Brakes feel soft 97 Pathfinder

[Chrisbalkissoon]

So basically my brakes having been giving me problems since my accident. I got into an accident and the brakes were okay before the accident still not the best but they feel better than they did now. but basically I fixed the entire car up and looks good as new but the only thing is after fixing it I tried driving it around and the brakes felt really bad so I decided why not bleed it so I did it like 2 times didn’t change a thing. Then I saw my abs light was on so I decided to change out wheel sensors I just changed out the rear passenger and light came off but then came back on so I said it might be the abs pump so I replaced that. After replacing the lights came off and then I tried bleeding it again and still nothing it felt the same so i got really pissed and just took it to the dealer. Worst decision I ever made they pissed me off even more they gave me the run around and didn’t even fix the car. Charged me $90 for a diagnostic only to tell me it could be the master cylinder or abs pump but they wanna charge me to put on new parts and test it. Told them no and drove it back home. so I replaced my master cylinder and bench bled it and bled all the brakes again with a harbor freight hydraulic bleeder I hooked it up to the air compressor and just held the trigger. and it helped a little way better than before but I still feel like it has air in the system. the abs light came back on but I found out it’s the passenger side wheel sensor that’s bad so I’ll be replacing that soon. but do u guys have any idea why my brakes could still be so soft. I heard about if u replace your abs pump you have to get it cycled to let air out, certain valves and solenoids have to open up in the pump to let the air out is that true for my car any help will be appreciated.

[Hawairish]

I'm a bit curious how soft brakes got associated with the ABS components. Yes, they're related in a braking sense...but unless a low traction condition exists, the ABS system is dormant during regular braking. If braking feels soft normally, then ABS has nothing to do with it. In fact, if the ABS light is illuminated, about the only thing it does is disable ABS...it wouldn't worsen braking condition, except perhaps by allowing the brakes to lock up under hard braking.

So, what all did repairing entail? Did you need to disconnect the brake lines to repair anything? If so, how long where the lines disconnected, and where they capped when disconnected? Particularly for the rear brakes, usually when I disconnect those and bleed them, I always do a few more rounds of pumping even after the bubbles have stopped...and you'd be surprised how often another set of bubbles comes out. What is the condition of the brake parts? Are you scanning the ABS module to get actual error codes when attempting to fix that problem?

My advice is to fix the braking problem first; ignore the ABS part for now. They are separate issues. It reads like you're throwing parts at a problem. The wheel sensors have nothing to do with hydraulic pressure, except when the ABS module is actually pulsing the brakes to prevent lock-up.

For what it's worth, I have two Nissans—an 04 Pathfinder and 98 Frontier. The Pathfinder has had the ABS light on for a few months, and the Frontier almost always has had the ABS light on and off for, oh, maybe 10 years. The braking in the Pathfinder is superb. The Frontier was braking better before I changed and rebuilt all the brake components; just means I need to bleed it some more.

[Chrisbalkissoon]

I'm a bit curious how soft brakes got associated with the ABS components. Yes, they're related in a braking sense...but unless a low traction condition exists, the ABS system is dormant during regular braking. If braking feels soft normally, then ABS has nothing to do with it. In fact, if the ABS light is illuminated, about the only thing it does is disable ABS...it wouldn't worsen braking condition, except perhaps by allowing the brakes to lock up under hard braking.

So, what all did repairing entail? Did you need to disconnect the brake lines to repair anything? If so, how long where the lines disconnected, and where they capped when disconnected? Particularly for the rear brakes, usually when I disconnect those and bleed them, I always do a few more rounds of pumping even after the bubbles have stopped...and you'd be surprised how often another set of bubbles comes out. What is the condition of the brake parts? Are you scanning the ABS module to get actual error codes when attempting to fix that problem?

My advice is to fix the braking problem first; ignore the ABS part for now. They are separate issues. It reads like you're throwing parts at a problem. The wheel sensors have nothing to do with hydraulic pressure, except when the ABS module is actually pulsing the brakes to prevent lock-up.

For what it's worth, I have two Nissans—an 04 Pathfinder and 98 Frontier. The Pathfinder has had the ABS light on for a few months, and the Frontier almost always has had the ABS light on and off for, oh, maybe 10 years. The braking in the Pathfinder is superb. The Frontier was braking better before I changed and rebuilt all the brake components; just means I need to bleed it some more.

Well thanks so much for your response but yeah the condition of the parts are basically new the abs pump I replaced was from a junkyard pathfinder but it was running and the mast cylinder was bought brand new I guess I will get back to bleeding