Spongy Brakes

Hey Guys,
I am having a problem with my 2016 Tacoma. I had my rear brakes replaced about 4-5 months ago. Shortly after the left rear wheel bearing went bad and had that replaced. One to two weeks later my brakes started feeling spongy on occasion. I changed out the Master Cylinder thinking that was for sure the problem. I bench bled it before I installed it as you should. The problem b=did not go away. So I figured the entire system should be bled out. I took it to my local Pep Boys and they bled the brakes with their "machine". It worked for like a day. I took it back to them and they rebled the system again. This worked for a day.

I then took the truck to a local mechanic he bled the brakes and adjusted the rears and used his computer to bleed the ABS. Still spongy.

The truck then went to Toyota and they called me about 3 hours later and said they couldn't find a problem. I told the service manager over the phone what I had done to this point and he suggested doing a "gravity bleed" $197 later, same issue.

Today I "reverse bled" my brakes hoping this would be the resolution but it was the same result.

Does anyone know what else I can do/check? My wife drives this truck everyday for work. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

By spongy brakes, are you meaning that the pedal dives into the travel a bit before the brakes are applied? Or that you aren’t having the braking power you should have?

Are you leaking fluid anywhere? Or has your fluid level went down at all? I’d crawl under and look at at least each wheel, at the calipers and wheel cylinders, at flex hoses and even fittings for the hard lines.

you mention your rears were supposedly adjusted. I would double check by hacking up the rear of the truck, taking the wheels off and then spinning them by hand. You should typically hear a light dragging. I like to adjust them out several more clicks beyond that. For any of these trucks, including older tundras, 4 runners, etc, proper shoe adjustment to the drum is single-handedly one of the largest factors in brake pedal height.

 

So if I am sitting at a red light, the pedal will drift to the floor. so when I mentioned spongy it feels like air in the system but after 4-5 bleedings there is none present. There are no leaks at any of the wheels or the master cylinder. Could it be a bad caliper? I am not a brake expert

 

That’s very weird. A pedal that drifts to the floor like that has something to do with the system losing pressure whether it by something leaking or by there being air in the system. When the pedal goes to the floor at a red light, does the truck start to drift forward as if there is no brakes at all? Do you have to pump the pedal to stay stopped?

 

ABS bleed is next, sucks the dealer charged you for a useless gravity bleed when you need a techstream commanded bleed.

I had one last week similar to yours, there was issues with rust on the truck, but it was a 2006.

I noticed the front brakes were rusted, hardware in the rear was loose etc.

But being a california car, the air in the ABS system makes the most sense next.

How many clicks does the ebrake need to stop the truck?

 

It has 5 Clicks. The dealer said"they used the computer to get the air out" but i'm not sure they did

 

I just went through the same thing. I’m not sure that I believe that they did

 

Yep that's pretty much what happens. The weird part is that it's an intermittent problem. Some times it feels normal but most times it doesn't

 

it sounds to me more like a brake booster issue if the master cylinder was already replaced

 

On old cars when the pedal drifted to the floor at a stop it was usually the master cylinder. You could make the pedal go down quicker by lifting your foot just a bit and then stepping into it.

Perhaps you got a bad replacement.

 

Was the master a parts house reman per chance?

 

Me thinks this is a possibility.
Remember, there is no rule that says a new part is a guaranteed good part.

 

Mine also drifts down but not to the floor. If i sat there long enough and pushed hard i bet it will go to the floor.
Has done this for quite a while and i did notice it but have done nothing. First post i have seen here on the exact same thing mine does.

 

I replaced the master cylinder two times. O’Reilly Auto Parts gave me a new one because they thought it was possibly the same thing, but to have two fail on the same day would be kinda hard to believe I would think Although not impossible

 

I heard from somebody today that it could possibly be a stuck caliper? Does that sound reasonable?