New Front Brakes and Rotors...

Do a search on (new rotors at 45k) I have laid out there what to do to be safe. This is something you can do yourself if you take the precautions in that post.

John.

 

Ok first thing to do is disconnect the 12Volt battery, second under the bonnet (hood) on drivers side in the US is a long black fuse box. Take off the lid and remove the two light blue relays (same colour as each other)one near the bottom one near the top.

When you put the relays back in and reconnect the battery (after the work is finished) you will have put the car in ready then power off then make ready again.

Now you can safely work on your brakes.

John.

 

Correct. but after replacing the rotors and pads press the brake pedal firmly a few times to push the pads into contact with the rotors (before putting back the relays and reconnecting the battery) if you do not do this the car may through a fault code.

 

No the 12v battery is in the back of the car on the passengers side (US) under the floor pannel. In the write hand corner when you open the tailgate. Just remove the negative lead from the body one 10mm bolt, it will spark a bit but ignore that and just disconnect it.

 

I am assuming your car does not have SKS. Put the fob in the slot in the dash put your foot on the brake and press power button, when the dash has all lit up press power again the car will shut down, put your foot on the brake and press power again and you are done.

 

No it stops the Prius popping out the calliper pistons and letting air into the system, then you are in trouble because you cannot bleed the brakes without the correct computer equipment. Under no circumstances undo the bleed nipples or try to bleed the brakes!!!!!

 

I suggest that you disconnect the 12V battery negative cable where it connects to the body. Once that is disconnected, then when you press the brake pedal you should not hear the accumulator pump run or any other system for that matter.

Once the battery is disconnected then it would be redundant to remove any relays.

 

Patrick this was already covered in posts 2and4 but because of the OP's obvious lack of experience. (not even knowing where the battery was) I asked him to remove the relays as a belt and bracers job on safety apart from damage to the car crushed fingers could also happen. Also do not for get the capacitor bank, I know this should discharge within 2 minuets but better to be safe than sorry.

 

I'm not sure if the OP should be doing any maintenance

 

The difficulty with forums such as this is that we all try to pass on information to other people (and to learn ourselves) that may or may not have the skills to use that information safely. We can only advise and do our best to to make sure that the information is correct and as complete as possible.

This post is about working on brakes, a safety critical part of any car, but we also pass on information about working on HV batteries another possibly lethal area for anyone to work on that has limited or no electrical knowledge.

Again all we can do is pass on our knowledge and experience to others and hope this information is used safely and with care.

John

 

It was a friend of the OP that was going to be doing the replacement. The OP was just gathering info for when his friend does the work.

 

I saw this too late, I removed one caliper to inspect the brakes (man those aluminum calipers are light!!!!!!). As suspected, after 51K miles the pads were fine but the rotors are rusted, so I put everything back together and went to order new rotors. I did not disconnect negative battery terminal or any fuses, but this was just an inspection and the car had been off for 24 hours and the caliper was removed for just a few minutes to inspect the pads and then put back together. Obviously I will follow your instructions for the actual R&R of rotors and sanding down of the reusable brake pads, but was any damage done for those few minutes the caliper was off for inspection??

this is french to me John, can you elaborate? -Chris

On a side note John, on another thread you told me to "turn" old pads to mate with new rotors with a circular saw, but from the description you gave it sounds more like what we call in America a Mitre saw or "chop" saw. A circular saw here is a handheld saw, I will definitely use something more "heavy duty" than a handheld device for safety reasons. As I've told you woodworking is my hobby so I will build some sort of jig to grind those pads down, I am a little apprehensive about using steel woodworking blades on my brake pads, and steel blades have a lot of "teeth" that can catch and fling the pads across the garage, possibly hitting a car or person. I think I'm going to use my tile saw, it uses industrial diamonds instead of teeth and the saw is dipped in water to keep everything nice and cool, it is designed for cutting ceramic which in my opinion is a closer substrate to brake pads than wood.

 

NO you will not have done any damage but it is risky removing the callipers without at least disconnecting the battery, The pump can start at any time.

Belt and bracers are two methods to stop your pants falling down, making certain in two ways things will not go wrong.

Yes a mitre saw is the one (I'm not up on woodwork tools) I do not saw the end of the pads off just lightly brush the pad with the side of the teeth, but I understand if you are not comfortable with this use a belt sander or your tile cutter. If you have any old pads lying around try them first but they really are very soft (try some old pads with a hand saw). Let me know how things wok out.


John.

 

Braces = suspenders in The States.

Honestly folks, certainly a fresh set of pads for the new rotors isn't that extravagant!