My dad took his 2006 Z in for a oil change this past Monday (14 May 07) and the mechanic said that both his front brake calipers are leaking at/around the seal. The rear calipers are fine, no leaks.

Has anyone else's calipers leaked? I thought it might be the brake lines, but he said it's the calipers...

My dad is taking the Z to Sheehy Nissan in Waldorf, MD on Friday, 18 May 07. All four rims/tires right now have no damage at all and my dad is going to make sure the service advisor knows this before they remove the tires. He is also going to take pictures of all four rims to have more evidence that there was no damage on the rims (sorry...paranoid now after reading those wheel removal horror stories...) Anything else we can do to take precautions?

Heres a little info on the Z:

2006 350Z Enthusiast
Non-Brembos
7,050 miles
Built Feb. 2006
Bought 05 May 2006

Thanks for reading!

edit: sorry for not posting it in the right forum. i missed the brakes/suspension subforum.

 

Never seen a caliper leak. Keep us posted with the outcome.

 

I'd want to see EVIDENCE that they are leaking. I would NEVER take a mechanic's word on this.

A leak can be pretty severe. Any sudden loss of pressure in the brake system and you won't be able to brake anymore. You will crash into whatever is in front of you.

That said, make 100% they are not jerking your chain.

If the calipers are really leaking, then without a doubt, they should be replaced under warranty.

 

My dad was waiting in the lobby for the car when the mechanic told him. He went out and saw the leaks. Plus, we have been going to this auto place for a while now and my dad has gotten to know the owner and the workers, so he is confident with them.

We checked the fluid levels and they seem normal, will check them again in a couple minutes. My dad said it was braking fine Monday, Tuesday, and today. It'll be my luck that the braking fails tomorrow when I go and take the Z in to get the OEM spoiler put on. Also, I've never heard of calipers leaking though, seems kind of strange...

But yeah, thats why we are taking the car to the dealer instead of having the car shop do any work to it since it is still under warranty.

It'd be nice to get a set of Brembo's put on there

 

Car was braking fine today. Going to check the fluid levels again in a minute.

Also, got the oem spoiler put on and shes looking better.

 

Get um fixed, and make them give you a loaner...that is ridiculous, and dangerous if that is in fact a/the problem. Out of my 2 years cruising on this forum, I never heard of that problem. Good luck.

 

yeah, we plan on making them give us a loaner if they have to keep the car. i also keep on telling my dad to make sure to take pictures of the wheels and make sure there is no damage after they are put back on.

i told him to make sure he also has the service advisor write down that if any of the wheels get scratches, we are getting new wheels, not refinished/painted wheels.

btw, the fluid levels seem fine in the car, still seems strange to have two calipers leaking and a full thing of fluid....

 

HIGHLY unlikely that the calipers are leaking. I have had my hands around 100s if not 1000s of units and just cant recall a seriously leaking Caliper. I have replaced/Rebuilt a good many, due to just being internally filthy, or the fact that the rubber boots have disintegrated, or a bleed screw has froze up, or the sliders have froze up, or the fact, people were actually stopping their cars with the pistons.

Now, Brake cylinders are different, Iv pulled back the boot and had it pour out.

Keep in mind, a leaky caliper is more likely to suck air than to leak fluid.
And that can be determained by opening a bleeder.

If it was an '86, I'd say maybe, but an '06 ----somethings fishy

 

Dad took the Z to the dealership and all it was was excess grease. The guy told him thats how the calipers were made, with excess. Oh well, it's better safe then sorry...

 

Makes a lot more sense... since as we all mentioned in here, pretty much no one has ever heard of a leaking caliper.

That would be practically criminal negligence on behalf of nissan if their calipers leaked.

 

true. it would have been nice if the mechanic on monday would have checked into it a little more and see what kind of fluid it was that was coming out. but hey, everything is fine now, nothing happened. all is good with the Z.

 

A little more details of my morning at the dealership:

After 20 minutes waiting for them to look at my car after I checked in, the mechanic that will be working at my car walks out of the service bays and introduces himself to me. "Hello, I'm Alan, and I will be the mechanic working on your car. What's the problem? Which was a first for me. Usually, the service adviser just lists your problems on the trouble ticket and points you to the service lounge.

After listening to my concerns, we went to the car, I got in, depressed the brake pedal, hold it in for 10 seconds, it did not hit the floor, was holding pressure, etc. We then went for a test drive, with me driving. As we were leaving the dealership, he mentioned that, BTW, the cops are out this morning, watch your speed. So, we drove around the block, checking the brakes out. I did pass 'bout 2-3 cars pulled over.

Surprise #2 was when I pulled into the service bay. Instead of kicking me out to wait in the service lounge, he wanted me to stay with him while he checked out the calipers. So, he puts the car on the lift, takes off the 2 front wheels and starts inspecting the brakes/calipers. He sees the dirt/grease stain on the front calipers and says that it normal. It came from the factory that way when they assemble the calibers. It shows up more on the front calipers than the back ones. He then takes me over to the next bay where an Altima was being worked on, and had me look at their front brakes. Same condition as the Z. He then proceeded to clean the gunk off the front calipers. Bottom line, no issues with the brakes or calipers. I feel like an idiot and told him so, but he said, no problem, you had a concern and had it checked it out. Better to be safe than sorry.

Surprise #3 was when the car was almost ready to be lowered. The service bay manager spied me by my car and came over to kick me out of the area. He started with the standard "Due to insurance regulations, you can't be in the area " speech, got a third of the way into it, when Alan interrupted him with "It's okay, I invited the customer back here to explain and show him what work was done on his car. With that, the manager just turned around and left.

Bottom line, Alan the mechanic gets it wrt customer service.

As an aside, saw about 15 new Altima Crossmembers for their TSB recall (had that done last year on the wife's Altima) and 3 rear axles/ differrentials in the back of the service bay. No idea whose those belong to...but it seems like it is a lot....

 

A dealers service department seems like a wonderful magical exotic place until you work there.

 

I've been working on these cars for a while and I never seen the calipers leaking on any 350's. If you had any kind of leak in your brake system your brake pedal would be spongy has hell. You would definitly be able to tell by looking at the master cylinder. I think youshould get them to replace them it's warranty. It's just sounds too wierd. I work at Passport Nissan in Marlow Heights, MD as a tech.

 

glad to see everything worked out fine. I was also doubting it was was a leaky caliper. I've just never seen one leak before.

 

The only one Iv ever seen leak was a corvette about 15 years ago that was causing me to rip my hair out.... Turned out someone had heli-coiled the hose inlet and it was sucking air---That was a shot weekend

 

Ouch.. Yeah, calipers are some tough sumbiches. Never seen em' leak.

 

BTW---I cornered the perpatrader by isolating each caliper and attacking the suspected culprit with a vengence----I sentenced him to death by hard labor in a scrap yard

 

thanks again everyone for your help. we're glad everything is alright with the Z!