Installing a New Brake Master Cylinder

[TheCrippler]

Thanks man just finished gettin that bad boy swapped not too bad hah

I just replaced the master cylinder on my 89 townace too. I didn't think about the fact that the right hand drive cylinder would be an exact mirror of the left hand drive version. When i pulled the part out and compared it to the new one i was a little stressed. No brakes till i order a new one from Japan?

I ended up removing the guts of the new part and installing them into the original RHD master cylinder. Worked great.

Thought id share that for anyone with an imported vehicle.

[timsrv]

I just replaced the master cylinder on my 89 townace too. I didn't think about the fact that the right hand drive cylinder would be an exact mirror of the left hand drive version. When i pulled the part out and compared it to the new one i was a little stressed. No brakes till i order a new one from Japan?

I ended up removing the guts of the new part and installing them into the original RHD master cylinder. Worked great.

Thought id share that for anyone with an imported vehicle.

That's awesome information for somebody with a RHD. Could potentially save a bunch of time and money. If there's no damage to interior hard parts, as an alternative you could install an o-ring kit. For anybody trying to save the original cylinder it's important to check the bore for pits. If it's got pits (result of corrosion), you should finish hone the cylinder before swapping parts. Most auto parts stores have hones that can be spun with a drill motor.

[TheCrippler]

So it's been a few weeks since i did the master cylinder rebuild. Last night i was driving and the brake pedal got real hard and all four brakes were dragging at the wheel. The wheels and brakes were SUPER hot when i stopped to check. I had the van towed home and started to investigate.

Pumped the brakes real hard a few times this morning and pulled it out of the drive way. Seemed fine, no more hard pedal and the van rolled like normal. I bled all four wheels pretty good. Had some air and cooked looking fluid come out of all four.

I drive it around the block a few times and the pedal felt normal ish? Maybe slightly soft but pretty normal. Doesn't seem like it has quite the stopping power that it used to but hard to tell.

Any suggestions? I thought maybe some debris in the line clogging the inlet on the master cylinder? That's partially why i bled them.

New thread? I thought maybe this was relevant to replacing the master cylinder?

I'm kinda hesitant to drive the van now. I'm thinking maybe take it to a mechanic to really go through it?

[Ace MM]

That's awesome information for somebody with a RHD. Could potentially save a bunch of time and money.

This is why I love this site, the creative juices flow.

[TheCrippler]

So another piece of information. The pushrod length needed to be slightly adjusted after i put the guts from the new master cylinder in. If you do the rebuild the way i did make sure the check the depth on the master cylinder. I did this by comparing the depth of the old part vs the new.

[spacecruisers]

thanks for this awesome write up! ill be replacing mine soon since it has a small leak.

[PNW vanwagon]

thanks again to tmiron for this write up. i just replaced my brake master cylinder last night. i prefer to do as much maintenance as possible myself but i'm usually tight on time and the vans our only vehicle so i try and get everything lined up and ready to get a job done quickly. your tutorial helped get me prepared

a few tips:
- make sure you disconnect the sensor wire from the brake fluid reservoir
- i got a bleeder kit for 8.00 and it made bench bleed way easy and less messy
- the clear tubes in bleeder kit won't reach the reservoir so i bled into a glass jar with some clean brake fluid 1/3 filled
- if you bleed using a kit make sure the container you're using is higher than the master cylinder to get all the air bubbles out
- a 10mm flare nut wrench for tight brake lines comes in handy
- keep the four nuts holding the master a little loose until you re-connect the brake lines (makes it easier to get them rethreaded)
- a magnet with a long screwdriver comes in handy when you drop a couple of the nuts during re-install and they get trapped down in the dash

i did the bleeding very thoroughly and ended up not needing to re-bleed my brake lines (so far). i had a fading brake pedal for a couple weeks so i bled and flushed my brake fluid recently. ended up needing a new master cylinder.

[armorrell]

This is a great thread and thanks for all the informative info.

My question is- Who's done their clutch cylinder? Is there a recommended brand with good quality replacement? I've heard this particular job is one of the most challenging and fiddly repairs you can do on this van. Lost of cursing and bruised hands according to the "1984-89 toyota van group" on FB. So I only want to do this once for a long while.
I'll be filming the process so any insight is appreciated. I'll include the expert advice in my comments in the vid. ;)