also in favor of replacing the brake fluid. This gets the old crap out of there, and also gets a proper bleeding. Braking improves drstically once that gunky fluid is out of there.

Here is a great article on how to bleed the brakes (On a BMW, but it's basically the same procedure) and also tells you how to make a do-it-yourself bleeder; no need to piss off your wife/GF or bribe a friend with beer. It works great.

One thing I would add would be to get a broomstick (I use an old adjustable cane from my stepfather) and push the pedal down, hold it with the 'cane', tighten the bleeder and let go of the brace, then open the bleeder, and repeat until all the old gunk is out and the system is bled. I used bargain-basement rotors and mid grade pads on my Supra and then bled it this way, and the pedal feels like a new car and it stops on a dime.

Good luck!

Might help to post the URL, eh?

Okay, so I forgot to mention the water VAPOR part of the equation. :-)

Ah. Makes more sense, now.

You SAID you checked the rear brake adjustment, but this is the single most common problem when the brake pedal has a long travel.

The most common cause of long brake pedal travel is worn brake linings.

That and poorly adjusted brakes.

I see no point in adjusting brakes without checking them for wear first though, since wear is what makes them go out of adjustment. I suppose I should advise people to check the brake shoes before adjusting them, but when one assumes as much intelligence as I assume, some stuff goes unsaid. Sorry if I assumed the OP was intelligent.

Rear drum brakes go out of adjustment due to brake lining wear, whether the car has rear drum or disc brakes. Since rear drum brakes need adjustment due to wear, the root cause of long pedal travel would be the worn linings, not the out-of-adjustment condition. The rear brakes auto-adjust by applying the parking brake.

Yes, it a perfect world, the rear brakes would always self adjust (btw, they do this by stopping while going backwards), but the world isn't always perfect.

The brakes can easily wear while the self adjusters take a vacation, and the recovery action is to adjust them manually to get the pedal travel back in line. Certainly, the brakes can wear to the point they require replacement, but replacement isn't always required when the pedal travel is long.

This is a moot point though because the OP said he adjusted the brakes already.

Not all self-adjusting brakes are activated by stopping while going backwards. Some are activated by using the parking brake.

You just made my point that the root cause of the low pedal is wear; adjustment is the remedy. ;-)

The OP said that he knows to check brake adjustment, he did not say that he adjusted the brakes so we do not know whether or not he actually adjusted them or tried using the parking brake to activate the self-adjusters.

That's what I said in the first place, you replied that replacement was in order.

We must be reading more into each other's posts than we actually post. ;-)

I re-checked my first reply to the OP, I said "The most common cause of long brake pedal travel is worn brake linings." I didn't mention that replacement was in order because I never assume that without seeing the parts or knowing the actual lining thickness. If you take a look at my posts, I rarely recommend replacing parts. I usually recommend checking parts.