96 GXE 5 speed without ABS.

I just bled my brake system and put in new fluid (DOT3, so it's perfectly compatible). I bled the system in the proper order, and I was doing it with a person who has bled tons of systems, so he knows what he's doing. I am going road racing monday, so I wanted to get as much of the old fluid out as possible. We didnt realize the resevior splits into 2 sections, 1 for the back brakes and one for the front brakes until we had accidentally entirely drained the front brake resevior (we had done all 4 corners by this time, and had not gotten any air into the system previously). We put fluid into the resevior and then started flushing the front right again, and got rid of quite a bit of air until we were back to squirting out only fluid again. We re-did the front left, and squirted out any air, and got to pure fluid. we topped off the resevior and went driving.

The brake system seems to work fine... I have good stopping power and I can lock them up at will (i dont have ABS). however, it SEEMS to me that I have to push the pedal down much farther than I previously did to stop at a normal rate. I am worried that I might be imagining this however.

My question is this... if there happens to be some air in the system, would it still be possible to be able to brake hard and even lock them up? The reason I think I might be imagining is because Ii can still brake just as hard as I need to, and lock them up easily. It just SEEMS like I need to exert more pressure on the pedal. I am road racing on monday and I need to figure this out quickly.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

I DO NOT HAVE MY STAINLESS STEEL LINES INSTALLED YET. Just to clear that up, I'm still using stock lines.

 

How does the pedal feel? Mushy or firm?
I think it's difficult to remember how much pedal travel was needed for full lockup, especially if there wasn't a lot of air in the old fluid. However, if there is a significant amount of air, the pedal will feel spongy and braking may be compromised. I think you are talking about the potential for "some" air residual and that is certainly possible. YOu certainly can get a slightly "softer" pedal but still have max braking.

If you are worried, try bleeding again. Brake fluid is relatively cheap. Some even recommend rebleeding a few days later as a routine. If you are into racing, consider speedbleeders. They make one man bleeding simple and you certainly might benefit from more frequent brake bleeding.

 

actually the Maxima is a diagonal split system. Front Left/Rear right, Front Right/Rear Left. Do you have any leaks? You can try rebleeding the system and follow whats recommened...

 

Turbo, i wasnt aware that it was a diagonal split. that could very well explain it. i will rebleed the entire system tomorrow night and hopefully it will firm up. the pedal feels rather mushy. im crossing my fingers that it will work. thanks guys.