I just put the new stud in, reassembled everything, and now I have a brake light.
How do I go about diagnosing/fixing this problem?
I hanged the caliper off the spring as required while working on the stud. Also, it appears that the brake fluid is slightly above Max. Not sure if that was the case before.
There doesn't appear to be a leak.
Thanks.

 

I had the handbrake on.
I put the handbrake on to set the car in neutral to rotate the front hub to put the stud in position.
Since I never use the handbrake in other cases, I forgot about it.
Daniel, thanks a lot. This was very easy.

 

That dashboard warning light is a multi-purpose device. It may mean ...
- handbrake on
- brake fluid reservoir low
- bad master cylinder

Glad you found your problem.

Did you make a diagnosis on the rubbing rear brake?

Your good results with replacing broken wheel studs will encourage other Maxima owners to do their own repairs. The man who fixes his own car ...
- saves money
- learns more about how his car works
- takes pride in his skill and self-reliance

Keep up the good work!

 

Hi. I think the rotor is warped, because it rubs more in one point then other.
But it rubs a little at other points as well, and I think it could be because of this:
The lower rubber joint attaching caliper to the caliper bracket appears not to be intact. In fact, after I hung the caliper off the spring, and tried hanging bracket off caliper, the two almost separated. There appears to be some lubricant showing at the end of that rubber neck. Anyways, I think those joints are responsible for pulling apart the pads when the brake is released, so that is probably the reason for rubbing.
Anyways, when I put everything together, I pulled the rubber neck to cover that grease, (see pic).
But I am not sure how much of spring action it can provide.
So there is probably just one spring pulling the pads apart instead of two.
I am planning to take the car to brake shop to service rear axel, since the pads are almost finished, and I need the rotor resurfaced (the heat generated from this slight rubbing might be the culprit).
Is that something they might fix free, or is there a way to fix it yourself and avoid getting hosed. I don't see a way to repair it short of replacing the caliper bracket.
Is there a mechanical spring inside those rubber necks or do they rely on the pressure of that grease for rebound?

 

So "supertool" is just a catchy name, huh?

 

But name comes from term my friend uses for super geek.
I don't know why he uses it.

 

Inside the caliper there is a rubber piston seal which keeps the hydraulic fluid from escaping. The piston seal is similar to an O-ring except the cross section is square, not round. This seal distorts when you step on the brake pedal and recovers when you release the pedal. This ring has a second job: it retracts the piston a tiny amount.

The springs on the pads are called Pad Return Spring but their principal purpose is to reduce rattle. Lots of disk brake designs don't have them. IIRC, the 4Gen Maxima has them on the front brakes only, and the 3Gen Maxima doesn't use them at all.

The rubber bellows surrounding the main pins are only to keep grease in and water out. There are no springs hiding under them. The grease is only for lubrication.

 

I believe the caliper is fine. No leaks or anything.
I am going to take it to a brake place to replace pads and resurface rotors. Let them worry about it.

 

Daniel, does "IIRC" stand for "If I ReCall?"

 

Sorry, I didn't intend to be cryptic. There are many initializations which are in common use on the Web. If you see an unfamiliar one you may use an on-line "dictionary" to interpret it.

These are good, and there are others.
http://www.acronymfinder.com/
http://www.utd.edu/ir/tcs/techsupp/acronyms.html#I

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly
AFAIK = As Far As I Know
WYSIWYG = What You See Is What You Get
RTFM = Read The F**king Manual
TANSTAAFL - There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch
IANAL - I Am Not A Lawyer
FWIW - For What It's Worth
etc. etc. etc.

 

FWIW, I feel I should have RTFM on this. Thanks...