No fluid when bleeding rear brakes

Hi all,

I recently replaced my rear brakes on a 98 4runner sr5 and when i went to bleed the brakes, no fluid came out at all. When the pedal is pressed, the brakes do not extend and no air or fluid comes from the bleeder valve. The brake fluid reservoir is full.

Does anyone know why this might happen, or where i could check for an issue?

Thanks in advance

 

Start working forward.....

 

Something wrong with the master cylinder, or ABS. As mentioned, work back to front. Maybe the lines are pinched, or clogged somehow? Good luck! Let us know what you figure out.

 

I’ve never bled brakes on my Runner, but I’ve bled many a brake on older vehicles. With the sophisticated traction control systems that utilize the ABS, it’s probably not as simple of a process as it used to be. The first upgrade I got for my 2003 Tacoma was the official Toyota service manuals. Best $200 I’ve ever spent. I plan on doing the same for my Runner. They’re invaluable for insight into querky things like this (like maybe learning that you have to loosen some seemingly unrelated gizmo to accomplish a task that has you stumped). Even if you don’t do your own work, you’ll have a better idea of what’s what and will be better able to discuss the problem with whoever does the work. I’ve found that the better you understand what’s going on and can better speak their language, the better results you’ll get from the repair people.

 

Id bust loose the hose fitting above the diff (on the master cylinder side) and check there first. If you have fluid there then that hose is probably questionable.
The hard lines rarely are an issue unless they are inpacted by a foreign object. The line is the lowest common item to both sides.
If youre a "lifted" driver and the hose is bad tensiob may be the culprit and a longer hose us in order.
Good luck!

 

I appreciate all the responses so far and I'll be checking some more today and will start with what's already been mentioned.

How about a proportioning valve? I've read that this might need to be checked or reset but I've also read that it's not present on all vehicles (specifically vehicles with ABS). I didn't see anything that resembled the valve but I'm also not certain where it would be located if I did have one.

 

Hey all, just a follow-up to finish this thread. I found a crimp in the soft line at the rear that was cutting off flow. Fixed that and all lines bleed successfully now. Who knows how long it's been like that but I'll take the blame for not finding this sooner

Thanks to all that chimed in with ideas! Very much appreciated

 

Congrats on finding and fixing the problem, and thanks for letting us know.