Scary moment..................

I was heading home from Canberra yesterday after competing in Urban Polaris mountain bike race. Traffic lights turned red, applied brakes as per usual. They gripped then suddenly let go (brake pedal sunk to floor). Luckily I was able to swerve into left lane and avoid hitting the car in front (stopped using handbrake). I drove the remaining 270 odd kms to Sydney using the handbrake! Only in a Micra!

PS. I checked under car when I got home, and it appears a brake line busted (traces of brake fluid at front left corner) will repair this week.

thats a mad thing to happen. the micra has dual line brakes so even if this happens you should still have brakes in an emergency on 2 wheels diagonal. wonder what could have gone wrong. you didnt feel something wrong before the time the pedal just went?

Yeah that's really suss and bad luck!!!

Yeah the whole thing is designed so that primary and secondary channels are two completely separate circuits.

Suspicious actually. I am glad you are ok..

The front left of the car is where the junction box thing is that send both the primary and secondary channels to the rear of the car.

hmmm very suspicious.
you sure no other bike race competitiors had it in for you. hmmm

I think Micras have dodgy brake lines (as well as sills, grrrr) as my 9 year old one is getting some replaced at the next service. My sis' one (a year younger, I think) has had all the brake lines replaced already.

I don't think its the actual lines being faulty in the whole range of Micra's as this is the first I've heard of lines malfunctioning at all...

What lines were they? The metal ones coming out of the master cylinder or the rubber hosing going to the actual calipers/drums?

Sean

Problem fixed. It turned out to be a small hole on one of the 5mm metal pipes connecting the ABS to the master cylinder. It was caused by the rubbing of a metal pipe clamp (air intake) over a number of years (metal on metal rubbing)slowly wore hole in pipe. Replaced pipe, bled brakes, good as new.