Mushy brake pedal

I have a 2011 Tacoma and the pedal feels spongy. I changed the brake fluid new rotors and pads. What else could it be?

 

Bleed the brakes

 

Normal

 

unfortunately true, I had to take mine to a dealership for a BG brake bleed machine finally got it acceptable

 

Bleed the brakes.

Begin with the wheel that is farthest from the Master Cylinder. Then work your way to the shortest. One wheel at a time.

 

I did

 

Make sure your shoes in the rear are adjusted out sufficiently. If they're not, you're moving a lot of fluid on that first push, to get them out to where they have some resistance against the drums, which is when you will build pressure in the system.

 

mine sukd , read my new post under chitty brakes . ended up installing factory pads and discs / rotors . front take-off pads were aftermarket ceramic , with plenty of life left ,dont know what discs were , i purchased truk with whatever was on it... Bottom line is my brake troubles r done. again go read my post of what i went through.....

 

This^^^^^^

 

X2 on the rear shoe adjustment.

How's the parking brake travel? Is it pretty loose?

 

so i changed the front brakes. no luck
change rear shoes. no luck
bleed the brakes. no luck

changed out the front and rear brake lines to steel braided lines and bleed the system again.... thats where my mushy went away

 

Yep, adjust all, bleed , and yes the stainless braided lines help. Did them to mine.
Also most front pads have a burn in procedure that if not followed your brakes feel like crap as the pads get glazed.
I used PowerStop setup with a burn in procedure but many use TRDs.

 

X3 on the rear shoe adjustment.

I recently added SS brake lines when I put on new slotted rotors and upgraded pads. I definitely have a much better bite and pedal feel.

 

*****mine sukd , read my new post under chitty brakes . ended up installing factory pads and discs / rotors . front take-off pads were aftermarket ceramic , with plenty of life left ,dont know what discs were , i purchased truk with whatever was on it... Bottom line is my brake troubles r done. again go read my post of what i went through.....

 

So true. I took my new 2008 Tacoma back to the dealership about a week after I bought it complaining about the spongy brake pedal. It took a drive with the service manager to convince me that is how Toyota built it. I've probably owned 20 automobiles, and none of them had a brake pedal feel that spongy...not even my 1994 Toyota Truck (Hilux).

Not a fan, but you have to live with it. Really want to kick the Toyota engineer that designed that brake pedal feel right in the junk!

 

Yeah, I spent a few years all worried about them, but haven owned my truck for 10 years now since it was brand new I’ve just learned to live with it. I’ve always wanted them to be a bit more firm but even after tons of troubleshooting over the years, brand new pads, rotors, etc etc. and all the same so a few years ago I just gave up and enjoy my truck. A lot less stress and much happier. Sometimes you just gotta let things go

 

Well decided to have the dealer look at them today, they did a brake inspection. They told me that I needed front pads and the calipers were sticking. Also the rears were out of adjustment. So I had them do the work since I was not getting anywhere with the work I had done. 4 hours later and $526.00 the brakes feel like they should they also gave me a loaner to take home. I know it sounds like a lot of money but at least it’s fixed. I want to thank everyone’s help.

 

This is a decent point, but the OP's question was around a spongy pedal. That's indicative of air or 'too much space' in the sealed portion of the system. Certain brakes will change the overall stopping performance of the system, but for a spongy pedal, you need to look for air or too much fluid movement, in my opinion.

 

2 x , i mentioned - read my post under chitty brakes , the complete title of my post literally included SPONGY . , - spongey or mushy ,,i think were talking about the same thing. and in my post factory pads , ( among other things ) cured me , as it did this op ...

 

I did the same had a Toyota tech test drive my truck after I installed the OEM AZ001(discontinued) front pads at 50k miles the peddle went limp, I bled,rebled,rebled, sucktioned with a MITYVAC, no love still spongy,adjusted the rears, adjusted the rears again no love still weak. drove it that way because the tech who test drove my truck said his Tacomas brakes are the same. read some threads here about activating the ABS and bleeding the brakes, took it to another Toyota dealer told them the whole story they used a BG brake bleeding machine that sucks all 4 brakes dry and the refills the system, finally got the love for $128 maybe as a last resort try the power bleeder system if you can find one in your area was worth the money to me.