So I was going down a hill yesterday and my brake peddle went right to the floor. I had some brakes but nothing worth talking about. The little brake light came on and I pulled into my pops house where it stayed. We looked at it underneath and the 2 brake lines going to the rear wheels were rusted out and leaked all the fluid out.
My question is what 2 lines on top of the master cylinder are the ones to the rear wheels? It's very hard to follow them up from underneath to the top of the MC. Also, what are the 2 lines running into in the center of the firewall? Is there a junction box there? Whats the purpose of it. Cause that this is impossible to get at, or even see for that matter. I need to get my brakes done today cause it's my DD. I looked in the FSM but couldn't find a diagram showing the lines.
Thanks

 

Unless you have access to a lift, bring it to a shop and have them install new lines.
They can easily make replacement lines from straight stock.

The brake light had to come on way before you pushed all the fluid out.

You have sooooo many problems with that car.

 

tell me about it. I bought it for 400 bucks, what do you expect. But when I bought it, I bought it as a project car. Thus it has been quite the project. Thousands of dollars worth of project. But it has grew on me and I love it. After 270,000 clicks, brake lines are not a big deal. I'm not bringing it to a shop if I don't have to. My pop is a mechanic and we just need to run the new lines.
Just not sure which ones are which on the MC.

And I have HAD soooooo many problems with it. I fix 80% of them. Now it's just brake lines and EGR solenoid and the CEL will go off...i hope lol

 

diagrams for abs and non-abs systems are in br-3 in the fsm.

 

yes i do

 

ha ha, i edited before i got the answer

 

ok..i looked at it, but it doesn't give me what i need. I almost need a pic of the top of the part to see what the 4 lines are. I don't think it's the MC cause when i looked at a pic of it, it wasn't what i was refering to. It is the part with 4 lines running down into it. Attached by 4 10mm fittings

 

i think you mean the actuator. 2 lines that some out of it on the passenger side are for the front brakes. out of the 4 on top 2 are going in from the mc and 2 others are going to the proportioning valve and after that rear brakes.

 

ok...but when we took on of the rear brake lines almost all the way off, as in it was still hanging down by the driverside front wheel, my pop blew on it and we unscrewed one of the 4 fittings up on the actuator that screw in vertically. When he blew into it, brake fluid came out so we found that line. But the other one seems to go to that box in the center of the firewall behind 2 hoses and stops or comes back.
the place i'm taking about where the 4 lines go in to is in this area.



sorry for taking a photo, but my engine bay shot was to far away for any good and i'm at work without my car.

 

dude...my bad. i kept thinking you're looking for the front lines
look at the actuator. 4 lines on top - 2 are going in from the master ( on the pass side) and 2 on the opposite side (driver) are the rear brake lines BUT...those are just going into the proportioning valve so you'll need to undo the rear brake lines at the brakes and the proportioning valve NOT the actuator.

did i get what you need right this time?

 

lol...i think so...the way the lines are porportioned on the top is like this

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(.)
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so the two closeest to the driverside(right) are for the rear? the one in brackets is the one we found that when we blew into it, fluid came out.(Driver side rear) So i can only assue that the 3rd one down is for the passanger side rear?

it won't let me do it the way i want to. The 3rd dot down should be directly below the 2nd one down

 

i would think that would be right...just get under the car and trace the 2 rear lines to the proportioning valve and undo them there - easiest to do.

btw in your sig you say you got 17's on the way. you looking to buy? i've got konig monsoons for sale for a decent price

 

ok will do...and not looking, I bought a set of 17" Enkei's off another member
thanks tho

 

finally found a pic of the part i was looking for.


the one circled is the one we found was one of the rear lines. So couldn't we just run a line from that one and the one just above it straight back to the rear wheels?

 

yeah...no. from the pic and comparing to the fsm looks like you have the right lines but those 2 n the pic go into a proportioning valve below. the proportioning valve equalizes fluid pressure between both rear wheels so you have to install new lines between the rear wheels and the proportioning valve, NOT the depicted actuator.

 

i believe the proportioning valve is below the car so get it up on ramps and you should see what i mean.

 

but when we got under...looked at where the lines go, it seems they lead right up to the actuator. I didn't see anything else that was before it.

 

maybe the diagrams here will help more:
http://www.courtesyparts.com/maxima-...1784_1879.html

there has to be a proportioning valve somewhere between the rear brakes and the actuator... has to...

 

that seems to show the rear brake lines coming into one line...helps a little but not much. Thanks tho. I'll just have to tear everything apart
unless i can get a pic of the part you are talking about

 

Ignore the dirtiness of my engine bay, and you can see the proportioning valve directly below the heater hoses, where the heater control valve is:



Good luck getting to it without removing the UIM, and most likely the rear valve cover as well.

 

your pic doesn't work man

 

Odd, works for me. How about now?

 

nope

 

 

lol...i see it now...i knew it was there but just couldn't see it. Wouldn't it be easier to just take the hoses out of the way?

 

Any way you do it, getting to that valve is going to be a PITA.

 

i can easlily get my hands on it. But not enough to do anything with those hoses in the way. If they were out of the way I think i could do it without even touching the engine

 

haha, you lose. mine is so much worse, lol.

anyway, hope you don't have big hands, bass. even with the uim off it's cramped. like pmohr said, you'll prolly have to take off the vc just to get a decent look at it. g/l bro.

 

i'm gonna have it done tonight..lol...i miss her..my hands arn't huge by any means, i had no problem with the KS and a simple box wrench.
I'm just wondering how a shop would do it. Like would it really be like a $800 bill just to run a couple new brake lines?? Cause taking off the IM and rear valve could get pricey at a decent shop...

 

i can tell you right now that running those lines without a lift is literally impossible. There's almost no chance you'll be able to snake the oem pre-bent lines on there. If you were to run your own lines, it'll be better. I had to do this to the 3rd gen i had. But i just found the lines that were in good shape, cut in, flanged it, and coupled it with a u joint. I called a few shops, and they wanted at least 500-600 usd to fix the brake lines.

 

job is done. Took like 4 hours. passenger side front and back, and the rear wheel lines all replaced. No UiM or VC removed. Nothing. Brakes are perfect. Thanks for all those that helped.
Should be good for another 270K

 

did you run factory or did you bend your own?

 

bought a half dozen fittings, 25' coil of line and ran em all. Me and my pop did it, bent them ourselves. The brake feels alot better now than it did b4.
as soon as we had the driverside front, and the 2 rear done we thought that was it till i looked at the front passanger side and it was leaking right at the fitting down by the wheel. So we ran that one to...
Thanks for all the help guys.
I got my clear bumer lights today. Maybe get em installed this evening