bert

I just had the brake TSB done. Before the work the brake was spongy. Now it's no better. Any clues?

The loaner Altima had far better brakes! No, it wasn't a 2002 Altima. :-(

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

Could you possibly have air bubbles in the brake lines? The brake TSB just calls for servicing the rotors. It really should not affect pedal feel too much...

max'n out

Brake pads are prob worn...Get new performance ones and some new ss brakelines. That should give you better feeling

Maximam

I would be looking at the master...sounds bad. Air in the lines would be alot worse than spongy, check the master.

Mark

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

hey no offense to you guys, but i dont think you guys should be recommending service if you dont know what your talkin about.
Disc brakes are self adjusting, meaning a 10% worn pad will have the same pedal travel as a 80% worn pad. A worn pad wont cause spongy pedal. It is possible that SS lines will give better feel but i feel usually those come under moderate-heavy braking.

A bad Master Cylinder will have a hard pedal, not a spongy or soft pedal. Try braking with the engine off and thats how a bad Master cylinder feels. air in the lines will be a spongy pedal. Whats alot worse then spongy? no brakes? hehe no good man

Maximum Velocity

iTrader: (3)

At first the braking was nice and tight/responsive, but now it's been pretty spongy lately too. Was the braking pretty firm for you guys when you first got the car?

Norm Peterson

It is possible for the master cylinder to be bypassing some fluid, particularly if it has a quick take-up feature. Or the ABS hardware could be at fault. Both of those faults will cause a low pedal. There was an article on low pedal written up in "Brake & Front End" magazine about this recently.

Norm

mike-777

You had air in the system before and it is still there.

A decent mechanic would have bled the system and this is what you need. If this doesn't fix it, air is getting in from somewhere.

Maximam

I feel your advice isn't all that good either Turbo95Max. A bad master CAN feel spongy or soft if it is bad. In the last 11 years of driving/racing cars I have never come up with a bad master that was "hard". My experience with air in the lines is usually worse than just a spongy feel that is why I was looking at the master but not counting it out.

Don't say we should not be recommending service just because your experience is different from ours.

Mark

cmf

when abs systems are to be bleed, the abs connectors must be disconnected first, otherwise the abs system will hold air in itself....it's in the service manual

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

Maximam, i apologize, i was thinking the wrong thing. You said bad master, i automatically assumed in my head that it was bad booster unit. Bad booster unit will cause hard pedal. If there was secondary cup failure in the master it can cause a very low pedal, which i belive is what you were trying to get it. You do agree worn brakes wont cause low pedal rite?
However i am not recommending something based on my experince, i am recommending it based on FACT. Your experince would be the same as my experince cause it is fact and fact doesnt change.


ABS failure wont cause low pedal because the ABS is an add on feature, meaning if it fails youll still have your regular braking. Having air in the system is different tho.

RussMaxManiac

Correct. Air in the lines will cause this sponge feeling. I had that feeling when I got my car, thats why I rebleed my brakes with new fluid, and man, what a difference!

RussMaxManiac

Well, hard meaning it takes you to the floor and you hit the stop. My dads grandam was like this, and we think the master was bad. Glad it's gone now....he just got a 2001 Altima.

RussMaxManiac

Umm no, obviously you don't know much about brakes.... lol. ABS only has sensors on the actual brakes that sense the speed of each wheel. It has got nothing to do with the fluid in the brakes.

almason

If you don't want to pull the four ABS connectors, the other option listed the factory service manual is to disconnect the negative battery cable during the bleed process.

LoveSick

you know, it could be the fluid in the brake system. When my Legend was maintenanced by a local tune up shop, they gave me some cheap brake fluid. That time, I just had fluid changed, no cylinder nor pads, just brake fluid. I immediately felt the mush in the pedal.

But in your case, it has nothing to do with cheap fluid because nissan uses oem stuff. In my case, the fluid were basically extreme crap.

Max_5gen

iTrader: (2)

I don't know for sure but ABS definetely has something to do with braking fluid - it causes fluid pressure pulsation in case of locked wheel. ABS connected to the system and CAN hold air in it but ABS sensors has nothing to do with the fluid - they're just sensors with wires. I'd suggest to bleed brakes first - took about 1 hour all 4 wheels with the help of my 9 year old son . You'd need clear plastic hose 4mm diameter (internal) and 10 mm(if I recall correctly) wrench. Each caliper has own bleeding valve. You put your car on the jack, take off the wheel, put one end of plastic hose on the valve another - into some kind of glass and ask helping person to push brake pedal several times. Then he need to push it and hold in that state while you loose bleeding valve by wrench(don't take it out, just loose). Brake fluid'll come out through the hose and you'll notice if it has any air in it. Then you tight valve back - only after that your helper can release pedal. He'd actually feel that the pedal will go down as liquid will be coming out. Repeat this procedure until you won't see any air coming out or at least couple times. Don't forget to tight your valves back!!! After you finished with bleeding - add some fluid to the system to proper level.

Just my 2 cents.

Eric L.

A bad master cylinder can also trigger the brake warning light (the one that comes on with the parking brake) to come on if there an internal valve failure. Like all cars, the Maxima's master cylinder has a dual system, and if one fails the other one still works (one front, one rear brake), and the brake light will come on.

A bad brake booster will cause a very hard pedal, and is easy to test. With the engine off, step down on the brake several times until the pedal is rock hard. Still stepping on the brake, start the engine. The brake pedal should immediately go lower, with addition of engine vacuum to power the brakes. If you don't get pedal movement, you have a problem with either engine vacuum or the brake booster. Another easy way to test is to stop the vehicle while it in motion with engine off...you need to step down on the brake once to relieve the reserve vacuum first, then step down again to stop the vehicle...pedal effort will be considerate. That is how it feels if you have a defective brake booster.

Vinipux

WRONG, it's not the front/rear systems, its a diagonal system, front left+right rear and front right+left rear, they want at least one front and back working at the same time, if you have front brakes fail then you're screwed because rear brakes do about 30-40% of the breaking

Konstantin

THEKNITE

iTrader: (1)

In my old car i used to experience soft brake pedal,but that was due to over use and extreme heat. Crossed-drilled Brembo's rotors solved it. Maybe the spongyness is normal, my brake pedal is very smooth.