Hey folks... not sure if this applies to any other gen... but this happened in my last 2002 maxima as well..

well the car's brakes feel kinda...well i have to push down the pedal alot more and it feels like the car is stopping by MY own foot versus before you push down a lil and the car would slow itself, like the brake booster would help.."if thats what its called" so since i had the problem last time in my other max, i changed the fluid, the brakes to ceramics, powerslot rotors... and it really didnt make much of a difference..

so this time around i'm having the same symptoms... i really dont knwo what to think... i tried to search but nothign really specific cept doing what i just did last time on my other max that didnt fix anything...

im lowered, new strut mounts ect... and the car doesnt dive or lift when braking or accelerating.. its smooth...umm...

ionno.. isnt there something in the car like a brake booster or something that helps push the brakes more for you? feel like i'm manually stopping my own car now... like.. the flintstones lol

btw... i never touched the brakes...... never broke the lines or anything..

 

to your thread title.... -----> THATS WHAT SHE SAID!

 

did you try bleeding the lines?

 

i never tried because i never broke them... and when i did bleed them in my other maxima, put new fluid, changed brakes n rotors... didnt do much at all...

so i assumed it was the power brake booster =/

 

It doesn't take that long to bleed them. For all intents & purposes, check the lines all around and visually inspect for any obvious leaks, etc.

 

i'm wondering if somehow they fluid boiled or something.. or maybe i should upgrade to Stainless steel..

i just had to do the little things here and there and not be the problem...

Thanks nmexmax... i def should replace the fluid as i seriuosly doubt it was never done before...

does a brake booster fail that like though?

 

I've done my fluid in pretty bad at times, but after it cools down, it should be fine. And, from the problem you're describing, I don't think SS lines will help. That almost seems like a band-aid fix.

 

Sounds like a brake fluid issue, but I agree with the visual check of anything brake related, wouldn't hurt!

 

Bet at least one of your rear calipers is seized.

 

Bleed your brakes

 

ok... i guess the simplest thing to do is bleed brakes...

So you think the brakes are siezed in the back?! hmm... didnt think about that... is that a known reaccuring thing on these cars?

 

Easy way to check is take a quick drive, and come back and check the temp of the rear rotor (using common sense of course) ... or, jack it up & see if they (wheels) rotate freely.

 

oh ok... ..i'll try that...

so i guess no thoughts on the power brake booster than? i dont know why i feel it could be that =/

hate to do the trial and error thing.. gonna get expensive haha

 

Ya, but IMO, I don't think it's a seized caliper. Not sure where that logic came from.

It's only expensive if you start with the expensive stuff first, i.e. brtake booster, etc.

Bleeding the brakes cost more time than $$. 1 bottle of brake fluid is cheap... 2 is twice as expensive ..but still cheap.

 

yea definately. bleeding first.. and the brakes are new from when i first bought them, the rotors were shot so i had them replace them all..brakes and rotors... um.....watelse... thats about it really.. i should def just start with the bleeding...

Then i guess maybe go from there...

 

Because I'm the second maxima in our parking lot at work who has had a siezed rear caliper issue.

 

Unless the OP lives in the salt belt....then bleeder screws tend to SNAP off like clockwork.

 

Mine is Bone stock. Seems like i have the same Problem. I think. I just changed my Brakes and had them bled. Same thing?

 

If it was a bad booster you would either have a intake leak or really hard as hell pedal and when pressed... no results! Bleed your bleeds dude....

 

havent had them bled yet..

but its just weird that i'm having the same issue with this maxima as i did with my other one i had.. the other one is exactly the same year, same issue...

on the other one, i changed brakes, rotors, bled the system... nothing... same results..

i have about 109k on her now... i got her around 99k and my other one around 9X,000 miles started to do it...

so its about the same mileage frame, feels the same.. as if something is wearing out that helps push the brakes more to stop which is why i thought the brake booster

i mean i reaaaally have to start pushing down on the Pedal just to get her to slow down... and i assumed thats what the brake booster is for... so you dont have to push down so hard or so much on the pedal to get her to slow down and stop.

 

Sounds like your booster is going south..

 

turn your car to on or acc, whatever one is first, roll down a SMALL hill. This will not engage the brake booster. if it feels almost as hard to stop then tis your brake booster going. If you think its getting harder to stop and feel like you have to depress further, did you check your fluid level? If your fluid is low, means your brake pads are gone unless you have a leak somewhere which will cause you to hit the brakes harder in order to stop because you've lost all sorts of braking power. If it is the booster, I would first check the vacumn line that goes to the booster for leaks or what not.

 

What's the wear pattern on the rotors? Fully swept, both sides?

 

thanks for the replies folks...

The brakes are brand new.. when i first bought the car, i had them replace the brakes and rotors all the way around cuz they were warped some.

Even then they had the same issue =/ its fustrating.. not only fustrating, the wifey drives the car and that freaks me out.

fluid is there i checked, looked all over for a leak, none *that i can visually see*

I live in northern va Nick. I may have to come by.. i think i heard of you before from a couple of folks..

Ok so check the vacuum lines to the brake booster? never knew it had those to it. now that i think about it.. it would make sense.. hmm...

So how does not having the car all the way on, depressing the brakes and seeing if it will stop or not see if its the brake booster? just curious ?

 

yea bleed em-
I just have both rears replaced after seizing (over a 2 month period)-not sure how common it is tho.
I had soft pedal after the replacement and they didnt bleed it completely-just a top off.

 

i rechecked my fluid resevoir and its almost overfilled... like to the top... not sure if that causes problems....umm...

i think what happened was, the brake pads were low, so they tried to fill it, then when they replaced them, it caused the calipers to be pushed back in and pushed the fluids back into the resevoir...

so there seems to be no leak as i've had this car since january and i'm assuming if there was a leak, there wouldnt be fluid topped off like it is...

 

Is this problem a case of having to use a lot more force on the pedal than reasonable?

Or is it that you have to push the pedal down closer to the floor to get good results even though the force required may not be all that high?

Does it get any better if you lightly pump the brakes once before applying them for real?


Norm

 

i have to use alot more force to slow down now...

meaning, i used to slightly have to push the brakes, and upon doing so, it would feel as though a power source "helped" compress the brakes even more at that level of pressure i was providing...

now it just feels like nothing is aiding it anymore and i have to push harder on the pedal to get it to slow down more...

so if i pressed the pedal now you can feel the brakes grab but i have to push down harder for it to really start to slow down...

as before, i can push the pedal down a little bit, the brakes would grab and some kinda aid was there to help....

 

Bump. Add me as having the same problem.

 

Hey Ridin, how many miles do you have?

i see your a 2002 as well..

this is just rediculous...

 

MidN1te, I have about 129.5k miles, however, I acquired the car at around 123k miles.

Whether I actually suffer an actual problem or not remains to be seen, but I'm just gonna keep track of this thread.

FWIW, my brake pads are Duralast........once you're done laughing....

My current list of problems:
1. leaking oil pan
2. possibly clogged radiator
3. struts & mounts in need of replacing
4. bad inner tie rod & reverse steering problems
5. belts in need of replacing
6. need evap canister & valve
7. bad o2 sensor
8. car running like crap
9. brakes?

Funny thing is that all this stuff kinda sprung up all at once. I've been through a lot worse so these are merely things on my "to-do" list.

 

Needing excessive force on the brake pedal sounds like either a vacuum leak or a vacuum booster problem of some sort. I'd guess that there would also be some sort of check valve that could get stuck.

An engine in really poor condition that isn't pulling much vacuum is also possible, though that's more of a problem with "hotrodded" US domestic V8's with long duration cams.


Norm

 

interesting

the car does feel somewhat sluggish now... i thought it was cuz i need new spark plugs or something...

maybe she's just getting tired....

 

Had similar problems with my '01, and after trying a few repair shops and surfing the internet I came to a couple conclusions. 1)This generation Maxima eats front brakes for breakfast - very high rate of wear. 2) Check and fill your fluid regularly, and 3) IMHO the fronts are too small for the weight of the car (see #1). Could be a bad booster or hung piston in the caliper as well. Hope you find out what works to fix the prob. Please post it if you do.

 

i def will report back... its taking me a min cuz my priority is my turbo S2000 which is complete. i just had to get new wheels/tires so that was a good amount right there..

i did however talk to a performance shop right quick and they said first to bleed the brakes lol

i'm thinking of buying the speed bleeders for the maxima... i heard some bad and good things about those.. bad meaning they leak? but i'm assuming it leaks for folks who always track and are loosening and tightening them up... so not sure what to believe..

maybe someone can chime on those.

 

Got a set installed on my bike.....amazing. Go for it.

 

i almost asked if bikes had calipers.... then i realized you were prolly talking bout an actual motorcycle lol...

i def think i should...

but now i'm wondering should i just open them all up at once? and just keep pumping while adding new fluid? or just do one at a time?

 

Why would you do it that way?

 

IS there *anything* you did to the car near the same time as when this started to occur?

Did they do the brake job and THEN this happened, or within a few weeks of them doing a brake job?
what about engine work? Have you done anything under the hood recently?

Did this just immediately happen and stay this bad, or has it been slowly getting worse over time?

what brand and type of brake pads did the shop install on the car when they did the job?
(If you don't know, then it was probably the $19 junk pads at Autozone and they're absolute crapola.)

Has the car ALWAYS been like this, or you've had the car for years and this started recently?

 

well... i dont know hahaha.. i never used speed bleeders before.. and essentially since the way they work is after installing them in a caliper, you just turn them 1/4 turn open... pump the old fluid out while filling the master cylinder til new fluid comes out... since when you release the pedal and no air comes back in... only fluid goes out..

soooo.. it made sense to me that if i replaced all 4 of the release valves with speed bleeders, i would just turn them all 1/4 turn, keep pumping the brakes while making sure i keep filling up new fluid in the master cylinder untill all new fluid has replaced the old... then close up the speed bleeders..

i mean i could totally be wrong, but that made sense to me. if you can tell me why that wouldnt work i would gladly take any sensible advice as i've never used these before. just curious