The ebrake will definitely stop these cars, but its stronger than on other cars I have had in the past so you have to be careful and do it gradually so the rear wheels dont lock up.

On my 2009 (before it was totaled) I blew by a cop on the side of the road and went around a curve and did not want him to see me jump on the brakes so I applied the parking brake. It actually made a loud whine, and had I used any more force, it would have locked up the rear wheels! I can see the little parking brake pads getting cooked easily, but I would rather cook those and change them out after.

I am heading to my storage soon to drop off my extra 3UZ and 6 speed trans, and I am going to look for the entire brake unit so I can examine it.. Maybe tinker around with it and take it apart to look at the seals. I am very curious, and the 2009 had 116k on it. My 2006 has 106k, but by the time I approach 150k perhaps Ill swap in a rebuilt unit to be safe. I drive my 2006 so little that it will likely be another 4-5 years before it gets to 150k however.

I am a little concerned that if I put on the big brake upgrade later this year, will it put more stress on these brake unit and motor?

With all the attention and discussion on this topic, I have a feeling that a solution may be found here among us instead of having to depend on Lexus and having them blow us off.

 

More interesting stuff to read about our electric brake boosters...

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/bra...repair.720523/

Also this https://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-g...-manually.html
Not exactly same unit as ours, but same general type of Toyota electric brake boost.

 

i just timed how long it takes my boost pump to pressurize (without starting engine), just under 3 1/2 secs. i didn't wait to see if the boost pump activated a second time as i had somewhere to go. will try again when i have time.

if you have no internal leak it wouldn't activate a second time, no?

first data point!

 

It will fire up again but only after quite a while. I still need to measure mine, bu like you I’m out the door to work in the morning and can’t wait.

Here’s a thought to chew on. We have an aged vehicle and complain to NHTSA expecting they will pressure Toyota to help. Instead the smart thing for the regulatory agency does for highway safety is condemn all SC430 beyond a certain age from being on highway. It improves highest safety and helps the economy by encouraging purchase of newer vehicles. Problem “solved” and even toutable as eco green!

I agree that an ongoing solution is more likely here than from Toyota or feds

 

Guys, I had owned 4 SC430 from 02-06 and each of the ABS pump would
pressurized every few minutes. All 4 of my SC’s have 30K to 75K
and none of them ever lost ABS pressure.

From what I understand, all the SC ABS pumps going out all has 100K+
miles on them.

When you take your SC out next time see if you hear your ABS pump
Coming on every few minutes.

 

Anyone know a Los Angeles mechanic shop you could recommend to check out this same issue discussed. Not too knowledgeable enough to try swapping on my own.

 

Good lord this scares the hell out of me. I live in Los Angeles and I don’t drive my SC very much but I started again a few weeks ago so I can enjoy it over the summer and they currently have 107,000 miles on it and whenever I drive it aggressively I have this exact concern in the back of my head. I have an extra unit out of my parts car which I pulled out along with the engine rebuilding as a 5.0 or 5.2 though that’s a different project.

honestly it’s not super hard to swap this entire assembly out I had it pulled out of my parts car that was totaled within 30 minutes or less and that was with the front end smashed in and the engine bay was a bit crunched and I had less room to work with because of that. The problem is once that it’s out it’s a matter of knowing what to do with it and what part exactly needs to be tinkered with and rebuilt. It sounds like the accumulator or that electronic pump to me, and it sounds like some thing I’m going to do within the next year or last myself.

I am taking my Lexus to a shop in the next couple of weeks to get my Lextreme torque converter installed, a trans service and external trans cooler installed. They are also going to look at my AC which stopped working and I’m gonna have them completely bleed my brakes and refilled with fresh fluid. I may even have them install my LS 460 brakes with the adapter brackets and I asked the14” rotors for the front and other odds and ends.

the name of the shop is Lextech. These guys absolutely LOVE these cars.

there are other great shops including Toyoda, but I like Lextech a lot. When I called them I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the manager and he didn’t rush me or anything he absolutely loves these cars and he has an SC300 himself with a turbo on it. Honestly I cannot think of a better place to bring our cars if you are in Los Angeles. Shop is south of Eagle rock I believe which is not far from where I live. You will likely have someone working on your car that has an older SC or a newer SC and they are fanatics and I know them very well.

I told him that I was going to let others know on the forums about his shop and I’m sure he’ll remember me if you happen to bring your SC in before I bring mine in to him in the coming weeks!!

Lextech - 323-669-1200

300N Avenue 50

south of eagle rock and a little north of the 110 near I5.

hit me up sometime - 310-987-6728 - text me - I live in La Crescenta and I would love to see your SC430 sometime and can brainstorm into this problem. I anticipate many more in this group will start running into this problem in the near future and it’s up to us to brainstorm in band together to find a way to get this nipped in the butt and have these parts replaced or rebuilt before they fail and a spectacular fashion and cause extremely dangerous potentially deadly situations. We cannot depend on toyota or Lexus to rise up and take responsibility for this one and I’m confident that between us, and this shop I mentioned we can likely get the cause pinpointed 100% for sure and then find a place to rebuild these units before they fail on us!!

 

I really dont understand the fearmongering. I drove my first car that had steel bars activating the brakes...no hydraulic brakes then. Then for another 30 years I drove cars without power brakes and they all worked fine. Adding power brakes used to be an OPTION. Brakes worked fine without the booster. Then they mandated that front and rear had to be separate systems. Then came ABS which is totally unnecessary if you know what you are doing. All this extra crap was to dumb down the automobile so little old ladies could drive them.
If you are still going screaming mad over fear of loosing your brakes (remember, front and rear are separate systems, BY LAW) then maybe you should find an old guy and ask him to teach you to drive.

 

Braking distances are drastically shorter than they use to be it's not even close. Auto safety in general is leagues better the survival rate 50 years ago was atrocious and if you did survive a crash you often had horrific injuries including disfigurements.

 

And fewer dinosaurs have died in the last 66 million years , but I am not going to worry about meteor strikes either. Calm down the automobile has been dumbed down so even an idiot can drive one. Natural selection is not being allowed to work so the human race is being dumbed down so that ROBOTS can control us......

 

In this particular thread, total brake failure is exactly what the fear is. As reported (by others), there have been several documented cases of "no brakes" what-so-ever!

All of your years of driving experience aren't going to stop you in this case.

 

NO one has presented any proof of TOTAL failure, just some hand waving and "wow I think this is terrible." Show ONE documented instance. What is presented here is hearsay.

 

With the way the system is designed in our cars, there is a motor built in to the ABS and master cylinder assembly which pressurizes by pumping if I’m not mistaken. For that reason when the motor or whatever related components goes out, it’s likely why people are having so much trouble stopping their cars using the brake pedal. With the way the system is designed in our cars, there is a motor built in to the ABS and master cylinder assembly which pressurizes by pumping if I’m not mistaken. For that reason when the motor or whatever related components goes out, it’s likely why people are having so much trouble stopping their cars using the brake pedal.

in 2006 and up we can manual shift it’s how I normally drive mine anyway and slow it down that way. 2005 and under you can downshift it manually as well just a little different and while that’s an option I can imagine it to still be pretty scary if they suddenly fail all the lights on your dash light up and it’s buzzing at you. These are tiny little cars but they are heavy as hell. My 2009 that got totaled we stripped it down completely took all the usable stuff off engine everything and cut it into pieces. My buddy who has been a mechanic for decades said that it was the most difficult car he ever had to cut up and the frame is solid as can be.

 

Yes. but it is NOT a case of "no brakes whatsoever" Its a case of people not wanting to exert the energy that is required to press the pedal hard enough to stop the car. OK, so it will take some pushing. But what I dont accept are suggestions that "something should be done about this" Suggestions that we should go after the manufacturers because of a faulty design. It just isnt so. When you get down to "do it yourself", its a case of "wow, the back up works". Hey, its not easy, but IT WORKS. Stomp on it!!!!! It will stop. The automobile industry has designed brake systems to work WITHOUT the booster, without the ABS, AND to stop even if a brake line fails by cutting off that end of the brake system and leaving you with either the front or rears still working. That is three backups already and if that isnt enough you can down shift. Then there is still the emergency brake. Just how many backups do you need? Maybe an anchor to throw out the window?
My point is that Lexus is a great car so DONT say, "I dont know why they Lexus let something like this happen?" ALL cars are like this. The only, almost, fool proof system was Henry Fords brake rods and he didnt trust hydraulics and it wasnt until the 40s that Fords had hydraulic brakes even though others had gone hydraulic, because Henry said steel rods were better.

 

If this was a court of law, I would feel compelled to prove the case of "No Brakes" beyond a reasonable doubt counselor, but since it isn't, I can only tell you that multiple threads on this topic point to this being more than heresay. That said, you may be right. Those who have reported total brake failures may be fibbing. I can tell you the SC430 brakes let me down once and almost caused me to rear-end someone, so a word to the wise...be careful nonetheless.