84 maxima brake help needed

CODFACE · Nov 9th, 2004, 03:04 PM

I have a 84 Nissan Maxima station wagon that I drive to work everyday. About 2 months ago I had to replace the wheel cylinder on the rear drivers side because the drum and shoe had wore pretty bad and the cylinder overextended itself when I hit the brakes. I put on a new cylinder and repaired everything and bled the brakes.

Since that time I've been having a problem. The brakes are fine when I first get in the car. After driving for a little while, sometimes not very long, the brake pedal gets very stiff and I can only push it down maybe a 1/4 inch or so. They still work but not very well. As I continue driving it'll go back to normal operation. It seems to me the pedal gets hard when I'm doing a lot of stop and go driving in heavy traffic, and clears up after I drive for a little bit without having to use them.

What's really worrying me is now after a lot of stop and go traffic, the pedal is getting stiffer and I'm not hardly able to push it down at all, and when Iamb trying to go after coming to a stop, it seems like the brakes are engaged and dragging, and I really have to give it some gas to get it rolling again.

Any help on what may be causing this would be appreciated. I can replace just about anything on a car, I just need to find out what I might need to replace.

Thanks,

Patrick

**Matt93SE** · Nov 10th, 2004, 01:12 AM

Sounds to me like you need to bleed the system again and use better fluid.. you probably have an air bubble in it somewhere, but it could also be the old nasty fluid in the lines still.

suck all the old stuff out of the master cylinder with a turkey baster or something, then refill it with fresh fluid... then bleed the entire system again until you have fresh clean fluid at all corners.. use a good brand of fluid and not the cheapo parts store crap that's $1 a gallon.. I use valvoline synthetic DOT 3 or Castrol for my wife's daily driver, and ATE blue for my cars-- but I drive a LOT harder than she does. the Valvoline does a great job in her car and I have no complaints with it.