2018 Prado Brake Fluid Flush

[Ali87 Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Ali87]

Hi All,

I changed the brake fluid on 2018 Prado the other day albeit with a bit of trouble.

Firstly, I couldn't suck out all the fluid from the master cylinder, the sift/mesh at the top wouldn't come out as I expected. Not sure if this is normal or there is special way to access the entire master cylinder to easily drain it and refill?

Then when I went to flush the fluid for the back brakes, I cracked it open, turned the ignition on but the pump only ran for like 4-5 seconds.
For the front ones, using the usual depressing of the brake pedal to push through fluid, it seems after a certain point the fluid from the master cylinder would get cut off.
Almost like a safety feature, so that if you have a leek in one of the brake lines, it does not drain all the fluid from cylinder causing you lose all of the brakes?

Anyway, I basically had to the following repeatedly until I got a good flush-

1. Close the nipple
2. Ignition on
3. Let the pump run (back) / pump the brakes until hard (front) (lines a now full of brake fluid)
4. Open nipple and drain fluid

Any advice / feedback would be greatly appreciated for next time.

[gxl_d4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close gxl_d4d]

With the ignition on, you need to press the brake pedal and open the bleeder. Pressing the peddle activates the pump until you let go, peddle bottoms out or you close the bleeder.