01 Camry Rear Brake "Adjustment"

Earlier this year I had posted to this group inquiring about adjusting my rear brakes as it seems the pedal has to travel too far in order to bring the car to a complete stop. At the time the vehicle had 36,000 miles so I was pretty confident the front discs and rear drums didn't need replacing. The vehicle now has 42,500 miles and the brake issue is bothering me more than ever. I just had the 3,000 mile interval oil change and the dealer is once again offering to "adjust" the rear brakes for $40. Am I to believe he is just going to use the handbrake for that amount? I don't think so as they have been around for 25 years and have an excellent reputation throughout the area; i.e., not the typical dealer. I understand the rear brakes self adjust and began using the handbrake almost daily since hearing of the self adjusting feature but this has not cured the problem at all. I have also tried the braking in reverse trick with similar results. I am wondering if I should pull the rear tires and try manually adjusting the star wheel and see if this helps. Any thoughts? As a side note the brakes have never been serviced and the brake fluid is at the proper level.

Thanks so much.

-Mark

Reply to
Jetman5467
Loading thread data ...

I'd check your front pads - they can eaily be gone at 40k. The fronts do a good 75+% of the braking so while the rear shoes (if drum) can last 100-150k miles the fronts can go at 30-40k miles easily. Far cheaper to replace them before its metal on metal. Pull the hand brake up 50 or so times to adjust. Yes you can adjust them manually if desired since suspect the handbrake only slightly turns the adjuster. The dealer would manually adjust while he has on the lift --- a quick $40 for him.

Reply to
Wolfgang

Rear brakes adjust backing up . Bad Master Cilinder or low pads.

Reply to
m Ransley

bleed the brakes also.

Reply to
ROBMURR

Same problem with '99 camry with rear drums - the self adjusters don't do the job even though they work fine when tested by pulling the handbrake on slightly with the wheels off. Don't know why they don't adjust properly by applying the handbrake when the wheels are on, but dealers obviously recognize the problem by including a "rear brake adjustment" (they manually adjust the star wheels) with each 24K service and have done so since the very first 24K Service. I usually just do this myself now each year and even so, the rear linings are going to last at least 150 Kiolometeres. Don't know what they changed - my old '87 Camry had basically the same rear brakes and they self adjusted just fine for 12 years (and each set of shoes lasted 100k so they were doing a desireable share of the braking). I wonder if they have changed the proportioning valve setting (and WHY?)

Allan

Reply to
Allan

I went to a Toyota dealer and they told me that my rear brakes needs adjustment. What he did was pull the hand brake and since it was going up so high, he told me that they are misaligned and wanted to charge me $60 to do that.

Also, it seems that when I step on the brake pedal, it would depress quite a distance.

Any thoughts besides forking out $60 to fix it?

Reply to
skewe

There was at least 1 tsb on the proportioning valve to make the rear brakes work harder. Its on Alldata I am sure.

Reply to
ROBMURR

I saw these TSB's too but my dealership (in Canada) denies all knowledge of (or any applicability of) any TSB's on "foreign " databases to cars sold in Canada. I realize SOME might only apply to US made models only, since the Canadian models are shipped from Japan but the dealerships attitude is that nothing on ALLDATA applies to Canada!! Strange though that they added service adjustments required every two years on supposedly self adjusting brakes. Overall, Toyota is great compared to other car manufacturers, but they are not above responding to some problems only when forced to by the much stronger consumer protection regulations in the US and just omitting some TSB's in markets with wimpy or non- existant government consumer protection attitudes (as in Canada).

Allan

Reply to
Allan

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.