91 rear brakes won't stay adjusted

You gotta Love these old VG30E/i powered beasts, raw truck DNA to the core.

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Volter
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:53 pm

91 rear brakes won't stay adjusted

Postby Volter » Wed Jan 09, 2019 7:16 pm

Hello everyone and i'd like to thank you in advance for the help. I have a 91 pathfinder and i have adjusted and bled my rear brakes, but sometimes they don't work. What i mean by that is some days i can lock up in gravel and only the front leave marks. It appears that i get no rear brake action at all sometimes. When i bleed them i am getting no air bubbles, and i've bled at least a pint through each nipple by now and never once any air even the first time. Sometimes they seem tight for a few drives, when i adjust them they are tight for awhile and then i go back to having no rear brakes *sometimes* as they do sometimes work. The pedal always feels the same if that is relevant. Some mornings it feels great on my way to work, and then zero rear brakes on the way home.

However if i pull the ebrake as i am stopping, even just 2-3 clicks, then suddenly i can mash the pedal and leave 4 skid marks, but then it drags the ebrake so i can't drive that way.

I've taken it apart and each part seems fine. Does anyone know what causes this? Even when i manually adjust them until they drag they only stay tight for a day or so.

Again i appreciate any help! Thank you!


Volter
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:53 pm

Postby Volter » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:50 pm

Feels like a ghost town in here. Looks like i showed up to the party after everyone's gone home. :(

I was really hoping there was some active users, i know forums are an antiquated thing but i saw posts and got my hopes up. If anyone does show up i would really appreciate any advice i can get from people who know them inside and out. I have notifications on just in case anyone pops in. Cheers!

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underworld1001
Posts: 328
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:05 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby underworld1001 » Sun Jan 13, 2019 8:55 pm

The only thing I can tell you is the check the quality of the rear brake lines. If they're the original rubber lines, then replace them with some stainless steel ones or at a minimum, some OEM rubber lines if you can get them.

With that said, I have heard of a 'load sensing valve' in the Nissan Hardbodys give issue when they get older which causes the brakes to act up, but not in the Pathfinder. Autozone site mentions it has it so I supposed they do? Anyhow you can find a diagram here -- https://www.autozone.com/repairguides/N ... 528018d616

Volter
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 6:53 pm

Postby Volter » Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:37 am

I highly appreciate the help, i will look under there for a load sensing valve and report back.

And on stainless steel lines, you mean replacing the flex lines with stainless braided lines? I will have to look around for those but i will check into that too.

Again thank you!

Edit: i found... an ABS actuator but no load sensing valve. I didn't realize this one had rear ABS so i am going to step back and re-evaluate the entire problem. It has a bleeder i will most likely bleed that and see what happens but i'll have to go through the troubleshooting again now that i'm aware that it has ABS.

My 94 has rear ABS but that system works fine, i just had to change the rear cylinders and it was peachy. But on the 91, this one i am working on, it seems to be getting low pressure or maybe low volume to the back *sometimes* but other times seems ok. And there is always some flow to the back because if i pretension the ebrake then it has back brakes again.

Like i said i will re-troubleshoot and report back. Thanks again!

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underworld1001
Posts: 328
Joined: Sun Nov 27, 2016 9:05 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Postby underworld1001 » Mon Jan 14, 2019 8:22 pm

Sounds good Volter. I wish I knew more about the original ones, but unfortunately I don't. There is one for sale near my place, a white 4x4, but have no room to store it at my house. A colleague of mine at a past job, said it was a love/hate relationship :) but overall I can say he definitely drove it more than he drove his newish Subaru. Hope you get your problem resolved and things work out. And yes, please post back with your findings.


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