URGENT: Check the Elbow off the Brake booster

Hey guys just thought I'd give a heads up on one of the latest adventures my Mum and Dad had with their 95 SLX.

They had been chasing an irregular miss whilst accelerating lightly. Like when merging at a casual pace. Flat out and the performance was good.

They had the injectors looked at, ignition, throttle body AFM water temp sensor changed etc etc. But all to no avail.

The other day the car decided that it would not idle anymore. Had to really pedal it to keep it running. when you started the car it would rev up to about 2000 rpm and then die.

Investigations found that the little plastic elbow straight out of the brake booster had been broken off and then re-glued. Over time the glue broke down and the car developed a vaccuum leak. This is the cause of the slight miss. When the glue finally let go that introduced a massive vaccuum leak.

These elbows are getting pretty old and brittle now. The one on my car broke as well whilst I was removing my intake manifold. They are really fragile.

The happy ending is that Nissan had 2 in stock and cost a relatively reasonable $80 each to replace. I know that's relatively expensive for such a little part. However I would much rather have a brand new part like this than a used/brittle part that could do the same thing in the near future.

Mum's SLX is now running the best it has for a long while and they are super relieved that a niggling problem has been addressed.

I will take a pic of the replacement part and where it goes into the booster asap. Watch this space!!

Maybe this should be added to the Common Problems article in the Technical Articles section... what do you think?

HI Geoff, Good tip mate. I have not looked to see what the actual shape of that part is but is there a possibility that you could have got a brass one from a company like ENZED?

Mychael

Here's the pic of the new kit.

Mipcar, I suppose so but it would have to have a one way valve in the fitting to hold the vaccuum in the booster.

Its not just the idle which becomes a problem. When it breaks off you won't have any power assistance to the brakes. Which means stopping will be much harder than usual.

Oh for the days before power anything.. When men were real men and drove Triumphs. ;-)

Mychael

Its a bit more of a problem with modern cars as the brakes are setup to operate with that vacuum assistance... ABS would be interesting without power assistance.

Good article Geoff. That's definitely a handy tip.

Interestingly enough, ABS is not affected by power assistance, or lack of. I know as mine is no longer power assisted as the booster was in the way of the new intake. Sure, I have to brake harder but ABS kicks in just as hard and early as I suppose it has it's own solenoids to power it up. I do however have a new master cylinder and increased the pedal leverage by 30%. Without boosting, the standard system gives a scary lack of apparent braking force!

Very good Nissanmania. You have a wealth of knowledge.