2008 tacoma brake problems

It started when my ebrake light came on maybe a month ago and wouldn't turn off when the ebrake was disengaged. My alternator then died and the truck was sitting for a while, when i fixed it recently i went to drive it the brake was stuck on so i just gave it gas until it released but then i noticed the brake pedal would go down really far before engaging the brakes and then it would stiffen up. Ive been driving it for about a week and then my brakes completely gave out last night while i was driving. I drove it home and looked at it and there was still brake fluid it was at the min line, but it seems like there could be a leak at the rear left brake line (the line wasn’t wet but the leaf spring under it was.

 

Have you pulled the drums off the rear and looked?

 

The brake system on my 06 Tacoma completely crapped out in the driveway of the Toyota dealer I took it to because of issues. Seems like all the brake fluid was draining out somewhere within the system.
No external leaks. Had Master and all related components replaced. I've always been a little less than completely happy with my brake system

 

Brake light on dash would likely indicated low fluid in the reservoir, which is in line with your observation of leaking fluid at the rear.

Assuming you have the vacuum booster, which is a big round thing between the firewall and the brake master cylinder... then there are two separate brake circuits. Losing one would yield the symptoms you describe--pedal goes nearly to floor, but then stiffens up and brakes start working. This just happened to me, but in my case seems to be a master cylinder failure rather than a leak. I recently upgraded to a Tundra booster/cylinder, but went with a cheap aftermarket cylinder and am kind of regretting that. By stopping on gravel with the ABS disabled, I was able to determine that the secondary (rear) brakes had failed. So I had only front brakes, at full power, but only after the pedal traveled nearly to the floor before firming up.

In any case, introducing air into one of the brake circuits, either by letting the reservoir level drop to empty, or through a leaking brake line or cylinder that admits air when you let off the pedal, could cause it to stop working. As could an internal failure within the master cylinder, but based on symptoms reported my guess is external leak. There is a divider in the reservoir, probably around min level, to prevent a leak in one circuit from draining both. So, is your reservoir really full to min level, or is one part of it empty and only the other filled to min? Try adding fluid to find out -- it is hard to read the level by eye in this situation.

My guess is that a leaking wheel cylinder or brake line disabled one of the circuits, and that this has now progressed to a master cylinder failure, perhaps due to the abnormal pedal travel. But I'm not an expert. That said, I'd recommend finding and repairing the leak first, but would probably also replace the master cylinder. You can do most of the repair at home, but will need a shop (or specialty equipment) to bleed the ABS system.

Note that this is based on my knowledge of the vacuum booster system. If you have the electronic booster, I don't know how that works. Good luck.

This is entirely consistent with my experience. The vacuum brake system on these trucks is not confidence inspiring. That's why I eventually swapped to the Tundra booster, which required a bit of work to adapt the lines and brake pedal, but finally provided adequate braking on this truck. Unfortunately the new master cylinder seems to have failed on me -- no leaks, but suddenly no rear brakes. Luckily the remaining functionality got me home.