Well, I did my SS Brake line upgrade today and am very happy with the END results. 90 to 10 ABS threshold stops seem firmer and easier to keep right at the threshold. They look cool...when a man sees stainless and does not think cool...might want to get a Manbag.

I am really really ****ED off at NAPA, the speed bleeders they had were too short and fully tightened still bled out AT FULL FLOW! I had done two wheels (right rear and left front), thought it would be a good idea to test the pedal with the bleeders locked down.....whoosh, pedal to the floor, fluid all over my rims and floor.. %#)(*^@#)(@!#@!$#(!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jack jack jack, roll a wheel off and out to hose down, run back in and put that pack on and jack up the opposite end of the car and do the same thing. Luckily I was able to enlist another person to help and I replaced the old bleeders and finished the job.

During removal two of the flare nuts on the front hard lines almost got destroyed because they were too tight from the factory, had to ViseGrip them to break them loose.

That finished and the system bled and fresh, clean fluid in (the old stuff looked like the color of tea rather then a beer whiz) it was time for a test drive. First quick one resulted in a little dribble out of two of the bleeders.

The torque values in the manual are ****!!! The next test drive, slightly longer and more agressive resulted in fluid squirting out of the right rear flare nut, over the rear axle and suspension and RSB and dripping on the driveway. I had lost almost a half inch of fluid out of the resevoir. That resulted in a rapid jacking in the driveway to give enough clearance to get a wrench or two in there to tighten it PAST SPEC. Not much but certain more then the Nissan Shop Manual specifies.

Another drive and no major leaks so it was wash the car time to make sure not brake fluid was on the paint and then REALLY hose down the brake components. A real test drive of several miles and hard pedal application resulted in NO leaks!!!!!! Weeeeeee! Then another Test drive with HARD braking from 90 and no leaks....so finally done.

Not the easiest job in the world, but not bad either, just a word of warning: Be very careful with the on vehicle hardware, replacing a Hard Line would be a b!tch and probably expensive and the other word...test test test test before any real driving. Losing brakes is just TOO movie cliche` to happen to all of us here

 

Glad that you are finally happy with your brakes. Did you first attempt to use a flare nut wrench on your brake lines? Vise grips are not too kind to flare nuts.

 

Not having the right tool is a problem, I had used a 10mm (I think that is it) open end wrench first which rounded a corner on the nut and then I went to the ViseGrips, very VERY last resort effort. The open end wrench worked just fine on the rears, but the fronts....I don't know what the difference was. I need to get a flare nut wrench, I just assumed that the stuff I had would work, So somewhat my fault.

 

If you are lowered look out for the drivers side line rubbing on the ABS sensor wire bracket under compression.

 

was this the first time you did this? i helped my brother do ss lines on his car the first time, and it went like hell. after that, he can bleed brakes blindfolded. something always goes wrong the first time...

 

Yeah, and ONLY use Craftsman flare nut wrenches... they will NOT stretch and round the flare nut. I was able to do my SS lines successfully for all except the left rear, which got rounded off by a cheap-azz Autozone ("Great Neck") brand flare nut wrench... even the Craftsman couldn't touch that one. I'll have to replace it with vise-grips someday. The fronts I did very patiently and very gently with the Craftsman 10mm flare nut wrench, and it went flawlessly. Just be very gentle, and VERY patient.

 

Yes this was the first time for me. I hate learning experiences that can kill you if you do them wrong. I-75 and no brakes could be bad...HA! But I checked again this morning and no leaks so I think I am honky-dory. And Spirilis Craftsman, Snap-on or MAC are the only way to go. I don't buy that Chinese or Indian crap that seems to populate Pepboys, Auto-zone, NAPA and Advance Auto these days. It seems anti-patriotic to buy foreign tools, especially from a country that would not mind seeing us all dead. Plus, I had a couple times using stuff like that and it just is NOT good enough. Any of the chain stores these days are selling to the lowest common denominator of consumer and we have to suffer with crap. It took me 2 hours to find a store that had Mobil 1 tranny oil the other day. Everything else was stuff like Costal brand recycled hair-grease tranny oil.
Rant Over!

 

Heh, I hope you're not putting Mobil 1synthetic GL-5 gear oil (which DOES contain sulfur-based compounds, at least from what I read off the label) in your tranny... (assuming it's manual)

 

**** Take a guess.
I am so used to using Mobil 1 oil in the engine, I just did not read. F*ck me. Anyone know of a shop in Atlanta area that stocks it?

 

You have 2 choices. Go to the dealer and by 3qts from them or by redline MT-90 online. You may want to go the dealer route and get 5qts, drain and refill it with 2.5qts run it a few days and drain and refill it again to flush all the M1 out.

Also when you were bleeding the brakes I hope you pulled the fuse for the ABS, if not there may still be some air in the system. After the replacement the pedal should be much stiffer, if it's not I'd bleed it again.

 

I am going to do it on my own, just don't have the time to get to the dealer and wait around. I have a place for Redline just a couple miles down the street.

I read the first half of the manual for bleeding, but not the whole deal so, no I did not do the ABS. I ran about half to 3/4 of a liter through the system and the brakes are a lot firmer. If I stop completely and press really hard it does squish just a bit. Should it just be like there is a brick undter the pedal and once fully stopped I should not be able to press any more?
I should get more then 3 hours sleep before doing maintnance. HA!

 

If you have ABS on a > 00 Maxima...what steps are necessary to bleed the brakes? I am redoing the fronts and want to make sure I dont mess anything up.
Do you just have to remove the ABS fuse? Are there any additional lines to bleed? Is there a specific order they need to be bled in?

Thanks

 

I wasn't talking about having the dealer do the work just buying the fluid from them. If you can get Redline near by that's cool, but that can get up there if you're going to flush.

Colonel, I beleive it's just a fuse. And yes there is an order for the lines to be bled in. I don't have a copy of the FSM here at work. If no one posts the info by the time I get home I'll post it for you.

 

Well I have the fluid, got a ton of it. I have the Shop manual on PDF, I was just a dumb@ss, after doing bleeds on bikes, who needs a manual; how hard can a car be...right....DOH! in my best Homer Simpson imitation. My jack arm is getting a workout tonight....

I read your post wrong earlier and after I submitted I re-read and realized what you meant.


About how much fluid should I bleed to be sure I have the air out with the ABS disabled? 10 cycles per wheel? What I did this weekend did what appeared to be a 100 percent change.

 

Thank you very much...right now my FSM is MIA....wife must have cleaned.

 

PhatMax, I've never bled the brakes on a newer car the old way... I use equipment at my friends shop which uses suction from compressed air to pull the fluid through the lines. There is a post or 2 on the board about making one of these for home use pretty cheap. Maybe Colonel can do a search for you and post a link.
Most of the fluid is in the MS, the lines & calipers don't hold much. So as to how much fluid you'll use depends on where the air is in the system.

Colonel, I'll know for sure when I get home but I think you pull a fused link under the hood to disable the ABS then you bleed from the passenger rear --> drivers rear --> passenger front --> drivers front. I'm not 100% on that order though

 

I had to run home to get some paper work, here's the info.
I was close on the order.
Brake fluid change & bleed from FSM

 

SWEET! Thanks a BUNCH!

 

OK, All done! Feeling more secure now. Drained the tranny, Flushed it with a couple quarts of MT90 and then filled it. whatever remnants of the GL5 fluid should be sufficiently diluted to not be a problem. Even the back of the MT90 bottle said GL5 will take off 50% life of syncros, so I figure 10% for advertising, that drops it to 40% shorter lifespan over the average life of a transmission, so a week with GL5 in there could be considered a flush. It did come out dusky and sort of nasty looking so it might have done some good, floating out particles.
I did my brakes with the ABS fuse out and not a bubble. I figure that Nissan is hedging their bets against someone who really hammers the brakes and runs into the ABS often, maybe trapping some bubbles in the works. In three years I have only hit ABS twice, once intentionally and once in an accident avoidence manuever.

Thank you everyone for your advice and catching me before I flubbed something seriously.