I changed the brake cylinders in my rear drums on my 91 GXE with out ABS and noticed my brake pedals feel softer than before. Before i changed them, it felt pretty bad already. I changed the back right one first and bled the lines. THen i did the back left and bled the brakes.. After i did that, i took it for a test drive and the pedal felt softer than before. It travels almost all the way to the floor before maximum braking pressure is felt. So today i thought i could fix it if i bled the fronts but there weren't really any bubbles coming out. After that bleeding, it felt pretty much the same. So my question is, how do i adjust or fix the brakes so that braking is actually felt at the initial depression of the brake pedal? I don't feel very safe having to press on the brakes all the way before my brakes start working. Is there something i can adjust? Does bleeding the brake system usuall cure this? Please help!

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

you probably changed the brake fluid correct? I think over time the brake fluid will "break in" and be firmer over a short period of time. How long has it been since you did this?

Brian

 

i've always had pretty soft, low pedal feel. I just changed the rear cylinders yesterday and some brake fluid did get out. I refilled it and bled the rears yesterday. I was thinking that i may need new brake lines but that should only cause soft pedal feel and not a low brake point. Is there any way to adjust this?

Thanks..

 

i wish i could just put my foot on the brake a little bit and feel the stopping power but i have to really push on the break for it to stop i would like touchy brakes not squishy

any clue on how to do this? BTW i have new brake pads

 

When you replaced the cylinders for the drum brakes, did you adjust them (the starwheel thing you turn with a flathead screwdriver or similar tool) so that your brake shoes are right up close against the drums?

 

I may be a "noob" around here, but thats plain nonsense.

Brake fluid has been carefully formulated to absolutely NOT exhibit a variable characteristic at all.

Long pedal travel:
Tom is probably right ito adjustment with a long pedal travel.
Could also be a master cylinder acting up because of worn valves/rubbers.
Rear axle load sense valve assembly ok ?
Front wheel-bearings in good condition? - if they are badly worn the could cause the disk to push the calipers back a lot further than normal requiring a lot more movement before things become solid.

Soft brakes:
Check brake linings not partially separating from metal base?.
Absolutely sure all the air is out of system.?
Rubber flexible hoses all in good order - not bulging when brake pedal is applied?
Front wheel bearing worn apply here too.

 

when I flushed my lines my pedal feel/pressure increased quite abit

 

What Tom said. Make sure nothing is binding, that the drum shoes have plenty of material and make sure you have the rears adjusted properly. Spelled out in the manual

 

Thanks Tom and Jeff92SE for your responses.

Is the Starwheel thing you're talking about the silver rod like thing that has forked ends that can turn to to shorten the rod? It is located below the cylinders and pushes against both pads horizontally? If this is what you're talking about, i did adjust that. The first time i tried to put the drum back on, it didn't fit, so i turned one end of the forked rod to shorten it. I tried again, and the drum did go over it but was tight when i tried to turn it. Is this normal? Does it loosen after you start the car up drive around? So i took the drum off and shortened the rod some more and put the drum back on and it spun pretty freely. So would this adjustment alone cause long pedal travel? Is there something else in the braking system that i can adjust to fix this long pedal travel?

Thanks..

 

Yes, that's what he's talking about.
the handle on the parking brake should come up 8-10 'clicks' before you can't pull the handle any farther. if not, then the startwheel needs adjusting.

pull your parking brake lever up several (2-3 dozen times my even be necessary if the adjuster is a long way off. about 8 clicks per turn, and 3 turns will result in 24 clicks off- which takes 24 applications of the parking brake handle to fix)...

do this while the car is slowly rolling backwards and you're not pressing the brake at all. (just find an empty parking lot or street with no traffic)



That said, there could be several problems here. try re-bleeding the rear cylinders again, this time using a helper. pump up the pedal several times before opening the bleeder, then close it while the pedal is on the floor. If you just open it and pump with the 1-man bleeder kits, you can have issues like this later on, and you'll never fix it by yourself.

Also, you CAN have spongy fluid that needs time to break in. as absurd as it sounds, I have that problem on my car. (and trust me, I know how to bleed my brakes). in my system, it's always mushy for the first 100 miles or so after bleeding the system. don't know if it's the ATE blue fluid or the combination of huge 4 piston calipers and this fluid. doesn't matter- they work well enough at first and get better with time.

 

My hand brake is another problem.. It doesn't work. I pull all the way and it doesn't brake at all. I can move while i'm in drive and off the brake pedal while the hand brake is up.. I was told that i could adjust the hand brakes through hand brake handle area. Is this true?

So Matt93SE, what you're saying is that pulling my parking brake up several dozen times will adjust the starwheel? Right now, i get barely any braking when pulling the hand brake all the way to the limit. So I would need to pull the hand brake a lot of times?

 

don't adjust the brake through the handbrake adjuster nut. do it like I said above and you'll be okay. just get to the driveway and start pumping on that handle. eventually you'll have brakes again.

 

im actually going to Dunwoody (if you dont know about the school, it is ranked in the top 5 i think of the nation) and we just finished the braking system, my teacher said this exact thing happens all the time. its from people not using their parking brake enough to adjust their rear drums, then since they arent used they seize up... make sure to put alittle antiseize on the adjuster and alittle on the six raised marks on the backing plate (got a 42/50 on the test yesturday )

 

Does it matter if i'm rolling or can i do this while in park? Is rolling forward ok, or does it have to be backwards?

I know you said to do it while rolling backwards but since i didn't have time to do it, i just ried pulling on the hand brake (probably about 20 times all together) while i was warming up my car in park and it didn't do anything.

 

for some reason I've been told to do it rolling backwards.. just go down the street backwards very slowly for a few seconds.. take a couple minutes to do it.

I'm assuming you DID reconnect the parking brake cables inside the drums when you put everything back together, correct?

 

you dont need to be moving, your parking brake lever (or whatever device nissan uses for the parking brake) should be right up next to the starwheel adjuster and should always adjust it whether you moving or not... thats why even autos should use their parking brake (if you have drums)

 

ok, during my lunch brake i took my car to the end of the lot and tried again. THis time i was rolling backwards, approximately 50-75 ft in neutral. as i was rolling back, i was pulling the hand brake furiously. Probably got about 20 - 25 pulls. still, i wasn't slowing down, and my hand brake wasn't doing any braking. i'm almost positive i did re-connect the parking brake cables. i think i'm probably going to check and re-adjust the drums this weekend. Also, after i adjusted the brakes and when i'm putting the drum back on, should the pads be touching the drums? SHould the drum spin freely when put back on? Or will the brakes self adjust when pressing the brake pedal a few times.

 

the shoes should just barely be dragging against the drum when everything is installed properly and adjusted. If they turn freely, then you can adjust the starwheel out a few steps and put the drum back on. continue doing this until you have proper adjustment.
IIRC, ther'es a little rubber plug on the back of the backing plate that you can use to adjust it.. been a while since I've looked there, but I think there is.