Hi all..

Had to change the brake pads today as they were worn almost down to the steel backing.. heh

So I bought some new pads. I took the old pads out and replaced with new ones.

The only way to get the two pots back was to use the bleeder valve on both sides. So I bled the brakes a little to get the pads in. I did the valves back up once the new pads were on. I did them up tight.

I topped up the brake fluid level to max, turned the car on, pumped the brakes for a bit until i was unable to depress the brake pedal all the way to the floor. I back it down the driveway and i get very little braking action.

I take it around the block for a cruise - braking, accelerating, braking, accelerating... no change. I can put my foot almost to the floor and get very little braking.

I pulled over and checked the fluid, it's fine and hasnt moved from max. I check under the wheels to see if the valve is leaking and its dry.

Is there something I missed? It feels like its hardly braking at the fronts.

 

Did you push in the piston?? Prehaps bad caliper?

 

yes.. my brakes are two pots. I pushed back the pistons by bleeding the valve and pushing them in.

 

Sounds like you didnt use a C Clamp to compress the piston in and you let air in by "bleeding" it to push the piston in.

So you need to A. Bleed the brake system, most cars you have to bleed from the farthest caliper moving in to the closest to the master cylinder, check FSM.

B, you make have a frozen guide pin or two. Confirm this by checking wear on old pads..they should be evenly worn, if not your guide pins may be frozen in place or the caliper is bad.

 

Bleed the brakes properly per the FSM. Done deal.

 

thanks guys. bleeding them again fixed it.

curious question - do US maximas only have single pots?

 

Yup.

 

What the hell is a pot?? are you referring to pistons?

 

pot = piston

 

what?!? there's 2 pots std in other parts of the world?!?!!

 

In the event someone looks to this post for info, you don't need to bleed your brakes when changing pads, use C-clamp as suggested above to compress the piston into the caliper, and everything should come off easily.

Also if the pads were that worn, ["worn almost down to the steel backing"] check to make sure your rotor isn't damaged, if it is slighty worn, and can be re-used, get it "turned" or filed down by a machine shop, installing new pads on bad rotors is just a waste of money and time.

Bleeding the brakes is usually/only done to remove air from the brake fluid and lines, by bleeding the brakes to move the piston, air was probably let into the line, which is why there was "very little braking action", bleeding the brakes again got rid of the air and restored braking.

 

I've never had to bleed the brakes and I've changed my pads about a million times.

 

That's not bleeding the brakes...

 

hey guys, since we are talking about brakes i just bought a 1994 nissan maxima with 189,000 miles on it, i have been fixing up some stuff on it and i took apart the rear brakes yesterday and when i was bleeding them because my pedal was to soft i started leaking brake fluid underneth my car in the middle when i looked under it i saw that all the brake lines were compleatly rusted over and broken, so my question is how do i repace these? and where do i unhook them? i looked and tryed to follow them and it looks like its all one piece all the way from the part that you put the fluid in.


can someone show me a diagram or a diy on how to replace the brake lines? because i called nappa and they are really cheap and i dont wanna pay someone to do it.

 

1994 is a 3rd gen, not 4th gen...

 

it more then likely is a one piece line, the cheapest way would be take the whole line off as ONE PIECE, go to advance or oreilly and get metal brake line(same size as old one, it will be a straight line, may need more then one if so buy UNIONS-to connect the two pieces),buy a metal tube bender, bend your new line as close as you can to the shape of your old ones and reinstall. they arent going to be exact, but if you do it right they will be close enough. and you can further bend them into shape while under the car, thats the cheapest way i know of, but you can always go to the dealer and let them rape you