1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Front Brake Caliper Piston stuck out

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by cburn25, Aug 22, 2017.

  1. cburn25

    cburn25 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2017
    2
    0
    0
    Location:
    Hartford, CT
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    So in the middle of a brake and rotor change, the brake pedal was pressed and the caliper piston is fully extended. I've tried to press it back in with a c clamp but it will not budge. How do I retract the piston?
     
  2. Travis Decker

    Travis Decker Active Member

    Joined:
    Jul 15, 2015
    139
    115
    0
    Location:
    Portland OR
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Get a rebuilt caliper or a seal kit and disassemble and repair. We use techstream to bleed the system, without it may be a pain
     
    Raytheeagle and edthefox5 like this.
  3. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2007
    10,096
    4,795
    0
    Location:
    Clearwater, Florida
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Not a Prius brake system expert as it is fairly involved but your up against a closed brake fluid metering solenoid. That's why you cant push the piston back.
    With techstream your able to open and close the solenoids at will.

    Sometimes just opening the door during a brake service will pop the piston out so it is very important that you disconnect the 12 volt battery then push the brake pedal a few times before re starting any brake service,
    I would imagine you need to disconnect the 12 volt battery brake back up supply also which is the little black box next to the 12 volt battery. It has a lot of capacitors in it that hold a charge.

    I think Travis is right once the piston is hyper extended it may damage the piston seal.
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.
  4. InteeRaymee

    InteeRaymee New Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2020
    2
    0
    0
    Location:
    New York
    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I potentially have the same problem here, but I'm not fully certain that the piston is out. How can one tell? I am changing the wheel bearing and got in the car and accidentally started it, not realizing about the brake issue (should have read more). The piston moved out enough to push the pad out, but I can't tell if the piston is out of its sleeve.

    Also, if I were to open the solenoid using techstream (which i have), where can I find that in the software? Thanks!!
     
  5. ttou68

    ttou68 Active Member

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2017
    340
    198
    0
    Location:
    40509
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    You should have brake fluid leaking if piston is out of sleeve...
    I'm not too familiar with software, and not able to help you with that. But you could do it the old fashioned way, open the bleeding valve and press it back in and manually bleed any air out..

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.