I have a 2012 Prius V and working by myself to replace an brake actuator assembly and was wondering if anyone has used vacuum bleeder for the install?
When replacing the actuator itself, there are a bunch of different fluid paths that all will have to be bled afterward. Some of them can only be bled with specific valves inside the actuator in specific positions. The bleed procedure in Techstream takes care of all that. Without it, even with the vacuum bleeder, some of that will never happen.
Thank you! I have just ordered one. I’m taking the vacuum bleeder back. I changed out the actuator assembly and the computer in the car is really pissed at me. The brake lights are on, the emergency lights are flashing and the dash has more than on than my Christmas tree. Frustrating!
Hopefully it was the actuator for/from a Prius v of your vintage and not from a normal Prius of similar years. They have different brake ecus in them.
The computer on the new junkyard ABS unit was bad. Luckily I only needed the actuator and I removed the entire assembly and changed out the old actuator on my old assembly with the junkyard one and installed back into car. Just like that all of the dash lights disappeared. I still cleared all codes and as for the brake light, a brake switch adjustment took care of that. I followed the brake bleeding instructions from nuts and bolts from this sight and used a snap on scanner to bleed the actuator. Works like a champ. Thanks for all of the help, videos and posts! I sure am going to miss the short cycling of the actuator! Lol
I purchased mine from Harbor Freight, it’s hooked a air hose and when the trigger is squeezed a vacuum is created in a bleed tube which can be connected to the bleeder screws. It can also be used as a catch can and it also comes with an auto fill reservoir for topping off the brake fluid in the master cylinder. This kit is super handy even though the vacuum portion wasn’t needed for the Prius.
The ABS pump was short cycling with the ignition off. This also elevated to cause complete ABS failure and the usual brake ABS anti skid lights lit. However, the used ABS unit which led to multiple units all failed and the original problem remained. This led to an ultimatum to buy a new ABS unit from Toyota for $1100.00 for the parts and the possibility of the original Hybrid battery to be replaced to the tune of $1600.00 had me questioning the validity of the gas savings which was the original reason I purchased the Prius. We’ll, when in doubt change it out! I traded it in for a normal dependable car. One that I can work on that don’t require thousands of saved energy dollars to repair. What a shame! Shame on TOYOTA!
Totally agree.....! I'm installing this next week.... supposedly 53,000 miles and under $200.00 well see........
I wish you luck! I did it so many times! What a design from so many points of view! You know the engineers are not working on the car. Lol! Shame on them!
I'll ask you about the Techstream routine before I do the install. I do have it on my laptop. Sure wish I would have bought the ICE vehicle I was looking at before the Prius v. Thanks!
I don’t see the booster in your Picture. It connects to the master cylinder and is usually the part that is bad and looses its nitrogen charge. It was actually the part that kept failing on actuator. Toyota won’t sell them separately. Just another major rip-off!
It is easy to find Toyota's nomenclature confusing. The "booster" doesn't connect to the master cylinder, it's integrated with the master cylinder, and you don't see it because it is internal. There's nothing much to it but an extra hydraulic chamber behind the piston and a reaction-disc style valve. The "booster pump", on the other hand, is in a separate assembly with the accumulator (a big nitrogen-pressurized cylinder for fluid storage), and that assembly is the thing in the upper left in the photo in #14. The silver-colored cylindrical thing is the pump motor, and the black-colored cylinder next to it is the accumulator. When the accumulator pump short cycles, you don't necessarily know (without further testing) whether the accumulator assembly or the actuator assembly is at fault. Short cycling can be caused by loss of nitrogen from the accumulator, but also by internal leakage through valves, most of which are in the actuator assembly, not the accumulator assembly.
What a design! It’s the old factory gotcha game! Lol I have been looking for a sequence of operation and pictorial diagram since the issue started on my V with no luck! Thank you for your info. The booster must have a rubber diaphragm that eventually develops a pinhole leak and causes the short cycling when the ignition is off. I actually heard the leak by with a mechanics stethoscope, Just happy I traded it so I don’t have to worry about my wife’s car any more. However I’m working weekends now to make the new payments. Lol
The information you're looking for is exactly what you find in the New Car Features Manual (more info). It's possible there's still some lingering confusion here between "booster" and "booster pump". The booster is a couple of small internal details of the master cylinder that it's safe to say most PriusChatters have never laid eyes on or touched. The "booster pump" with accumulator is the two-towers-shaped assembly in the top left of the photo in #14. The accumulator does contain a bellows (metal, not rubber) that can, in some cases, leak the nitrogen charge. If your mechanic's stethoscope was anywhere near the "booster" (which is in the master cylinder assembly), then you weren't hearing a leak in the accumulator (which is in the other assembly, with the booster pump). And inside the master cylinder/actuator/booster assembly are about a dozen different valves, so hearing a leak through the stethoscope is good information but you can't jump right to saying what is leaking.
