Nissan Micra brake problem

chakota

Hi petrolhead ,
I dont think her model has abs ... not sure really will check that out ...

car-man

Depends where the air might be.

Uridium

I stupidly crashed my Alfa GTV a few months back in a crash similar to your daughter's.

I was rolling down a hill in stop start traffic with the car out of gear, the engine stalled and i hadn't noticed (music turned up too loud ) being Servo assisted brakes it felt as though there were no brakes there. Obviously the brakes were working fine but because of the lack of servo needed a lot more prssure than expected and it just felt like i had no brakes, grabbed the handbrake but was too late and hit the car in front.

Could the same have happened to your daughter maybe? I'm told by the insurance co. it's quite a common cause in rear end shunts...

picko2004

hi chakota, just wondered how you got on as i was out in the mrs's micra 04 plate the other day and exactly the same thing happened to me, approached the lights, hit the brakes and nothing happened, ploughed into the car in front. the mrs has previously complained about the brakes and the garage checked them not long back but iv been looking into it since and seems to be a common problem... is there anything that can be done to stop this?

any advice appreciated.

chakota

Hi,

i took it to two independant garages and they both checked them out, both could not find a fault , had it on rolling road to test each brake independantly and all came up spot on. In the second garage i know the mechanic and he says what has probably happened is my daughter left her handbrake on a touch at which point the rear drum brakes got hot and boiled the hydraulic oil making it inefficient. My daughter said to me prior to her accident there was a funny smell. This seems to add up and after we took names etc and brakes had a chance to cool down they were at normal again. So to be on the safe side i had the old hydraulic oil flushed out and renewed . Today was her first day driving it since the accident , she was a bit wary at first but i think her confidence has come back. Hope this helps

By the way have had a look thru google for recalls and also anyone else with this problem , but your the only one that had same as me.
Hope your wife is ok , i would imagine a bit shaky , my daughter was.
Any way if you find anything related to this can you let me know.

car-man

There are no official recall listings for Nissan Micra brake faults, here is the relevant information from VOSA...http://www.dft.gov.uk/vosa/apps/recalls/searches/search.asp

All vehicle recalls are listed on the VOSA site.

robbo5

My daughter has an 04 micra and was reversing off the drive and her brakes failed. Cannot have overheated as it was from a cold start. They have been working fine since but have taken it to the garage and just had a phone call saying they can't find anything wrong with it! Not really sure what to do now :/ any further suggestions please?

chakota

Hi,

Had some experts look at it and they said they could find no problem with it, all i did was had the system done with new fluid and re-bled. Been fine since and my daughter has got her confidence back .... still a mystery in which i dont think we will ever find out. If you hear anything please let me know as i am still puzzled.
                    Regards....Harry

JokneeB

HI Harry, I know this a really old thread but did you ever get to the bottom of the problem? Did replacing the brake fluid make it go away? Did you replace anything else?
My son has what sounds like the exact problem - sudden loss of brakes with no pressure at the pedal and with everything seeming to work 100% a short time later. This is on a 2010 Nissan Micra though.

Mil1194

Well this is interesting because this is exactly the problem my daughters had yesterday. I checked it over this morning, the pads are good, plenty of fluid, no signs of leaks etc and it has been perfect since I tested it last night. Very very odd.... I suspect it’s going to need a fluid change at least to be as sure as I can be that it won’t happen again. This is an 2004 btw with 85k miles