I had recently bought a 1994 Honda accord from a couple that had it sitting in their driveway for a while. When I got it home & looked at it then I could tell that it had to of sat for at least a good year or 2.
The entire brake system was shot so I replaced all 4 brake calipers(the back has disk brakes),
both of the front brake hoses,
all 4 of the back brake hoses,
all brake pads
both front rotors and ball bearings,
& the master cylinder 4 times.
The car wasn’t applying any brake pressure until I replaced all of that, then all the brakes kept locking up.
I figured that it could of been air in the lines so I bleed all the brake lines. I was using a 1/4" vinyl tubing and a empty clean pop bottle to bleed the brakes so It could be done by 1 person.
The driver side front, passenger side front & back were bleeding just fine but the driver side back kept giving me air for 2 days in a row so i used a different 1/4 vinyl tubing and the air slowly began to stop.
I had bleed the brakes again after that with the car off while going through 32oz of dot 4 brake fluid through each caliper. (says to use dot 3 or dot 4, Dot 4 has a higher boiling point than dot 3)
All the brakes were locking up when i let the car get warm & now I got the brakes working just fine until i go a mile then i can feel the brake peddle start stiffening up(becoming more sensitive) from almost being all the way on the ground(3/4 of the way down) to come to a hard stop to going 1/4 of the way down for a hard stop after another mile. I took the car home & the driver side front tire, passenger front & back tires were hot but not smoking yet while the driver side back had almost no heat.
I almost didn’t touch the brake peddle during this entire time & when I pressed it then it was just enough to come to a normal slow stop
The only other things that i can think of would be a leak in the ABS modulator where the O rings are (but i can’t see anything leaking from the modulator) or I really didn’t want to believe this at all but I did accidentally break the ABS speed sensor on the passenger front tire with a hammer when i was trying to get the captive rotor off so could that be the entire problem on the brakes sticking & slowly locking up?
I am running out of ideas on what the problem could be cause i never messed with the brake booster itself so I doubt that’s the problem.
The worst the car has was the driver side was side swiped but no real damage except to the mirror.
I found the brakes locking up at one point cause the ABS modulator was out of brake fluid but if that was the case then I couldn’t get the car out of the driveway.
After every time i bleed the brakes then they would work just fine until the next day & then I had to open a bleeder screw on both lines just to relive the pressure which worked for a few hours & then the brakes would lock again.
I lubed the brake caliper pins on the front so I wouldn’t have to hear about that again.
Anyone got any ideas? I’m running out of ideas cause I’ve talked to half a dozen mechanics about it, all of the people at O’Rileys, auto zone, napa & brakes plus along with a dozen random people that get interested in what I’m doing when I’m talking to these automotive guys & none of them know. Can’t find anything online so I’m asking here now.
Change the master cylinder and the car should brake fine
Changed the master cylinder 3 times already cause 1 of the new ones i got i could tell was bad cause only 2 lines were getting brake fluid. The 2nd new one i thought was the problem cause all 4 brakes were locking up & not moving & when i put the 3rd one in then all of a sudden the front brake unlocked but not the back brakes until i changed the back hoses
I’ll give it a shot with replacing the master cylinder again though
Did you flush the old brake fluid completely? rust and sediment in old brake fluid could cause a lot of problem.Also, the parking brake mechanism could be seized, preventing the wheels from moving.That was a real problem in my old Accord.
There was no brake fluid in the brake system when i got it so I didn’t have to worry about getting the old brake fluid out.
I’m still baffled on the fact that there was no brake fluid in the car at the time but i did have to replace all the brake hoses.
I bleed each line with 32oz of dot 4 brake fluid about 7 times. I’d fill the master cylinder & then bleed the brake. Once the reservoir was 3/4 empty then I filled it up with more fluid & kept that up until the 32oz bottle was empty then I went over & tightened the bleeder screw to put the brake fluid back in its original bottle & start on the next line.
There was nothing but clean brake fluid & air coming out of the lines.
There is no air coming out of the lines now.
The car can be moved now but the brakes were sticking cause of the pressure in the brake lines. I knew that before I got the car cause the entire brake system was messed up to where there was no brakes & no emergency brake either but now it only gets stuck after it’s been on the road for a mile or two cause the pistons in the brake calipers are pushing the pads into the rotter, causing it to stick & slow down otherwise the car moves with no problems.
I think that it might be the master cylinder cause all the brakes were locking up all the time but equally. After I changed the master cylinder for the 2nd time & before I changed the back hoses then the front brakes were lose when the back wasn’t so i changed the back hoses and now it doesn’t lock up when the car sits Idle while running & warming up. The weird things is that I can pump the brakes all I want while the car is running Idle & nothing will go wrong. It seems to only be on the road that it does this. Had the same problem when the car was jacked up & I was running the rotors goin 45mph-75mph for a couple minutes. The front rotors would heat up but not all that much. They heat up faster when the tires are on the ground. Probably cause I didn’t need as much brake force to stop a rotor compared to stopping a car.
You said you replaced all 4 calipers…are these remanufactured or taken from another car at a wrecker yard? Sticking or seized caliper usually show up after the car has been driven for a while and the car wheel(s) get very hot.
If there was no brake fluid in any of the lines when you first got the car, that means the lines might be contaminated w/gunk. And the gunk could now be in the brake caliper cylinders and locking up the pistons.
What you may need to do is blow all those lines out with compressed air until no gunk is being blown out the other end, and disassemble and clean the caliper cylinders and pistons. You may need to replace the MC again, but do that last. Hopefully you don’t have abs on a 94. If you do, you’ll probably need to bring in a specialist to fix what the gunk did to that.
All calipers are new from O’rileys
There’s no such thing as a lifetime warranty on a car part.
Sorry, no idea. Re the part’s lifetime warranty, seems doubtful, but no harm to stop by a Honda dealership and ask. Worst they can say is “no”.
Okay I replaced the master cylinder & I bleed the brakes again to make sure there was no air in the lines. I was able to drive about 3 miles before i could tell that the brakes are dragging.
It will drive just fine but the RPM goes up slightly once it starts sticking & after a few miles more then all 4 rotors are heating up to where I throw snow on the tires & it melts instantly but the car keeps moving & acting like there is nothing wrong. Any ideas on what’s causing this?
I already lubed the bolts to the calipers.
When I drive I can feel the drag cause the car starts slowing down but it’s not trying to come to a sudden stop but the brake peddle becomes more stiff when the brakes start dragging.
All the times that I bleed the lines there wasn’t anything in the lines that came out & the reason that all the lines were out of brake fluid when I got the car is because 2 if not all 6 brake hoses must of had holes in them cause they were the main cause for my brakes locking up to where the car couldn’t move.
When i put in the old master cylinder then the entire brake system would work just fine & i could drive it without anything heating up but the brake peddle was basically on the ground to come to hard stop.
Sounds like the brake booster is the problem. This is how to test it
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Sit behind the steering wheel, set the transmission to Parking (automatic) or Neutral (manual), set the Emergency brakes, and start the engine. Let it idle for two minutes and then shut if off.
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Pump the brake pedal at normal foot pressure four times and hold your foot on the pedal pressing down slightly on it.
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Start the engine. As you start the engine, you should feel the brake pedal moving downward slightly, about an inch or less. Otherwise, you don’t have enough vacuum in the brake booster.
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With the engine still idling, remove your foot from the brake pedal and turn off the engine.
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Depress the brake pedal (using normal foot pressure) four times. If you notice the pedal rising after the second or third you depress it, the booster is more likely holding vacuum. Otherwise, a vacuum leak is affecting booster performance.
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Start the engine and let it idle.
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Now, push down the brake pedal and turn off the engine, but hold the pedal depressed for about 30 seconds after shutting off the engine.
The pedal should hold its position, if not, there’s a leak in the brake booster, valve, vacuum hose or intake manifold.
If you feel the brake pedal too hard while driving, and the vacuum hose and vacuum check valve work okay, most likely you need to replace the brake booster.
I was thinking that it might be the brake booster but I think that i need to readjust the brake booster rod back 0.025-0.050 cause the problem is that there is to much pressure.
I was watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYYzPIGoxfY when i got the idea that it might be the brake booster.
I am confused with this based off of what you (carollaguy1) was saying because when I let my car run for a few minutes then i shut the car off & pressed on the brake peddle. 3 pumps before it becomes solid & when i turned the car on then the peddle goes almost all the way to the ground (I could feel slight pressure building up when i got 1/4 of the way down) but when i put the car into drive then the brake peddle goes down 1/8-1/4 of the way down from the top & acts normal. The peddle becomes more stiff in drive than when parked.
Would this be the problem?
I had a booster problem on my old Pontiac so when you stepped on the brakes the pedal would lock down, then I’d have to pry it up with my foot. A $10 used booster took care of it. I don’t know if that fits your symptoms at all.
Dis you bench bleed your old master cylinder before you put it back on"? It was empty when you got the car. Air in the m/c would explain your low pedal.
Yes I bench bleed all of the master cylinders I had put in & because of how I was bleeding the lines would of taken the air out of them anyways. I bench bleed them before putting the master cylinder in & i made sure that it was 1/4 of the way full before putting it in. Weird thing is that all of the master cylinders I’ve bench bleed so far had the 1st line get brake fluid before the 2nd line but this one got both lines on the first pump. Comparing that to the others tells me that this one is new & not rebuilt.
I’m not having a problem with the peddle going to far down. I’m having a problem with the brake pressure causing the brake pads to push up against the rotors to cause them to stick & heat up the rotors.
ya your booster was gone so one that works would of solved your problem anyways. For some reason my booster works but something is off with it to cause the brake pressure to go up. Which reminds me on another thing. When i was putting the brake hoses on, I had to put some pressure on the hoses by turning them just to get them to fit the same way the other hoses did so I need to look into that to but at the same time I’m going to reset the brake calipers.
Generally brakes that slowly apply themselves as the car drives are caused by a bad booster.
The principle behind a booster is simple. It’s a canister with a diaphragm in it through which traverses the brake rod. Your pedal is on one end of the rod, behind the booster, and the master cylinder pistons are on the other end of the rod, in front of the canister.
When the system is static, a valve in the diaphragm assembly allows the pressure/vacuum on both sides of the diaphragm to be equal and the canister sealed off from atmosphere, leaving the diaphragm just sitting. When you brake, the aforementioned valve allows the vacuum from the engine to pull the diaphragm forward when you brake while venting the rear surface of the diaphragm to atmosphere, helping you apply the brakes. When you release the brakes, the diaphragm returns to it neutral position, the valve assembly seals the entire canister and allows the entire canister to equalize, stopping the diaphragm from doing anything useful.
Constantly increasing brake line pressure is generally a failure of the booster valve assembly to completely seal the canister and allow the pressure/vacuum on the diaphragm’s front and rear surfaces to equalize fully. As the diaphragm slowly pulls the brake rod forward, the valve assembly begins to operate as if the brake were slightly applied.
Perhaps the most definitive way to test this is to clamp off the vacuum line to the engine. It needs to be clamped to prevent the engine from experiencing a vacuum leak. The brakes will be very firm without the booster assist, so do this test carefully. If the problem disappears, it’s the booster.
If the booster is putting the brakes on, I would think the brake pedal would sink lower. Does this happen? If not, you might be back to the ABS module and/or accumulator.