1. Home
  2. General Toyota Forum
  3. My earlier complaint about 99 Camry brake light coming on

My earlier complaint about 99 Camry brake light coming on

Well, today, it didn't come on at all, however I took it into the tire/brake shop I usually deal with: Tire Warehouse in Edmonton where I have known the owner for about 25 years.

All they could find after thoroughly checking out the system was a slightly reduced brake fluid level which they topped off. Brake fluid hade been replaced about 5 years ago. 148,000 kilometres/90,000 miles on vehicle. Disk brakes all around. 25% wear left on rear pads. 60% left on front pads.

Thanks to Ray who was the only one to comment. A lump of coal to the others... unless, of course, they assumed that Ray had aced it so why clutter up the thread, eh?

Reply to
Sharx35
Loading thread data ...

Did they top it off or just bring it up a bit? I ask because if it is now full again it will overflow when the pads are replaced and the pistons are retracted back in to the calipers.

Reply to
Daniel who wants to know

Well, it's now between the MIN MAX lines on semi-transparent reservoir. At the present rate of pad wear, it's likely to be at least 2 years before any pad changing.

Reply to
Sharx35

A competent mechanic will check for that variable after replacing the pads.

Reply to
JoeSpareBedroom

Yes, that would be my expectation. Hopefully, it would be a "given".

Reply to
Sharx35

A competent mechanic will remove fluid from the master cylinder before reseating the caliper pistons to remove the pads or bleed the calipers as they are reseated.

Reply to
Mr.E

It is not necessary to reseat the caliper pistons to remove the pads, and only an INcompetent mechanic would remove fluid from the master cylinder or bleed the calipers as they are reseated. Caliper pistons are reseated when the calipers are rebuilt but since caliper rebuilds are normally done on bench on a caliper void of fluid, there is no fluid to bleed.

Caliper pistons are retracted back into the caliper so that the caliper fits over the thicker replacement pads that were installed, and it is not a good idea to open the bleed valves while doing this because there is a good chance that air will be sucked into the caliper. It would only be necessary to remove fluid from the brake fluid reservoir (not the master cylinder) if fluid was added to the reservoir prior to the brake pad replacement or if you are going to flush all of the brake fluid.

Reply to
Ray O

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.