The Dutch Man

I noticed today that I'm getting a pulsation in the brake pedal when stopping. My 4 Runner only has 5700 miles! Anyone else having this problem yet? I've heard that Toyota had the same problem with the Sequoia's and so did my wife's 2000 Acura 3.2 TL. (Acura fessed up and put out a TSB on this turning the rotors for free and installed new pads). I hate to bring it in the stealer because I know they will turn the front rotors and charge me for it. Anyone have any ideas for getting around this?

JGage

Nope, my brakes still feel (and stop) like new and I have 8600m on my '03. I am REALLY hard on breaks BTW.

impulsebrklyn

no problems with mine either. do you have a heavy foot or do alot of driving in traffic??? Chris

EDGE

5000 miles and all is fine, I thought the brakes where warrantied for 1year, 12 or 15k against anything.

JGage
With over 8000 miles have you done anything besides oil changes.

Good Times

Just shy of 12k and no probelms here (lucky me!)

If it keeps on coming back, take it into the stealer and see if they have any suggestions... maybe someone might have the same problem and you guys can work it out together...

BT17R

Mine are good. I've posted before that the first 200 miles use are critical to future brake system performance (like the manual says). If the brakes are used abruptly even once during that time they can pulsate until repaired. Your dealer shouldn't balk given your low mileage and time in service, but the sooner you ask the better your chances at a free warranty repair.

JGage

EDGE,

Your supposed to change the oil in this thing ? j/k

Nope, all is fine... I had them TSB the seat squeek, but that's all.

The Dutch Man

Thanks for all the input guys! I'll see how it is this week and bring it in to the stealer if needed. Wouldn't hurt to address the issue. Worst part is I baby the sh%# out of my truck! I'm always careful to be light on the brakes for this reason alone. Maybe it was a bad batch of metal for the rotors? I've always heard that the foreign rotor metal is softer than American and foreign cars are more prone to petal pulsation. Is it true? I noticed today the pulsation is only above 40 mph. Looks the pulsation is just starting! I'll double check the paperwork on the warranty. I never thought this may even be covered under warranty. Great point!

Del

They can't charge you if you don't tell them to do it.

impulsebrklyn

does anyone think maybe his wheels are balanced correctly????


does it happen only when braking??? or above 40 the steering and brakes are funny??


just thinking of possible options

Chris

02Runner

I'm with Brooklyn, My 02 Runner was never balanced at the stealer. My new 03 feels as if its not balanced either. I'm doing that in the next day or so!

BT17R

Yeah, I was thinking balance or even lug nut torque may be off. Wheel balance and alignment are covered under warranty for the first 12 months or 20K miles, whichever comes first. But you'll first need a symptom for the dealership to justify the repair. For alignment, something like "Wanders at freeway speeds on a flat, level road" should do. For balance, maybe "Steering wheel and seatbacks vibrate at freeway speeds on a flat, level road" oughta work. Combined with your complaint of a pulsing pedal, you might wind up with a loaner car for the day.

In my experience, dealerships are usually happy to warranty a fix on anything. They're paid the same for warranty labor rate as retail, so it's in their financial interest and their customer satisfaction score to take care of any customer through the door. I've always had good results with my dealership by being straight with the Service Advisors and Managers. They might not get it right the first time every time, but they eventually do. Good luck.

Good Times

If you want, you can ask toyota for a free alignment (entitled for 1 alignment during the first 12month of your vehicle).

So if your vehicle is not feel like it's aligned, you should be able to take it in for an alignment.

richardyc

did you ever bring your 4runner to an auto car wash place? I find (just a personal observation, not proven yet) that if you run your truck thru one of those automatic car wash places while the brake is still hot can really make the rotor warp.

or if you clean your wheel by spraying the wheel/brake with a garden hose, I guess it would do the same thing. the idea is, don't let the rotor come into contact with water while it's still hot. I guess that would include don't run thur a big puddle of water.

JGage

richardyc,
If that were true, you wouldn't be able to drive in the rain, and people would be replacing their discs every 10k miles.

The Dutch Man

Here's the latest. I rotated the tires about 2 weeks ago and torqued the lugs down to the 83 ft. lbs. per the owners manual. I undid every lug tonight and retorqued to be sure. We'll see if any pulsation in the AM. I've never heard of unproperly torqued tires causing brake pulsation. That only happens if you overtorque and put stress on the disc, bending it. Kind of hard to do with a torque wrench?

I ran the truck up to about 90 mph on the highway today. No pulsation in the wheel at highway speeds! So, unbalanced wheels is out of the question otherwise the wheel would have shaken frantically at that speed.

So now I'm down to probably my driving style. Maybe I didn't properly brake in the brakes? I did notice that I feel the pulsation more when applying slight pressure to the brake rather then when I'm really hard on it. When I'm really hard on my brakes, there seems to be no issues.

This is a really strange problem for 5800 miles young, don't you guys think? Anyone else have any ideas?

impulsebrklyn

bring it in warranty work !!!!!

JGage

Yea, for real...

Good Times

Indeed I would take it in. Maybe it has something to do w/ the abs? Dunno but I gotta say that's abit odd...

The Dutch Man

It's going in next Tuesday. I will post what they find.