Hello, so I'm conducting a brake bleed. I notice the fluid that in in my lines is a brown type color. But the new fluid I got is clear. Should I do a complete flush? Or is brown (redish, maybe?) normal?

 

Flush until the fluid coming out is clear. Do this at all 4 wheels.

 

Okay, I completed a flush. I believe the fuild comming out is clear. I used a whole bottle of Brake Fluid. But, my brakes still suck. My pedal has so much traveling distance. I cannot stop quickly. Seems like my pads still don't grab the rotor tightly. I think I have to adjust the pedal now. What else should I try?

 

You gotta have air in the system. DO NOT DRIVE the car until you or someone who knows how to, bleeds the brakes. The pedal should be HARD.

 

It was like this right after I got my rear brakes done at the Nissan Dealer. My dad said there was nothing wrong with them.

But, it doesn't feel normal...

 

It takes awhile for new brake pads to seat properly. Don't be too hard on the brakes for the first week or so after replacement. The brake pedal will firm up after awhile.

 

No matter what was done to the brakes, after about the first two brake pedal pumps the brake pedal should still be FIRM and travel no more than 2 to 3 inches max. If the pedal is approaching the floor then there is air in the system. How did you bleed/flush the brakes anyway???

 

It felt like this, the same as it does now, the day I got my Maxima back from the dealer. That was back in September 2004.

Yea, my pedal isn't that firm. It not approaching the floor, but during hard stops I can get the pedal to "bottom out". On some stops, I can bottom out the pedal before the car even stops. And it's hard to lock the tires. I opened the bleeder valves on each caliper. I did it in this order: RP, FD, RD, FP. I had someone step on the brake a couple times for each caliper. Then, I closed the valve. I added new fluid when I needed to. There wasn't a difference in before and after. It's weird...

 

The order is suppose to be R-Pass, F-pass, R-drivers, then last F-Drivers

Your master clyinder may be shot...Bleed again in the right order, and see if that helps

-matt

 

With a master cylinder leak (fluid will drip at the attach flange on the brake booster) or internal bypass (fluid may drop in one reservoir and go up in the other one, although I don't think you can see that on the MAXI.) you still will usually have a "firm" pedal, but with a constant push on the brake pedal the brake pedal will start sinking (usually slowly) to the floor......but you can "pump" it back up and the pedal will still be "firm" and the braking action somewhat normal until you repeat the steady push again etc. If the brakes were normal before the dealer did the work then they seem to have been the cause of this problem. Since the early 80s and the better materials used for master cylinders, calipers/cylinders, fluid leaks are not nearly as common. I still think that there is air in the system. Bleeding systems with ABS can take longer because of the ABS module.

 

Okay, so I did bleed them in the wrong order. I don't think bleeding them again would help, but you never know. I was thinking the master cylinder my be bad.

I don't have ABS on my Maxima. I bought my Maxima and decided to bring it to the dealer for a tune up. The dealer saw that the rear brakes were completely warn out. They replace both e-brake cables, rotors, pads, and calipers. Before the dealer touched the car, the pedal was perfect (that could be part of the sticky e-brake cable). But anyway, I got the car back from the dealer and I had to push the pedal down real far to stop. Now my brakes feel weak. It takes the fun out of driving the car. I would rather drive my mom's 2000 Maxima GXE.

 

It could also be the piston o-ring in the master cylinder is allowing fluid to seep around the piston - so you aren't getting good pressure in the brake lines (to apply the brakes). This will not show up as a "leak".

If the braking performance changed right after you got the work done at the dealer, why not take it back and make them fix it.

 

Because my dad is a retard. I told him about it and he even test drove it. He didn't really think of it as a problem, but knew there was one there. He did talked to the dealer and they told him the 2000 Maxima's brakes are more sensitive than the 1996's. Wow that was a lot of help. He would rather not screw around with my brakes so I think I'm on my own...

 

Now, If I would go examine the master cylinder, what should I look out for? Leaking fluid or what else?

 

It is one of 3 things:
1. You still have air in the system (i.e. while bleeding, you still let air get sucked into the lines)
2. You have a leak - in which case you should see brake fluid somewhere external to the system and you should also see the level in the master cylinder reservoir getting lower.
3. Your master cylinder piston o-ring is letting fluid "squeeze" by.

I am guessing it's #1 or #3. The cheapest and quickest thing to do is to find someone (who knows EXACTLY what they are doing) to help you bleed the brakes again. If the problem persists, then I would start looking around for a new master cylinder.

 

Ok, thanks for all the help guys. I'll take it to some brake shop soon...

 

How easy is a master cylinder to install?

 

http://www1.autozone.com/servlet/UiB...3d801f5acb.jsp

 

Cool, Thanks!

 

Before thinking about changing the master cylinder please do a complete rebleed first. It may take longer and require more fluid than you may think, particularly if there is still air in the master cylinder. It takes real coordination between the "bleeder" and the person that is pushing and releasing the pedal. Can you get help from someone who has successfully bled brakes before? Think about it. If the brakes felt "perfect" like you say, before the damn dealer did the complete rear brake job, then they have screwed up somehow. They should never have released the car to you with the brakes the way you describe them. But after all this time and since you have disturbed the system, you may have a hard sell trying to get them to remedy the situation. I still think that it is just air in the system. Your car's brakes should feel just like your mother's '00 brakes. Just the fact that the fluid that you bled from the rear calipers was "brown" indicates the dealer didn't even flush the old fluid from the rear system before installing/bleeding the new calipers. The perfect time to do a proper and complete flush is when you change components!! They did a chintzy job!

 

P. Samson, you are a very intelligent fellow. I will talk this situation over with my dad and see what he actually wants to do about it now that I got all this information.

 

After rereading your post above on your bleeding procedure that you used, you state that you had someone pump the pedal a couple of times and then you closed the bleeder. Or did I not understand? You do know that you must close the bleeder BEFORE your helper allows the pedal to come back up. This is for EACH and EVERY pedal "downstroke" and release. In other words the bleeder is open only on the "downstroke". And in your case it may take a lot more than a couple of "pumps" to ensure proper bleeding. And of course frequent checking/adding fluid in the reservoir. If you haven't been doing it, it really helps to have clear plastic tubing connected to the bleeder so that you can see the fluid and/or air in the fluid coming out of the bleeder. This is the "poor mans" bleeding procedure. The shops usually have pressure bleeding equipment which is quicker and easier. Sorry if this all sounds obvious. Sounds like you are leaning towards taking the car to a shop anyway.

 

Yea, I'm pretty sure I did it right. But I don't know. Anyway, my dad is going to talk to the dealer about it on Friday when our other Maxima gets a lube job. Thanks for the help guys.

 

That's a scary statement when dealing with brakes ....

 

i got my rear calipers done at pepboys and the guy who did it flused the system 3 times cause he thought there was air in the system, he then called me and i came down and realized thats just the way my pedal is. soft like a grocery getter not hard like a sports car

 

Almost seems like my problem. Although my mom does take her Maxima to Stop & Shop and those brake are awesome...

I've learned to just totally ignore every single post you make.

 

everyone just relax a bit yo.. we all can be uncertain about things when we are green and noob at it, especially with something as the BRAKES !!!.. i am pretty sure we all can tell if our brakes can't and won't grip. soft/ hard pedal feel is another thing.

trust urself, yet don't be arrogant. i know im like that. i did my first brake flush with my dad on my honda and we felt the car being much better.. it was brown, dark and then turned clear. anyhow im sure u did it alright. it isn't as bad as u think it to be. but ya ask people.

good luck

 

Good someone bumped this post. I brought my car to a place for them to fix the brakes. I'll tell you all about it when I get it back around 1:30. I have so much to say...

 

There is something wrong with the brake. Brake pedal to the floor is not good. You may want to check the following:

1. Master cylinder: Apply constant, moderate pressure on the brake pedal (as if you are trying to stop from 45 MHP). If the pedal continues to sink to the floor (after a minute of pressure), then the master cylinder is bad. It is important to maintain constant pressure on the brake pedal, don't try to push it harder to see if it will go lower during this test.

2. Air in the brake system. If the master cylinder is okay, but the pedal is spongy or soft, then is is most likely there is air is the system. Rebleed all 4 corners. Make sure to close the bleed valve prior to releasing the brake pedal (up stroke). Attach a clear tube to the bleed valve so you can see when there is no more air coming out. Don't ever let the brake reservoir runs dry or you have to rebleed all 4 corners again. (If there is too much air in the system, you need to repeat bleeding all 4 corners a second time)

3. If someone just works on the rear brake, and the pedal suddenly goes soft, it is possible the rear pad is not installed correctly. The pad had a nub (small like a pea) that needs to align with the cut out on the piston head. Check both sides of the rear brake.

4. If the car is old, the rubber brake hoses may go bad and balloon under pressure. I don't know how to check for this. This is where an upgrade to stainless steel would be nice.

5. Are you losing brake fluid? Check all corners and the firewall for brake fluid.

Maxima brake is not great, but is is okay. Pedal should be high and firm. Note: I have stock brake and Raybestos QS pad, nothing fancy.

 

damn i reread ur stuff. its not air. ur MC is shot.. and that f*ing scary on a v6, let alone any car.

my other car was like that. it'd stop and hold, then a few seconds it'd sink, and the car would lurk forward, and hold SLIGHTLY. i had to use EBRAKE, lower gear, damn it was scary.. stop driving it and fix it. more than likely if ur MC is shot, ur pedal won't have the pressure to hold. spongy usually equates to air in system, but then again it all depends.. u shouldn't have to bottom out,

replace ur MC
1- bleed ur MC
2- install MC
3- bleed whole system. the farthest IME, has most bubbles.

then test ur car out, u should be good...