Hi guys

I've got an issue with my brakes which I've diagnosed as the brake master cylinder (pedal slowly sinks to the floor).

I live in Christchurch, New Zealand and phoned all the parts suppliers I could think of, but none of them stock a replacement.

The Nissan dealership has to order from Japan and wants $950 NZD. Ouch.

I've looked on eBay and can get one on there for abour $150 but I'm not certain about the quality.

Questions:
Should I trust the quality of eBay items or is it not worth it?
Any other USA based suppliers I should try or / avoid?
Any reason why a LHD master cylinder wouldn't work on a right hand drive car?

Thanks guys

 

Post a pic of your master cylinder , only prob I potentially see is the brake line orientation

 

Good point, hadn't thought of that.

Here it is:

 

Looks like the lines are on the wrong side. It would still work out hundreds of dollars cheaper for me to run new lines from the other side.

Anyone ever try this?

 

It would just be a matter of bending new lines to the abs unit. Simple for me to get the parts in the states to do it.

Have you thought about a simple rebuild kit, usually cost around $20

 

Ok thanks for that.

Rebuild kit would be great but I figure if that didn't work I would have to order a new bmc anyway and wait for it to arrive.

 

More than likely, a rebuild kit WILL work and will be a helluva lot cheaper. Have you installed one before?

 

No, but I'm happy to give it a go! Thanks for the advice.

I'll have a look and see what price a rebuild kit will run me, including shipping to NZ.

 

Never had a bad part off eBay. I always choose vendors who've been on for more than 6 months, and I always read the reviews, especially any recent bad ones. I have the same issues as you, as I'm in Barbados and my steering wheel is also on the right (not wrong) side


Have also rebuilt brake masters before with no issues. Just make sure there's no internal corrosion. Usually what happens is if the fluid isn't changed regularly it absorbs water, and it will corrode the cylinder above where the piston normally sits. If there is light corrosion you could try 400 grit sandpaper or a honing tool on it but most likely it'll leak again.

 

Thanks for that. Do you happen to know the bleed order for our cars?

 

AFTER you've bled the master and are sure it has no air left in it, start from the longest line and progress to the shortest one. That would be: RR, LR, RF and LF.

 

That's the common thought, but actually not what it says in the FSM, and even then, there is a different order for older versus newer cars. Since the car in question is also RHD, I couldn't guess what's proper for that car. Is there a local Nissan dealer you can check with, who may have a service manual for the RHD cars? You might find one online, but i couldn't find one.

Having said that, Z's are notoriously a pain in the *** to bleed if you've got air in the system before the ABS pump, probably because of how high the pump is mounted relative to the MC. Best results come from using a pressure bleeder, and having lots of fluid, and patience.

 

Just an FYI, even with a pressure leader it takes me a couple tries to get all the air out.

Basically bleed till feels good and drive a day or two, bleed again and repeat again.

 

Not really. Had mine 2 months. FSM has no specified order that I can see. I would just go LR RR LF RF. If it's got Brembos there are two bleed screws per wheel I think. PITA...

 

Not sure what year FSM you have, but my 11/2007 edition says to bleed in this order (page BR-11):

RR, LF, LR, RF

So, not the traditional method of farthest to closest to the MC. Not sure how much difference it makes, but I follow the manual when bleeding my car.

I used to have a 2004 FSM, and it had a different bleed order, also not traditional, but I can't recall what it was.

 

Actually, it looks like you're reading the wrong section of the manual, "Maintenance", when you really should be looking at the "Brake Service" chapter, which gives the proper details. That's the section those green highlighted hyperlinks are pointing to.

BTW, If you're just doing a fluid flush, and haven't serviced the system to introduce air anywhere, bleed order doesn't matter nearly as much.

 

Thanks guys. So I've swapped in a used MC but I'm still getting the sinking pedal issue.

It's possible the replacement MC is also gone, but is there anything else I should be checking? I'm thinking that if it wasn't bled properly then it would cause a mushy pedal but not sinking pedal.

Thoughts?

 

My question is how did all this start? Did the original MC feel bad after you had the system open for service, or did it just begin to fail in normal use?

 

It just suddenly failed. Went to put my foot on the brake and it slowly sank to the floor.

 

Well, that rules out a bleeding issue on the original, but not on the replacement. The Z brakes can really be tough to bleed. You should bleed the MC first, if you can, and that my help a lot. I have a set of lines I made myself for that purpose. The are just short loops of tubing from the MC outlets back into the MC reservoir, and they allow you to bleed the MC before hooking the chassis lines back up. Failing that, you may want to try letting the Nissan dealer do the bleed.