cant bleed brakes?

so, i think my front right caliper is shot (stuck). BUT in an attempt to be doubly sure we tried bleeding the brakes. nothing. i dont mean like systems full of air, or liquid, just, nothing.

gf's dad has no idea wtf the thing in the top left of this picture is, and neither do i, BUT, its break related. so ummmm ideas? will it inhibit me from bleeding the brakes doing the buddy method? why can i get any fluid even though the reservoir is full?

 

stuck caliper means the brake piston is on the outward travel, and will not go in letting fluid travel from the caliper back to the master. When you drive it does the brake get really hot? if so then caliper is stuck trying to stop momentum.

 

dunno about hot, but i used 3/4's of a tank going about 40 miles one day, and i had to use a rubber mallet to get the caliper off. we tried to pump bleed it and got nothing. resevoir was full, and they were working before is had everything off doing balljoints and what not.

 

The thing in the picture is just the antilock brake system

 

hrm, that doesnt make bleeding brakes any different does it? ive just worked on older vehicles.

im considering renting a pump from autozone.

 

I wouldn't think it would have any bearing on bleeding. but i'm no brake expert

 

Yeah but that ABS shit is tied to just about everything, I fucking hate it...

Only thing I'd suggest is cracking every bleed zirk you can find only because I dont think that your entire brake system (lines to & from master cylinder) are independant of
each other...

 

so, gravity drain ever wheel, then close em, and start on rear right, rear left, front right, and finally front left? pump? all this junk started with a caliper acting up all of a sudden. grrr.

 

Fuck dude, I dunno. I get that pistons in calipers sieze sometimes but dont see how 1 froze up caliper (if in fact thats what it is) will hydro(fluid) lock the whole enchilada, take the whole fucking bleed screw off the troublemaking caliper , maybe plugged. Somewhere in your system it can be breached & normal bleeding can happen, you have hard pedal pressure with no loss ?

 

hard to tell from the pic, but brake fluid is clear, yours looks like oil, invest in a turkey baster
and change it

 

The anti lock brake IS your problem. I have never bled the brake on the tacomas, but other cars I have done. Usually there is some procedure which some times requires special equipment (can't think of the name right now) to move the solenoid valves in the ABS system to the right position so that the you can bleed them. Unfortunately if you can't google it and find some good instructions you will have to take it to the dealer. The ABS system works by opening and closing these valves in that unit on the left based on the wheel sensors and brake pressure.

 

Valves are normally open only close to slow the breaking on the offending wheel when it's active. Bleeding the brakes won't help a stuck caliper.

 

hardly the news i wanted ill have to tow it cause as of right now i have no brakes.

aaaaand the my hubs are still pressed to tight.

 

hmmmm