HELP! My wife is stranded now because I fixed her brakes.
I replaced the pads in the front of my 2000 Xterra and now I get no fluid to the front calipers. The back line on the mastercylinder has no output.

A ford mechanic (friend) told me that I have tripped my equalzer valve. He said he wasn't sure how to manualy reset it, but you could do it by driving it and slamming on the brakes. I have tried this and cannot get it to work. I have tried to purchase another Master cylinder from my local parts store, but they say it is not available yet.

Can someone offer suggestions please?

Nissan Dealer...

Plain and Simple..

If you do not know how to work on brakes then you should not try to fix what you have already "fixed"

Causing someones death due to brake failure would not be something I would want to live with.

Equalzer valve?
Slamming on the brakes!!?

No offense to your friend but he sounds like a Ford Mechanic.

The Xterra doesn't have an equalizer valve, and going real fast and slamming on the brakes isn't a smart thing to do when you have brake problems.

It's been awhile since I worked on a Ford master brake cylinder but none of these procedures sound like anything I've heard of.

As far as your problem, I'd say the master cylinder needs to be bled.

But SWXterraClub makes a good point, I'm not positive that bleeding the cylinder would fix the problem so a dealer would the best recomendation.

Please don't drive it anymore until the problem is fixed. A 4000 lb vehicle with no brakes seems kinda scary. Have it towed to the dealership. The $35 will be worth it if it prevents you from driving through a crowded dealer lot running over innocent car shoppers.

When you changed the pads,did you open any brake lines and/or let the fluid level in the master cyl. get real low?

Just to clarify things, I am not driving around 100mph slamming my non-working brakes in an elementary school parking lot.

Here's the story:

1. I put the new front pads on the Xterra, with the fluid close to the middle on the resevoir, understanding that by moving the caliper pistons back I would push the fluid toward the max. (Next time I will open the bleeder at the wheel instead of sending pressure back through the system. Evidently the pressure from the c-clamp was too much for the Master cylinder to handle).

2. The fluid overflowed a little and I removed the excess fluid down to the max line.

3. I got in the car and pressed the brake to test it out. I had lost all of the pedal except the remaining 1".

4. So, with no pressure on the pedal, I thought I would try to bleed the front calipers (assuming air got in the system somehow). After many attempts on the front two calipers, I could not get fluid to come out, except residual left in the lines between the MC and the bleeder valve at the wheel.

5. I tried to bleed the front with gravity only. I opened up the two front caliper bleeder valves, with tubes submerged in brake fluid to prevent air from going into the system. I left the vehicle like this for 30 minute intervals coming back to see if fluid had drained. Nothing.

6. Now I tried to bleed the master cylinder at the master cylinder itself. Only one of the two lines were giving pressure. This was only feeding the back brakes. So I assume the Master cylinder is damaged.

So, I only have back brakes and I have ordered a Master cylinder for $75 at a junkyard ($250 at the dealer).


The reason I haven't taken it to the dealer is because they are 70 miles away, and I thought this was the "Backyard Mechanic" section.

Few questions,
Did you have the cap to the cylinder open when pushing back the caliper?
Did you start the vehicle up to power the brake system to bleed?
When I change brakes I allow any pressure to exit the system by having the cap off, you will of course lose any pressure through the system when you push back on the caliper, by starting the vehicle you get power back into the system, at this point I get the car to move a few feet or so and pump the brakes, this gets pressure back into the system and your hydraulics work. You can bleed from this point since the system has pressure...of course fill the reservoir to the adequate level when done. You might have bled you system too much forcing air into the lines. You back would work fine since you did nothing with those hydraulic lines.
I am of course no expert on brake systems thought I could help, good luck.

Thanks for the info Turtle. I did not have the cap off, but I did have the motor running while bleeding the brakes.

You can't bleed the brakes on an ABS equipped vehicle like a non ABS vehicle.

The power needs to be off, and the ABS needs to be disconnected.

The master cylinder requires two people to bleed.

[ 01-21-2002: Message edited by: xoc ]

I like that.

"My brakes aren't working!"
"Well have you tried driving around, and then slamming on them?"

Makes as much sense as fixing a malfunctioning parachute by jumping out of a plane and pulling the ripcord really, really hard!!

Bwhahahahahahahaha!!

Good Luck Radlad..

PROPER WAY TO BLEED THE BRAKES
This is re-typed directly from the Xterra FSM (I hope this doesn't qualify as breaking copyright laws)

Bleeding Brake System
CAUTION:
-Carefully monitor brake fluid level at master cylinder during bleeding operation.
-If master cylinder is suspected to have air inside, bleed air from master cylinder first.
-Fill reservoir with new brake fluid “DOT 3”. Make sure it is full at all times while bleeding air out of system.
-Place a container under master cylinder to avoid spillage of brake fluid.
-Turn ignition switch OFF and disconnect ABS actuator connectors or battery ground cable.
-Bleed air in the following order.
1. Left rear brake
2. Right rear brake
3. Left front brake
4. Right front brake

PROCEDURE:
1. Connect a transparent vinyl tube to air bleeder valve.
2. Fully depress brake pedal several times.
3. With brake pedal depressed, open air bleeder valve to release
air.
4. Close air bleeder valve.
5. Release brake pedal slowly.
6. Repeat steps 1. through 4. until clear brake fluid comes out of
air bleeder valve.
7. Tighten air bleeder valve to specified torque. 61-78 in/lbs.

Now for my part:
If you just change the brake pads you normally shouldn't have to bleed the brakes.

After changing the pads the pedal will be soft, pump it 4-5 times.

If the level in the brake fluid resevoir gets too low you'll need to bleed the whole system. If you don't have the FSM just take it to the dealer, it's kind of complicated and can have serious repercussions if you cock up.

Verdict

I put the used MC on last night. I bled the brakes with 1 person and a (MityVac) bleeding device with preparation per the Haynes service manual. Brakes & ABS work great (Yeh I slammed them). Couldn't see going to the dealer and buying a $250 MC and ~$200 for labor.

I will try to follow up with actual damage to MC.

Lesson learned: I will always bleed at the caliper for now on.

Thanks for all the help,

Sounds good!
Always nice to have a happy ending.

Keep an eye on it for a few weeks just in case though.
Brakes are very serious business.