97 Brake Pedal

[n0rad]

After driving someone elses car for a week and then hopping back into my 97 camry i noticed the brakes were strange. there seems to be a lot of play in the pedal. i have to depress it a lot further than any other car i drive. im just curious if this is normal for my camry or if something is wrong.

i checked my fluid level (fine)
checked booster airtightness (fine)

my brake fluid hasnt been flushed in a long time.

thanks.

[rebel8ball]

a while back someone mentioned adjusting the rear drums in the gen 4 will help tighten up the pedal a bit.

[FishyMan]

I think it's by design. I notice this too. I will do my brakes and put some new fluid in and see how it goes.

I drove many diff't makes and models, from forda, hondas, toyotas, nissans and the pedal feel for the camry and toyota in general seem softer i suppose.

[kpszar]

I notice it also, and I have about a month old brake system. New drums, routers, pads etc.

[dc_98_cam]

I have a 98 which was not driven for a while ... maybe 2 months or so. When I started driving it, the brake pedal seemed to go excessively low. However, after driving the car several times a week for a few months, the brake 'anomalies' have mysteriously disappeared ... that is, I can't definitely say that there is a problem any longer.
Just as a guess, I would say that this 'break in' period might be due to the piston seal in the master cylinder, being seated or sealing better .. or maybe the piston seals within the calipers at the wheels somehow becoming broken in and improving their sealing efficiency. Maybe just the circulation of the brake fluid within the brake hydraulic system makes a difference.
So ... Unless you have some sort of major brake problem .... I would advise just driving it for a while, and let the minor deficiencies have a chance to become 'adjusted', and maybe repair themselves.

[300kmi97camry]

I just redid my front end brake system, everything new-pads, rotors, calipers,- the rears are next, but I have a lot of play in the brake pedal too, before and after the work was done. I guess its normal

[kendallKICKASS]

i had the same problem but after i put the big brake kiit on the front and racing brake pads on the back the problem was solved ^_^

my problem now is the i cant get all the power out of the motor '_"

[Ivar]

The brakes is different from car to car, and it also change after how old the car is. And i think the only problem you had dc_98 is that since you hadn't driven your car for a while the pressure had to build itself up again after not been in use for a time. It can be other problems too, but i don't think it's something major.

[Kep]

Do you have drum brakes or disk brakes in back? If drum brakes, how far do you need to pull up the parking (hand) brake before it stops? If the parking brake comes way up before it stops (or if it doesn't stop until it bottoms out) then your rear brakes are not adjusting. In the older Camrys this (adjusting) was done each time you used the parking brake. If you never used the parking brake then they never adjusted.

If this applies to you then you could try using the parking brake several times a day and see if it catches up but it is likely all crudded up by now and you will need to clean the mechanism. This would be easy to do if you are replacing the pads.

If you have disk brakes all around, are the rotors within specs (thickness)?

Kep

[n0rad]

This weekend i flushed the whole system and put new brake fluid in. I noticed little difference but it did feel tighter. I guess its just like that by design.

Thanks a lot.

[Mike Gerber]

Originally Posted by n0rad

This weekend i flushed the whole system and put new brake fluid in. I noticed little difference but it did feel tighter. I guess its just like that by design.

Thanks a lot.

Manually adjust the rear drums. The Toyota self adjusters just don't seem to work very well. I had to manually adjust the rears on my 98 Camry every 5000 miles, if I wanted to keep a firm pedal.

Remove both rear wheels. You will see a rubber plug about 3/4 of an inch in diameter on the outside surface of the drum. Remove the plug and rotate the drum until the hole is at 11:00 or 1:00. Peer in with a flashlight to locate the star adjuster. (It's at either 11:00 o'clock or 1:00 o'clock depending on the wheel. Put 2 lugnuts back on finger tight to hold the drum in place. Adjust the star adjuster (It will only go (click) in one direction) with a slotted screwdriver until you feel a slight drag on the drum as it is rotorated. Periodically go inside the car and tap the brake pedal a couple of times to center the shoes on the drum and then readjust. When you are done, put the rubber plug back on and reinstall the wheels. You will probably notice a firmer pedal and a firmer emergency brake handle that engages with fewer clicks.

Mike

[n0rad]

alright. ill give that a try when the weather clears. thanks.

[TRDSleeper]

I think Camrys are designed to have a soft brake pedal feel overall. My family have four generation of Camrys, a gen2, gen4.5, gen5, and gen6. When I drove each car, the brake pedal feels too soft for my preference, especially the gen2. The gen6 was better, but not as firm as I would like it to be. When I drove my brother's 2005 Rav4, the brake pedal was much firmer and I like it better. I'm going to change the brake lines on my gen4.5 from rubber to Teflon with stainless steel braiding so hopefully the pedal will be firmer. Just my two cents.

[Mike Gerber]

"The gen6 was better"

I believe the generation 6 has 4 wheel disc brakes, not front disc and rear drum brakes. This should account for the firmer feel of the generation 6.

Mike

[TRDSleeper]

I forgot to mention that my gen4.5 Camry is a V6 with disc brakes on all four wheels. Yet, the brake pedal is still not that firm.