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I have a 92 Honda Accord and I’m having trouble with the brakes. Recently I replaced the front brake pads and when doing them when I went to compress the piston and they wouldn’t even budge so I put some pliers with fuel line on the ends of the pliers on the brake hose and cracked the bleeder the piston still was hard to compress so I changed the two front calipers and bled all the air out. I took the car for a little drive and smelt the brakes burning. I removed the two front wheels and found the calipers weren’t releasing. So I took the bolts out and lubed them with silicone paste again, went for another drive and still smelled the brakes burning. I decided to lube the rear guide pins and when I went to turn the rear calipers back in they were hard too. Once I cracked the bleeder they went right in. And I still smell the brakes burning. Another thing is the brake pedal goes all the way to the floor in order for the car to stop. I’ve done everything i can think of that would make the calipers stick. My question is what would cause my problem? Can it be a bad master cylinder? Or something with the brake hoses? The ABS light is on for a code 1. Can the ABS system cause my problem? Thank you
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First a few tips…
1) Try to avoid pinching the brake lines closed–they may collapse internally and then need replacement, especially if they are really old. 2) Suspend the calipers after removal with a wire or elastic cord, never let them hang by the brake line or allow the lines to twist. 3) Always crack the bleeder screw before retracting the pistons. 4) Always retract the pistons fully. 5) Always clean the rust and impacted brake lining dust off of the calipers. 6) Apply anti-seize lubricant to all metal-metal contact between the pad backing plate and the caliper and piston. 7) Always install the anti-rattle clips. 8 ) Always lubricate the guide pins. 9) Always run the bolts in with finger pressure only until final tightening. It they don’t go in smoothly, they are dirty or cross-threaded. 10) Always bleed the system properly. Consult the service manual if unsure of the wheel bleeding sequence.Review these videos:
The previous advice is sound. I would add some things and ask some clarifying questions. Did you pinch the flexible rubber hose, or the metal line before the rubber hose? If it was mwtal, then replace that line stat. Also, don’t just bleed the brakes, but flush them. When the brake fluid is clear like water, or nearly clear then its OK. When it looks like strong coffee that means there is liquid rust and atmospheric moisture in the system. That will cause the pedal to hit the floor.
If the abs system is malfunctioning, that can also make the pedal go to the floor if the abs motor is spooling up all the time. Try disconnecting the electrical connections to the abs motor only to see if that fixes it. If it does, that means you have a bad abs motor or defective abs sensor(s) at one or more wheels.Air can, and does, cause the pedal to go to the floor. Also, caliper pistons that are not retracting will cause the pedal to go *almost* to the floor, as well as overheat the brakes and cause the burning smell. It sounds to me like the system wasn’t assembled or and/bled properly
I’ll try to bleed out the calipers again and see if that works. Also I forgot to mention that if I have the parking brake on the car can still slightly move
Hello there my friend. :cheer:
I have some tips for you, pretty much the same as the guy above me, but I’ll throw ’em in here anyways B)
First of all. Just kind of start over. Find out excactly which wheel the problem is, you can do this by looking after a blue-ish colour on the brake disc or red colour on the top of the brake disc. It’s no point scratching your head why you have trouble on a particular wheel, if you’re on the wrong axle or wheel.
Or simply jack up the car and rotate each wheel. preferably with the car in Neutral and handbrake off.. The wheel should slow down by itself, and not have an intensive stop if you know what I mean.
[b]I see you said you put pliers on the brake hoses. I have never been a fan of putting pliers on the brake hoses. It’s not necesary, just take off the caliper and put the brake pedal to the floor and make sure it stays down all the time. Then only what’s in that particular brake line will run out and the piston in the brake fluid reservoir will “close” it so that the rest of the fluid remains here. If you do put pliers on, they DO NOT need to be put insanely tight on
[/b]1. I would take off the caliper and check if it returns when you push it back.
2. Check if the brake pads are stuck. They should be very easy to move. I see so much weird work done out in the shop.
Cleaning where the pads lay are so extremely important when changing discs/pads. All parts have to move very easily..
The glide-bolts should also not be hard to get out. They have to move very easily..When you changed your caliper. Did all the fluid in the brake resorvior run out? If so. You have to bleed the entire brake system. I don’t have so much experience with honda. But usually you should bleed it from RR wheel – RL wheel – FR wheel – LF wheel. :whistle:
Don’t stress out. Just deal with one issue at a time. But I would suggest you DO NOT drive with the car if you have air in the system. You really don’t want to hurt anyone if your brakes fail.
Good luck buddy, you will fix this problem! 🙂
-Benjamin
All four of the wheels take some effort to move. The answer to number 1 is no. The piston on each caliper won’t compress unless the bleeder is open. I’ve bled the brakes twice and it’s still doing the same thing. The pads move pretty easy. I even put some anti seize on the top and bottom of all the pads. I lubed all the slide pins with silicone paste and still can’t seem to fix it. Cap269 said that caliper pistons that don’t retract will cause the pedal to go almost down to the floor. What would cause the pistons not to retract?
The pistons won’t retract if they are seized in the bore. Two things can cause this:
1) The brake hose is restricted causing the piston to remain extended as the fluid cannot flow. This will require replacement of the brake hose.
2) The piston is seizing in its bore. To correct this, the caliper needs to be removed, the piston boot, piston, and o-ring seal removed (carefully), and the piston needs to be polished all around its wall to make sure it isn’t seizing. The same needs to be done to the bore itself. If the piston cannot glide in and out of the bore, it will seize and remain extended. When you depress the pedal, there is a lot of force to push the piston out. When the pedal is let off, there is very little force available to retract the piston. The piston seal can also cause this if it is damaged. On screw-type calipers, this is a slightly different issue, in this case, the piston is wound too far out and the pads are in constant contact with the rotor. To correct, the caliper and pads need to be removed and the piston retracted manually (screwed in) and then reassembled.There are also other causes:
1) The pads themselves are jammed and cannot move freely on the caliper and are remaining in contact with the rotor. This is usually caused when the incorrect brake pad was installed, or there is a buildup of rust and brake dust on the caliper and shims preventing the pads from relaxing when the pedal is let off. This is usually corrected by cleaning the caliper and pad backing plate and lubricating the edges of the pad backing plate with anti-seize lubricant before reassembly. In the case of an incorrect or badly formed brake pad, the pad needs to be replaced.
2) Seizing guide pins that don’t allow the caliper to slide. This can be corrected by removing the guide pins, cleaning, then lubricating with silicone paste.I just checked to see if the pistons on the front will compress like they should. The passenger side went in a little then stopped. The driver side went in very easy. After I did that I went for a little drive and I could smell the brakes burning so I after I got home I smelled the front brakes and they smelt like they were burning then I smelt the back brakes and I didn’t smell anything. Could the front brakes be burning because of the back brakes aren’t working like they should?
[quote=”Joe24″ post=141054]Could the front brakes be burning because of the back brakes aren’t working like they should?[/quote]
No, but the front brakes aren’t working properly. It sounds like the pass side caliper is sticking based on your description.I have a warranty on the calipers so I’m going to change the passenger side tomorrow and see what happens. Thank you for your help
If it’s a stuck caliper then when you drive you should feel it pulling to one side no? I’ve only had the smell of burning from my brakes on two occasions, the first one some anti seize had gotten on the brake pad surface and the second time I didn’t clean the new rotors properly before installing. Don’t know if that helps but you say you lubricated everything. The pedal to the floor thing is weird, make sure you are using the correct brake fluid and it wasn’t sitting on the shelf for too long.
[quote=”Joe24″ post=141064]I have a warranty on the calipers so I’m going to change the passenger side tomorrow and see what happens. Thank you for your help[/quote]
Keep in mind it could also be the brake hose.Can the rotors be the reason the brakes are burning? Also how would I check for a bad brake hose? I’ve heard you pump the pedal bunch of times then crack the bleeder and see if the fluid shoots out. If that’s how you’re supposed to do it, I’ve done that and the fluid barely even came out the bleeder
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