sup guys. just finished installing my altima master cylinder. i had trouble finding bleeder screws to plug up two of the holes, but i found some

i bled the master cylinder and installed the lines and on the last pump before i tightened the last bleeder valves, the brake pedal became extremely stiff after about 1.5 inch of travel. so i thought, "wow, this is good".

so then i did my test driving and it slows down fine, but it won't completely stop the car. i can't physically push the pedal any harder, as if i got a block under it. once i get to about 10 mph, i have to keep pumping and pull up my parking brakes to stop.

FYI, i have not bled the lines yet, b/c the weather here is kinda soggy, and my local mechanic is booked till mid next week. but in any case, i'm wondering y the pad won't go down anymore. when i was bleeding it, it was fine ,but now its extremely firm, but the car doesn't slow down... so what's going on? thanks y'all.

CMo
91 SE-R

It sounds as though you have a non-ABS master cylinder, i.e. the two extra holes. You need to get an ABS master cylinder.

John

OR...like you said, you haven't bled the lines yet. It's possible you have air in the system. Did you bench bleed the M/C before install?

Nismo:
-I thought Altima M/C upgrade, you need to buy non-ABS, no? I did a lot of searching and read posts and everyone had said get non-ABS.

fastse-r:
-I can understand that by not bleeding completely can cause some problems, but shouldn't the pedal feel really mushy all the way down? like i said, i put all my weight and power on the pedal and it only goes down 1-2 inches and the car still coasts.

i'll bleed again soon, but i just have a feeling that m/c piston might be jammed or something. i dunno. thanks guys.

CMo

Clogged line? How long was your car down?

This may be a concern for me as my car's been down for 2+ years and I'm sure some spiders found homes in my lines. :(

nah, i don't think it could be a clogged line. i had them bled couple months ago by the mechanic, then when i installed SS lines, i bled them again myself. i'll bleed once again and see what happens. thanks guys

CMo

Results?

Sounds like classic symptoms of a bad power brake booster to me man.

Check the vacuum supply to the booster. Also try this, if you take the vacuum line off the booster, and plug it with a bolt or screw. If the pedal stays the same, you probably have a bad booster. If it gets harder, then maybe you should look somewhere else.

I am of course assuming that you have at least the AD22 upgrade.

Rick

RESULTS?
I rebuilt the front calipers and tooke it to a shop to have it bled. the same problem persists.

i'll try what you said, rocketman. well, i have not uprgraded to AD22z yet. It's still stock AD18z. Would that make it a problem? Because the stock M/C was leaking, i decided to upgrade to altima since i was "planning" on getting AD22z.

mistake?

I hope not, that'd be really stupid

CMo

That there might be your problem. I don't think its recommended to run the Altima MC unless you have the AD22VF's and are upgrading to bigger rear brakes.

hmm... ic...

the other problem i had was when i took out the master cylinder from the se-r, two of the four holes were plugged. i have ABS. i figured they came like that, because none of the papers i got from the previous owner showed any brake work. so when i ordered my Alitma M/C from car-parts, I got non-ABS one, but it also cmae with four holes, so i plugged two of them. now i'm guessing that it's not supposed to be like that. what's going on?

CMo

Get the ABS Altima MC, I told ya already.

John

Maybe you should bleed the brakes before you buy any more parts.

Sounds like a brake booster problem. Is the hose connected properly to the booster?

the hose is connected properly. i tired to take it off to try what "rocketman" said, but it's stuck. i'm going to work it more to loosen it up tomorrow. i have bled it four times since the problems.

i have a feeling it's the brake booster. i can stop somewhat, but i can't skid or get the ABS to kick in.

at least i don't loose brake fluid anymore.

CMo