Brakes, mine suck, fluid flush needed?? 01+

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longhornsqx4
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My brakes dont feel as good as I think they used to, theres been a couple times, when at pretty high speeds, or after a couple hard corners, I feel as if my brakes are fading, and barely stopping my car, Ive actually missed a turn a time or two. And Id like for the next time it happens not to be in the rear of someone.

My front brakes are new, standard pads and rotors. Rears I dont quite understand (at all). But Im moreso possibly concerrned about fluid, I checked it today, the resevoir is full, and appears clean, but my friend said it could be 50% water and I couldnt tell the difference by looks.

My question is, is there a best way to drain out the majority or all of the fluid and replace it with new stuff?? Procedure?? And has anyone tackled the rears?? Are they that hard??

Thanks!! Safety first!!


Buzzman
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longhornsqx4
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You can tell the difference between perfect brake fluid and brake fluid that has some water in it??? No, you cant

You think rear drum brakes are easy?? Cause Ive heard there not. DId I say they were difficult or I couldnt do them? No, I didnt, I said I never have before and asked for a tip

So now that were past the whole assuming and guessing stage. How about some useful information.

Im looking for a brake fluid flush method other than simply turkey basterring out the fluid 10 times.

Buzzman
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Pwnin O'Brien
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Probably just some air in the lines. Just do a full bleed and replace with new fluid and I'm sure it'll brake like new. If that's not the issue, then you may need a new master cylinder (bad internal gasket/seal which can lead to lower line pressure), but I haven't heard of anybody having any issues with those.

longhornsqx4
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No way to do an air bleed solo either is there.

Happen to have a pic of where the bleeder is on the caliper, or is it obvious. Is there a hose or something that I can attach to make this a mess free job

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Pwnin O'Brien
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To do a brake bleed solo, you would need a vacuum bleeding system which can cost quite a bit.

I don't have a pic but the bleed nipple should be pretty obvious on the back of the caliper. If you look in the FSM you may be able to find a pretty descriptive illustration.

alexf20c
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the bleeders are pretty easy to find, they all look the same and on our pathfinders they're all 10mm. they should be covered with a rubber cap, but i wouldn't be surprised if the cap is missing.

you can do a gravity bleed if you're solo. it works, but damn does it take forever. always bleed in the following order, regardless of pressure/vacuum/gravity method:

rear Load Sensing Valve left rear drumright rear drumleft front caliperright front caliperEDIT: corrected as per Pwnin' Obrien

basically, you start from the furthest away.

a gravity bleed isn't guaranteed to get out any air bubbles, but it will flush your lines. pop your hood and keep an eye on the master cylinder. you absolutely do not want to let it drain dry, otherwise you'll have air in the lines and will do a pressure/vacuum bleed to get all the bubbles out.

i recommend doing a gravity bleed on a cold system. a hot system (that was recently driven) will have the bubbles dispersed and microscopic. if the vehicle has been sitting, the bubbles will have accumulated at the highest points in their respective lines (the bleeders).

all you do is crack the bleeder open until it starts to drip.

i would start with the rear LSV and let it drip until the master cylinder is just about empty. top off the master cylinder with new fluid, then continue to drip the rear LSV until you're dripping new fluid. you can then continue to gravity bleed the other 3 brakes in the order specified above.

again, do NOT let the master cylinder run dry or you will be worse off than when you started.
Modified by alexf20c at 3:22 PM 12/7/2009

alexf20c
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rear drums aren't hard at all to do. don't listen to Buzzman.

as long as you're mechanically inclined, the rear drums are pretty straightforward. there are lots of little parts, but as long as you remember where everything goes (take pics, or compare to the other wheel), you shouldn't have any issues on reassembly. you'll realize very quickly if you're trying to put a piece where it's not supposed to go.

you start be disconnecting the parking brake cable. there are several ways to go about this, and you can figure it out more easily than if i tried to explain it.

then you can remove the mounting pins that hold the shoes in place. start undoing the springs and the shoes will come off pretty easily.

the star adjuster (long threaded bolt that sits horizontal just below the wheel cylinder, and engages both shoes) will need to be shortened to accommodate the thicker shoe material.

just reverse the steps for reassembly.

you want the drum to very slightly drag on the shoes. you want to be able to freely spin the drum by hand. i like to adjust the shoes so that they just barely rub on the drum, so that you can hear the light scraping noise.

indeed, you can make them as tight as you want, as long as you're still able to get the drum on, without using force or a hammer.

verify that everything works by pulling up on the parking brake and trying to turn the drum by hand.

and of course, whenever working on brakes, ALWAYS VERIFY YOUR BRAKES WORK BEFORE PULLING OUT OF THE DRIVEWAY.

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Pwnin O'Brien
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alexf20c wrote:you can do a gravity bleed if you're solo. it works, but damn does it take forever. always bleed in the following order, regardless of pressure/vacuum/gravity method:

rear Load Sensing Valve right rear drumleft rear drumright front caliperleft front caliper

basically, you start from the furthest away.
This is the order on normal cars, but for some reason Nissan decided to mix things up and make a specific order in which to bleed the brakes. The order to bleed that's listed in the FSM is as follows:

1. Left rear brake 2. Right rear brake 3. Left front brake4. Right front brake

Another NICO member was having problems with his newly bled system and figured out it was because he bled it in the wrong order (the farthest away method) and remedied the issue by re-bleeding the system in Nissans order.

alexf20c
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that's so odd.

i didn't believe you so i checked my FSM and you're correct. i wonder why it's switched up? anyway, that's probably why my pedal is a little mushy still lol. thanks for the clarification.

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sicwitit
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if your going to bleed your system, might I suggest you flush your entire system with this!

this is what BMW uses from the factoy in its M models, and its what some of my friends who I meet in the racing world all recommend and run in their own street cars. I switched to in my Lexus and Pathy, and will be flushing my Yamaha R6 with it soon too.



you can find it from $12 and up a quart online.

longhornsqx4
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I dont believe there would be a benefit over regular DOT 3 fluid

I was going to do the flush today, but damned if it didnt snow almost a foot

alexf20c
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there is absolutely no reason to use $12/qt+ racing DOT4 brake fluid, over the $3/qt house brand at your local auto parts.

last i checked, the pathfinder isn't a race car.

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sicwitit
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longhornsqx4 wrote:My brakes dont feel as good as I think they used to, theres been a couple times, when at pretty high speeds, or after a couple hard corners, I feel as if my brakes are fading, and barely stopping my car, Ive actually missed a turn a time or two. And Id like for the next time it happens not to be in the rear of someone.

My front brakes are new, standard pads and rotors. Rears I dont quite understand (at all). But Im moreso possibly concerrned about fluid, I checked it today, the resevoir is full, and appears clean, but my friend said it could be 50% water and I couldnt tell the difference by looks.

My question is, is there a best way to drain out the majority or all of the fluid and replace it with new stuff?? Procedure?? And has anyone tackled the rears?? Are they that hard??

Thanks!! Safety first!!
in the begining of his post he states he is experiencing brake fade. if this is true the a DOT 4 fluid will do no harm.

I think I know enough about braking to recommend upgrading to a dot 4 fluid. Its kind of my buisness to know brakes.

alexf20c
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he is experiencing brake fade because his fluid is saturated with water and air, not because he's not using racing DOT4 fluid.

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sicwitit
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ok, I'll back up my recommendation with a couple valid points.

1, if there is air and/or water in the lines, you should consider all the fluid in the lines contaminated. This being the case you should evacuate all said fluid from the system and replace with a fresh change.

2, if your going to change your fluid with the same type thats in the system currently, you will have to somewhat guess how much fluid to push out of the system before the new fluid reaches the threshold of the calipers.

3, standard DOT 3 fuid is acceptable for normal driving/duty conditions, and some light/moderate spirted driving.

Now, the reason I recommended super blue is two fold. When he has to flush his system, he will know when all the old fluid, water, and air is out of the system because when the fluid has traveled the lenght of the lines, and filled the calipers, you will get a blue fluid out of the bleed valve. thats a sure way of knowing you have evacuated all unwanted material out of the system. Secondly this is some of the best fluid we as consumers can buy. Sure its not $3 a bottle, its $12 bucks a quart. how much does a quart of prestone, or valvaline cost since its sold in Pints? I guess if you did the math, it would end up costing about the same. Now since I don't like to skimp on things when they are important, and I think brakes are in that catagory, I want that confidence that the equipment I'm using is reliable enough not to fail under the conditions I intend to use it for. Plus he stated he drives and brakes at high speeds, and corners hard. both of which are hard on a brake system

Maybe thats just me, but its a simple upgrade that will do no more then inspire confidence when you put your foot down. Its going to cost him no more in the long run so why would you disagree?

keep in mind my sources for information are not from reading magizene's or talking on forums. I have been involved with race teams, I've been in pit crews, I currently supply customers with F1, F2, F3, Indy, JGTC, and WRC sanctioned braking equipment, and still to this day stay in contact with some of the chemical engineers who sole responsiblilty is to find the best chemical formula's for race teams such as Loctite Toyota, Honda Indy, and a slew of private owners. So please, if you feel I am misinformed, prove my reasoning wrong, and I will back down.

longhornsqx4
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lol dont back down dude, I appreciate the info. I looked into that fluid you talked about and I think I would benefit from it with no drawbacks to daily driving. Do you have any idea how I would completely swap all of the fluid out? Or a best way??

I figured the best possible way would be to turkey baster out the resevoir, fill it with new fluid, then go about bleeding each caliper like I was going to, do see if theres any water in the lines.

But how would I get everything out after that. Ive never bled brakes before, so I dont know how much comes out when that pedal is depressed and I crack that valve

Im also gonna have a b**** of a time finding that stuff in canada, happen to know of a retailer? Napa hopefully?

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sicwitit
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if you are going to do it solo, look into a mityvac

they are very simple to operate and you can have your whole system bleed in less then 1 hr. Dont even worry about syphening the old fluid out of the master cycl. actually by doing that you can cause more air to enter the lines and just have that much more bleeding to do.

Follow the order of bleeding as posted above. when the master cyl starts getting low (NOT EMPTY) just start filling it with the new fluid. I didnt ask how it does this, but it kind of has the effect of putting vegetable oil in water, so you need not worry about it mixing much. plus when you see blue in your fill tank on the mityvac, you can close that valve on the caliper.

if you have someone that can help, they can do it the old fashioned way, and build up their right leg muscles. there should be plenty of write ups online so start their. it will take longer then the mityvac method, but just as effective. also, if you get the mityvac, and have a person to help, just have them fill the master cyl when it starts getting low. that way you don't have to get up 50 times in the process.

What part of Canada are you in? If your near BC I can recommend a couple good shops, or if you can shop amazon.com you can find everything their too.

alexf20c
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sicwitit wrote:keep in mind my sources for information are not from reading magizene's or talking on forums. I have been involved with race teams, I've been in pit crews, I currently supply customers with F1, F2, F3, Indy, JGTC, and WRC sanctioned braking equipment, and still to this day stay in contact with some of the chemical engineers who sole responsiblilty is to find the best chemical formula's for race teams such as Loctite Toyota, Honda Indy, and a slew of private owners. So please, if you feel I am misinformed, prove my reasoning wrong, and I will back down.
i don't read magazines either. i race w2w in NASA SUO as well as Nasa Time Trials. my vette uses racing DOT3 fluid. the last thing i would do is "upgrade" to a non-synthetic DOT4 like ATE Super Blue.

i'm not against high-end brake fluid. i am, however, not going to recommend someone spend $12/qt for brake fluid in a family SUV.

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sicwitit
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All I'm trying to say is its a better fluid then what he's currently using. its kind of like changing oil viscosities for different driving conditions. Thats it. if he was serious about braking, he would of upgraded his pads, rotors, and maybe Calipers to complament his driving style. Thats not what he asked about, he simply asked about options with fluid.

Your vette on the other hand I'm sure has a much better braking system then just about any pathfinder on the road. Pathys have weak calipers, and basic pads that have the task of slowing down 4000+lbs of mass. your vet I'm sure weighs less then 3K if your racing in Super Unlimited. matter of fact if I remember correctly the only thing that has to be stock on your car per NASA rules are the front windows have to be fixed glass, unless they were installed from the factory using a different material. your vette is in a much different class then the pathy, and what works for the vette is much different then the pathy. Its just fluid, its a simple upgrade, and its $12 bucks. I didnt recommend him pick up a bottle of $40 or $50 fluid.

alexf20c
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ya, we're just nitpicking i guess. price is relative and there's no harm in choosing better than recommended.

my vette is street legal, but with the cage it has a race weight (with all 185lbs of me in it) of just over 3400lbs. it's no lightweight for sure, but it's not a pig.

ironic to this thread, the main reason i get upclassed into SUO is because of my brakes, which are AP Racing steel but have liquid-cooled front calipers. they're not a fan of my procharged 454 C5R, so that may affect their decision as well.

longhornsqx4
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Well I orderred the Blue fluid anyways yesterday, it was $38 shipped for 2 quarts.

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sicwitit
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Hey alex, if you want to upgrade, I have in my house now a set of AP racing 6 piston Titanium water cooled calipers. I have a few sets starting at $5K and my most expensive set I have I'm looking to get $8500 (retail for $25K but arn't available to public consumers normally.

heres a pic of one of them.







some more brakes laying around my living room



the rotors you see are carbon, Full carbon 310mm, retail is about $50,000 per rotor. these are from Toyota F1, direct from the team stock. I think I'm probably the only guy that have them in the world right now...other then the teams?
Modified by sicwitit at 3:43 PM 12/15/2009

alexf20c
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sicwitit wrote:Hey alex, if you want to upgrade, I have in my house now a set of AP racing 6 piston Titanium water cooled calipers. I have a few sets starting at $5K and my most expensive set I have I'm looking to get $8500 (retail for $25K but arn't available to public consumers normally.

the rotors you see are carbon, Full carbon 310mm, retail is about $50,000 per rotor. these are from Toyota F1, direct from the team stock. I think I'm probably the only guy that have them in the world right now...other then the teams?
i think i just came in my pants... yep, i did.

i'm not interested in carbon rotors. i have zero fade, great performance hot/cold, and i like the mystic appeal of outperforming those carbon brake'd cars with my steel/steel brakes. plus, steel is cheaper. :D

i am however, interested in those titanium water-cooled calipers. what are their advertised rotor widths and diameters?

can you get me model numbers?

longhornsqx4
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how much fluid does it actually take to completely flush the system?? ballpark

alexf20c
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not much at all. maybe a pint or two, depending on how much you fluid you bleed out to get out any air.

longhornsqx4
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K cool so I can sell the extra quart to my friend

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sicwitit
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I'm unsure of model numbers of all the calipers I have right now. I'll look into it, but here is what I have right now in my closet

WRC spec 6piston AP Racing calipers - 8 calipers

JGTC water cooled, Titanium 6 piston calipers - 8 calipers

(2009 season Indy) AP calipers 4 piston - 18 calipers

2008/09 F1 Brembo 6 piston Aluminum shell/titanium pistons - 12 calipers

I don't want to turn this into a jacked thread so If you want more info, hit me up at [email protected]


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Empty V
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What happened to your pics?

Billy


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