Need some advice from other savvy brake guys. Earlier today my wife tells me her Toyota Sequoia is 'squealing', and sure enough when I ride with her I hear the telltale sound of worn out pads. "No problem hon, I'll pick up some pads and take care of it".

Picked up pads from the dealer, jack up the car (man, those things are HIGH compared to a G...), and pull the wheels. Then I start taking out the bolts that look like they release the caliper, and a few minutes later I have a brake fluid leak... WTF? Turns out that Sequoias have two-piece calipers (who knew those existed?), and I'd loosened the bolts enough that they came apart and ejected fluid. Fawk...

Okay, okay, put them back together, bled the line so there's no air in the fluid, and figured out the RIGHT way to take out the pads (which is elegantly simple, once you actually understand it).

So here's my question: The caliper, rotor and piston seals got pretty wet with brake fluid. I cleaned the rotor really well, and wiped down the caliper and seals - but am guessing I didn't get all of it. Just bedded the pads and tested the brakes, and they work flawlessly. But is anything going to erode over time? Not sure I care if the paint comes off the calipers, but if the piston seals corrode? Or anything else? Thoughts?

Going to chat with a mechanic tomorrow and get his thoughts too.

Thanks!

 

You should be fine. Take some brake kleen to it to get everything nice and truly 'clean' and you won't have to worry.

 

I can't comment on the Toyota calipers, but anytime you change pads you should also cut the rotors. This is why shops charge more labor because the good ones are pulling the rotors and cutting them.

 

Eh...you're probably right, but the rotors look fine and I didn't bother; sometimes that speeds up warping of rotors as they get cut thinner. Also talked to a couple of mechanics today, they both said that there's no problem from the brake fluid. Thanks for the input all!

 

Steve, i'm not familiar with Toyota's set-up, but i don't think fluid will harm the piston seals themselves. The boot may be a problem but the seal themselves should be okay. When i rebuilt my old Z32 calipers, i used brake fluid for lubrication. And given its location and function, that thing would be touching fluid anyway.

I could be mistaken, however.

 

I don't agree with this. If the rotors are not scored and if they don't have uneven pad deposits (i.e. what people refer to as warpage) there is no reason to re-cut rotors. If they are reasonably smooth, all that's required with new pads is a good bed-in/burnishing of the pads on the rotor. I have done a few pad changes w/o cutting rotors with no ill-effects.

 

i changed my dads sequoia as well. PAIN IN THE @$$..i did the same exact thing. then i realized i just had to take out the two pins to get the pads out... the brake fluid won't damage the seals.. but like someone said above.. brake clean.. spray that on the rotors and brake caliper to get off the brake fluid... but yea you should either get new rotors which are cheap. or get them cut