This past weekend I replaced front pads, rotors, and the pass side caliper on my 2007 NAH. After the job was done, the brake pedal was rock hard and the ABS, Red Brake Light, VDC and EBC light are all illuminated. Basically, the car has manual brakes because the ABS has detected something and shut down ABS and Power Braking. At first I thought it might be the ABS Speed Sensors so I replaced those as well.

Since I replaced the caliper, I bleed the front brake lines with the neg batt cable disconnected.

Anyone have any experience with this?

I live in Ohio and took the car to my local dealer who had it all day yesterday. They called me back apologizing that they did not have anyone trained or the equipment to work on the Hybrid. I called NissanUSA and they gave the name of another dealer who supposedly went through the Hybrid training. I just called them and they have one guy who was trained. I talked to him on the phone and he said he wasn't sure what the problem could be since he only went through training but has never worked on one.

Any help is sincerely appreciated. \

BTW, 2007 Altima Hybrid, bought used and now has almost 60K miles.

 

Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

I still haven't resolved this yet. I have found that whatever the problem is, the ECB (Elect Brake Controller) is preventing ABS and Power Braking. The Service Manual indicates that in this condition that manual braking occurs so we have been driving sparingly like this.

I am surprised that no one has encountered such an issue yet. Replacing brake calipers, brake hoses, etc is a pretty common DIY'er type of thing. If you have to take the car to the dealer for a special brake bleeding procedure it would be unheard of IMO.

None the less, the lack of support/knowledge that I have received from dealers would certainly deter me from considering the purchase of another EV from Nissan...whether it be a Nissan Leaf or if they launch a 2014 Altima Hybrid.

Furthermore, I was thinking this would be a great car for my son when he turns 16. Safe, economical, fuel efficient...but the lack of support/knowledge in my region at least is making it clear that this is not a wise choice.

The sad thing is...until this point, I love this car. It is perfect otherwise IMO. I am not on the full EV bandwagon at this point. I am not a fan of the Prius or any other "EV" cars and the NAH is a perfect bridge. The 2.5L engine is peppy and will get up and go when you need it to unlike the Prius's I have driven. Yet, it also offers the EV Mode which gets me 32-34 MPG. Nissan almost got this right...then they abandoned it.

 

As you probably know, the NAH was only sold in 10 states (California, Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont), which probably accounts for the lack of knowledge in Ohio. Sorry I don't know the answer to your question either.

 

ohionah, were you able to fix the problem? I just replaced my front pads and rotors, no bleed or anything, and I got the same lights and situation, I have no idea, but this sucks if we can't do a simple DIY like this without complication. My only saving grace is that I am in NY and the dealerships will most likely know what is going on (unfortunately all the Nissan dealerships in my area seem very shady), but trying to avoid them if possible.

 

Hey,
I never did fix this. I drive the car infrequently and the use of manual brakes works ok for now....until winter that is.

Did you figure out what the problem is and if so, how did you fix it?
Thanks!

 

I caved in and went to the dealership, they ended up doing a brake flush and everything is fine after that, maybe have a dealership do that, because apparently it can only be done with COMMAND III. Good Luck!

 

Thanks. How much did the Stealership charge you for it? I think you mean CONSULT 3...Looks like I can buy the scanner and software for about $380 but if it was less than that I'll let them steal my money.

I can not believe that the average Joe is not able to do a simple brake change on these cars. No wonder they stopped making them...

 

You'd think with me racking my brain for solutions I'd remember that god **** software's name, lol, had a brain fart moment, yes, CONSULT 3.

Well first, the dealership I went to, and supposedly all NYC area dealerships, were charging double the labor rate, just because it was a hybrid, so it was $225 (or free when you do the repair there) just for a diagnostic for them to see what was wrong. They just said it needed a brake flush, however, they initially quoted me around $292 (after tax) but then when I got to the dealership, there was a labor charge on there that they couldn't explain, and fought tooth and nail with them on it till they took it off my invoice. After it was said and done, it came out to around $175 (after tax). After coming home I realize that the $292 was probably because of the double labor rate because it was a hybrid, but seriously, it's the same method they would have to do on a non-hybrid Altima, so why double the labor rate???

Seeing as your state doesn't sell hybrids, maybe they're not this "savvy" on the double labor rate on hybrids, and you can get away with the dealership's standard labor rate. Good Luck! I really hope it helps, I do understand your pain, it was a VERY scary few days driving with only rear brakes, I was basically praying as I was driving my car on the highway to the dealership.

Also, if you do end up buying the CONSULT 3 stuff for $380, and it works, let me know where I can get it? I wouldn't mind shelling out that amount of money because I know I'd like to do other maintenance stuff on my own and not have the stealership do it

 

^^^
Re: needing Consult III, that's not surprising. AFAIK, on Priuses, one must use the Toyota equivalent (Techstream) to bleed brakes on hybrids.

See http://priuschat.com/threads/brake-s...nt-pads.94371/ and http://priuschat.com/threads/prius-08-rear-axle.114461/, for example.

 

I had the same problem the first few times I did the brakes I spoke with a guy at AutoZone who said just pinch off the lines with a gas line clamp right above the caliper so no brake fluid can go back up. open the bleeder when you press the caliper pistons back in so the extra fluid comes out the bleeder and doesn’t push back up through the system. it worked flawlessly no lights no nothing I’ve done my brakes three times. make sure you add some fluid if it’s low after under the hood in the brake fluid reservoir.