Brake light went on about a month ago, then the rear brakes started screaching. I replaced the rear pads, but the right rear callipar wouldn't compress. I took it off, smacked the piston with a hammer (try as I might, it was frozen and a C-clamp just wasn't working), and it finally compressed. I reattached the callipar, bled the brakes and every thing is fine except for two things.

1. The brake light is still on. Do I need to reset the ECU or something?


2. When I reverse and then stop, there is a howeling sound coming from the rear. Is this the new pads, or is something wrong witht he caliper. My thoughts are that the latter is true, but the car doesn't make the sound when I'm moving forward.

I've replaced my brake multiple times on multiple cars, but I've never had something like this happen before.

Any help would be apprecieated.

Thanks
-Ryan

 

to purchase a rebuild kit for your rear caliper....should be $20 or so at your local Nissan dealer. It would be a good idea to change the brake fluid as well.

Hopefully, your caliper isn't bad/unrepairable, as that'll cost you $200 easy....

 

I had the same problem this past weekend. You probably don't need a new caliper. You MIGHT need a rebuild, but I doubt it. However, if you were able to get it back together, I am sure it's fine. Like Bill suggested, I would flush your fluid if I was you. A caliper costs $150 and the rebuild kit costs $14.00 from Nissan. The rebuild isn't tough, but if you screw it up you have to buy a new caliper.
Like I said, if you got it back together and it works, then leave it be and flush your fluid. If the howl continues and is coming from that side, then consider a rebuild. I have logged 500 miles with mine since Sat. and have not had a problem!

Good Luck to you-

SHUMAX

 

did you make sure you have brake fluid in the resevoir?

-Shing

 

How did you use a hammer on the piston? Aren't you suppose to turn it in like a screw?

 

I wondered the same thing. I had to buy a toold for $10 to make it work right. Even then, it was harder than hell to turn!! If he used a hammer...then i take back what I said earlier; I bet he DID ruin his caliper!

SHUMAX

 

resivoir is fine, all fluid is to the optimum level. I wasn't aware that you needed to screw the calipar in. In all my years working on my hondas, I simply used a C-clamp to push the piston back down. I didn't know that I needed to screw them. If that's the case, I probably phucked it up.

 

I bet that you did ***** is up... The suto parts sells a piece that looks like a small box. Each side of the box has a pattern on it that lines up with different manuf. caliper pistons. You stick a 3/8 drive in one end and go to town on your caliper. That thing was a piece of junk though, let me tell you! The professionals have a tool that cost about $200 I was told. It clamps onto the caliper and you put a drill on the end and away you go. If you tried that on this piece you would strip it out. The pro's tool won't allow you to slip. Refer to page 10-4 or 9-4 in the Chiltons for more info on it.
Again, if it isn;t smoking or dragging then leave it alone. If you start to notice any of the above I would take it apart and try the rebuild. What do you have to lose but $14? If you manage to ***** that up then you have to buy a new caaliper that will cost you $150 ish.

Email me if you need more help. I honestly did this last weekend. A pain, but I learned a great deal!

SHUMAX

 

well, no dragging that I can speak of now and no smoke. I've touched the wheels after driving to feel for heat, and nothing. The car doesn't seem to take any longer to stop either. I'll just see what I can. Thanks for the info

-Ryan

 

Did everyone miss this??? He said he smashed the piston with a hammer because the c-clamp didn't work. Hmm..you know you need a special tool to turn the brake piston counterclosewise or was it closewise to compress it. The caliper is probably ruined if you smashed hard enough that it actually compressed with out the special tool.

 

Hey mine were hot as hell the first 100 miles when I stopped. I even got that burnt clutch smell too. I finally deduced it was the goo from the anti squeal crap burning off.

Good luck and keep an eye on it!

SHUMAX

 

everyone should call me stupid......

I missed that he had a 99.

Ryan,

There is something funny about the 99 rear calipers. They DON'T behave correctly. Here's a TSB:

************
Service Bulletin Number: NTB99031
Bulletin Sequence Number: 500
Date of Bulletin: 9905
NHTSA Item Number: SB604997
Make: NISSAN
Model: MAXIMA
Year: 1999
Component: BRAKES:HYDRAULIC SYSTEM
Summary: EXHIBITING REAR BRAKE GROAN / HUMMING NOISE AFTER RELEASING BRAKE PEDAL. *TT EXHIBITING REAR BRAKE GROAN / HUMMING NOISE AFTER RELEASING BRAKE PEDAL. *TT EXHIBITING REAR BRAKE GROAN / HUMMING NOISE AFTER RELEASING BRAKE PEDAL. *TT EXHIBITING REAR BRAKE GROAN / HUMMING NOISE AFTER RELEASING BRAKE PEDAL. *TT
************

 

Hammer wasn't the best idea....so ****. Only transportation and nothing left to do... So I might have phucked up the Callipar, I can live with that. Took me all of 5 minutes to get over at the time and I'm not going to worry about it now.

OK, let the logic speak for itself here. A piston is meant to compress when hydrolic pressure is applied. If you needed to screw anything to get the piston back up then all our brakes would remain permanetly depressed after depressing the pedal. That's not the case. When pressure is release, the piston looses backpressure and now has forward pressure coming from the spinning rotor, and thus it retracts slightly with minute imperfections in the orbit of the rotor pushing against the pads to give it a free and unimpeided spin. Also, as the pads wears down, the brake pedal gets softer due to "slack" in the system. Why would I have to "screw" anything to retract the piston? I'm not a professoinal mechanic by any means, but It doesn't make sence.

 

I don't know man....that's what it said in the factory service manual. It has something to do with self adjusting parking brake mechanism or something. When I turned the piston with the special tool, it retracted without any effort.

 

Like I said, I am not a mechanic, but I have enough mechanical knowledge in most cases. Many people here at the .org are too afraid to replace a muffler, and ask an auto shop to do if for them. I understand that some people don't like to work with their hands, get dirty or chance breaking something on their car. That's fine. In my opinion, they're not enthusiasts untill they put the effort in themselves. Giving up before you try is never an admirable quality, although knowing when your in over your head is.

It wasn't difficult to see that the parking/emergency brake needed to be unhitched before the piston would depress again. I'm confident that I didn't damage any parts. The hammering that I did wasn't they type that you do to drive a nail into a 2x4 but rather to drive a pin into gyp. Just enough to free it up, like a tap. I'm sure that the sound is just my pads wearing in as nothing has overheated and the right rear rotor surface isn't rusting over.

The main question now, what is the process of resetting the ECU?

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?threadid=39141

 

 

Thanks for the input and the battle story That's the way I do things too. Having worked on just about every mechanical problem an '83 Accord Hatchback could throw at me, plus having a degree in Architecture has given me insight to situations that most people tend to stray from. Auto mechanics is usually pretty simple once you understand the function of the problem in question, yet simple solutions sometimes require a calm attitude and special tools that only a few people have.

 

I don't have the same opinion, but I do stand behind my comment that the solution is usually simple. The test is diagnosing the problem and advising a correct solution while having the patients to fix it correctly.

Maybe you've heard this one... A man retires from a manufacturing plant that has produces specialized machines for NASA. He developed the process and the machines himself and had overseen production and devlopment for over 30 years. 6 months after retireing, the company frantically contacts him and asks him to come in and diagnose the cause of a problem that they can seem to isolate. After carefully examining the machine, he pulls a piece of chalk out of his pocket and makes a "X" on the side of a panel and say "fix this". They fix the part and everything runs fine. He tells them that that's going to be $1 million. The refuse to give it to him without an invoice breakdown. When they recieve the invoice it reads:

1 piece of chalk: $.50
knowing where to mark the "X": $999,999.50


I wasn't trying to trivialize auto mechanics or mechanical engineering...

Architecture isn't about proportion... It's about system integration and structureal integrity. A beautiful building is what happens when you understand proportion in addition to form, function, building systems and structural integrity. A beautiful building isn't required to call it architecture, but most prefer it.