The Nissan Path

I have 76K miles on my '05. I noticed this weekend that if I'm accelerating via cruise control (i.e. trying to maintain speed on an incline or resuming after slowing down) that I have to push on the brakes quite a bit harder than I ever had before to disengage the cruise control. I have to push hard enough that it freaked me out the first time it didn't immediately turn off. The brake pedal itself feels stiff and doesn't want to depress until I muscle it down. If I'm not accelerating then just a slight touch on the brakes will disengage cruise control as expected. Turning off via the steering wheel button is working fine. Any thoughts or ideas before I call my local dealership?

I'm curious to know if they find anything. I noticed with my 09 that I have to depress the brake much further than most other vehicles to disengage the cruise control so I generally use the thumb switch.

Check how far you have to push the pedal to get the brake lights to come on, if its a ways , you may have to try and adjust the brake switch .... not 100% sure on these but usually they use the brake switch to control the shut off for the cruise , if its out of adjustment thats your issue ...

But why would the depth of pressing the pedal and therefor the switch cut-off be different if I were accelerating or coasting? Further, there is quite a bit of resistance when this problem occurs. I have to push harder on the pedal for it to move.

Could it be because you have less vacuum under acceleration? Thus less vacuum to the brake booster. That would explain the increased pedal effort, but cruise is supposed to turn off when the ecu senses you've hit the brakes (via the brake switch). Is your brake switch malfunctioning?

I finally went in and got this fixed. The problem was that the one-way check valve for the break booster was not holding pressure (vaccuum). It was replaced and I was out of there minus $125.

Anyone have a part number for this valve or does the whole break booster need to be replaced?

TIA.

as already discussed....

the brake pedal should be doing two things:

first off it's the direct link between your foot and the caliper squeezing the rotor. harder you press the faster you should stop.

secondly there's usually a an electrical switch that the pedal will hit/touch/etc, which makes a connection to activate your brake lights, and disengage CC, etc.



for me i have to press about 1/2in in to disengage CC, and probably a good 1in before there's any kind of real braking going on. i think max is about 4 inches worth of travel? it gets really spongy towards 3-4in though. was thinking about going to steel brake lines soon to see if it helps.

Rotorian wrote:Anyone have a part number for this valve or does the whole break booster need to be replaced?

TIA.

You can get the check valve seperately. You can get one from your local Nissan dealer for under $10. It simply presses into the front of the booster and the vacuum hose attaches to the valve. You can also get the valve on the aftermarket but they usually cost a little more than the genuine Nissan part.