Spongy brake pedal (way spongy)
#5
Turtle turtle... Moderator
iTrader: (25)
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,857
From: San Bruno, Petaluma, SF Bay area
hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
Disc brakes are self adjusting, meaning a 10% worn pad will have the same pedal travel as a 80% worn pad. A worn pad wont cause spongy pedal. It is possible that SS lines will give better feel but i feel usually those come under moderate-heavy braking.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal. Try braking with the engine off and thats how a bad Master cylinder feels. air in the lines will be a spongy pedal. Whats alot worse then spongy? no brakes? hehe no good man
Disc brakes are self adjusting, meaning a 10% worn pad will have the same pedal travel as a 80% worn pad. A worn pad wont cause spongy pedal. It is possible that SS lines will give better feel but i feel usually those come under moderate-heavy braking.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal. Try braking with the engine off and thats how a bad Master cylinder feels. air in the lines will be a spongy pedal. Whats alot worse then spongy? no brakes? hehe no good man
#7
It is possible for the master cylinder to be bypassing some fluid, particularly if it has a quick take-up feature. Or the ABS hardware could be at fault. Both of those faults will cause a low pedal. There was an article on low pedal written up in "Brake & Front End" magazine about this recently.
Norm
Norm
#9
Originally posted by Turbo95Max
hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal.
hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal.
Don't say we should not be recommending service just because your experience is different from ours.
Mark
#11
Turtle turtle... Moderator
iTrader: (25)
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 4,857
From: San Bruno, Petaluma, SF Bay area
Maximam, i apologize, i was thinking the wrong thing. You said bad master, i automatically assumed in my head that it was bad booster unit. Bad booster unit will cause hard pedal. If there was secondary cup failure in the master it can cause a very low pedal, which i belive is what you were trying to get it. You do agree worn brakes wont cause low pedal rite?
However i am not recommending something based on my experince, i am recommending it based on FACT. Your experince would be the same as my experince cause it is fact and fact doesnt change.
ABS failure wont cause low pedal because the ABS is an add on feature, meaning if it fails youll still have your regular braking. Having air in the system is different tho.
However i am not recommending something based on my experince, i am recommending it based on FACT. Your experince would be the same as my experince cause it is fact and fact doesnt change.
ABS failure wont cause low pedal because the ABS is an add on feature, meaning if it fails youll still have your regular braking. Having air in the system is different tho.
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
Correct. Air in the lines will cause this sponge feeling. I had that feeling when I got my car, thats why I rebleed my brakes with new fluid, and man, what a difference!
Originally posted by Turbo95Max
hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
Disc brakes are self adjusting, meaning a 10% worn pad will have the same pedal travel as a 80% worn pad. A worn pad wont cause spongy pedal. It is possible that SS lines will give better feel but i feel usually those come under moderate-heavy braking.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal. Try braking with the engine off and thats how a bad Master cylinder feels. air in the lines will be a spongy pedal. Whats alot worse then spongy? no brakes? hehe no good man
hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
Disc brakes are self adjusting, meaning a 10% worn pad will have the same pedal travel as a 80% worn pad. A worn pad wont cause spongy pedal. It is possible that SS lines will give better feel but i feel usually those come under moderate-heavy braking.
A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal. Try braking with the engine off and thats how a bad Master cylinder feels. air in the lines will be a spongy pedal. Whats alot worse then spongy? no brakes? hehe no good man
#13
Guest
Posts: n/a
Well, hard meaning it takes you to the floor and you hit the stop. My dads grandam was like this, and we think the master was bad. Glad it's gone now....he just got a 2001 Altima.
Originally posted by Maximam
I feel your advice isn't all that good either Turbo95Max. A bad master CAN feel spongy or soft if it is bad. In the last 11 years of driving/racing cars I have never come up with a bad master that was "hard". My experience with air in the lines is usually worse than just a spongy feel that is why I was looking at the master but not counting it out.
Don't say we should not be recommending service just because your experience is different from ours.
Mark
I feel your advice isn't all that good either Turbo95Max. A bad master CAN feel spongy or soft if it is bad. In the last 11 years of driving/racing cars I have never come up with a bad master that was "hard". My experience with air in the lines is usually worse than just a spongy feel that is why I was looking at the master but not counting it out.
Don't say we should not be recommending service just because your experience is different from ours.
Mark
#14
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: you likely have air in the abs system.....
Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.
Originally posted by cmf
when abs systems are to be bleed, the abs connectors must be disconnected first, otherwise the abs system will hold air in itself....it's in the service manual
when abs systems are to be bleed, the abs connectors must be disconnected first, otherwise the abs system will hold air in itself....it's in the service manual
#15
Re: you likely have air in the abs system.....
Originally posted by cmf
when abs systems are to be bleed, the abs connectors must be disconnected first, otherwise the abs system will hold air in itself....it's in the service manual
when abs systems are to be bleed, the abs connectors must be disconnected first, otherwise the abs system will hold air in itself....it's in the service manual
#16
Re: Re: you likely have air in the abs system.....
Originally posted by RussMaxManiac
Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.
Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.
But in your case, it has nothing to do with cheap fluid because nissan uses oem stuff. In my case, the fluid were basically extreme crap.
#17
Re: Re: you likely have air in the abs system.....
Originally posted by RussMaxManiac
Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.
Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.
Just my 2 cents.
#18
A bad master cylinder can also trigger the brake warning light (the one that comes on with the parking brake) to come on if there an internal valve failure. Like all cars, the Maxima's master cylinder has a dual system, and if one fails the other one still works (one front, one rear brake), and the brake light will come on.
A bad brake booster will cause a very hard pedal, and is easy to test. With the engine off, step down on the brake several times until the pedal is rock hard. Still stepping on the brake, start the engine. The brake pedal should immediately go lower, with addition of engine vacuum to power the brakes. If you don't get pedal movement, you have a problem with either engine vacuum or the brake booster. Another easy way to test is to stop the vehicle while it in motion with engine off...you need to step down on the brake once to relieve the reserve vacuum first, then step down again to stop the vehicle...pedal effort will be considerate. That is how it feels if you have a defective brake booster.
A bad brake booster will cause a very hard pedal, and is easy to test. With the engine off, step down on the brake several times until the pedal is rock hard. Still stepping on the brake, start the engine. The brake pedal should immediately go lower, with addition of engine vacuum to power the brakes. If you don't get pedal movement, you have a problem with either engine vacuum or the brake booster. Another easy way to test is to stop the vehicle while it in motion with engine off...you need to step down on the brake once to relieve the reserve vacuum first, then step down again to stop the vehicle...pedal effort will be considerate. That is how it feels if you have a defective brake booster.
#19
WRONG
Originally posted by Eric L.
Like all cars, the Maxima's master cylinder has a dual system, and if one fails the other one still works (one front, one rear brake), and the brake light will come on.
Like all cars, the Maxima's master cylinder has a dual system, and if one fails the other one still works (one front, one rear brake), and the brake light will come on.
Konstantin
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