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View Full Version : School me on brake problems!!!!



JEEPIN/J.S.A
09-05-2012, 07:59 PM
Help!!!! LOL. My brakes have been getting worse and worse over the past 3 weeks on my 99 civic. I checked the obvious first, pads and rotors, and both are in great shape I checked the fluid and it was a tad low(still above the low fluid line) but not bad, but the brake peddle is going farther and farther to the floor. For the last week my brake peddle has been almost touching the floor and I can no longer lock up the brakes.
Today my wife took the car and my brake light came on and now it barely stops at all (I mean the Flinstone's car stops better) I used the e-brake just to go around the block. I checked it when I got back and now it is low on fluid(really low) I dont see any leaks I crawled all over the car but I can't figure out where the brake fluid went. I'm not sure whats going on here. is the master cylinder bad? or should I be looking somewhere else. I think the reason It goes clear to the floor now is because the brakes need bled due to being out of fluid, but where is the fluid going?. I also noticed when I test drove it that what little it does grab is all on the passenger side as it pulls to that side and kind of rocks or bucks the car when you stop. could this mean that I have a problem on the drivers side verses the other? I'm going to bleed the brakes tonight or tommorrow but I still have an issue somewhere that I cant identify.

anybody know what or where I should be looking for a problem? all help is appreciated I'm confused enough as it is....

joe_and_jeep
09-05-2012, 08:28 PM
It doesn't magically disappear like your socks. You have a leak. Full it up, pump the brakes and look for the leak.

ridgerunner97
09-05-2012, 08:34 PM
Rear drums? That accord I had had bad wheel cylinders and for some reason they didn't leak like any other wheel cylinder I'd seen, I had to pull the drums to find the disappearing fluid.

JEEPIN/J.S.A
09-05-2012, 09:04 PM
Rear drums? That accord I had had bad wheel cylinders and for some reason they didn't leak like any other wheel cylinder I'd seen, I had to pull the drums to find the disappearing fluid.

I havent pulled the drums off the rears yet. if it was leaking from back there, I thought I would've seen something dripping. but I'll look at those too when I bleed it.

JEEPIN/J.S.A
09-05-2012, 09:11 PM
It doesn't magically disappear like your socks. You have a leak. Full it up, pump the brakes and look for the leak.

D*mn socks...lol I know it doesn't just disappear. Thats why I'm seeking help in finding new places that I was unaware to look. I can only see what I can see, so if there is something that I need to remove to get a better look or something hidden that a mechanic or someone who has had this problem would know of, that would be great to know.

tjblair
09-05-2012, 09:12 PM
Master leaking into the booster maybe?

joshs1ofakindxj
09-05-2012, 09:20 PM
Pull the drums. It could be leaking from the wheel cylinder seals and the drum shoes are soaking most of it up and burning up the rest so you don't see a leak.

My dads corvette would always leak a little fluid and have weak brakes for awhile and we figured out it was all the caliper seals leaking the fluid to the pads. Pads were ruined after being soaked in fluid. Never saw a leak on the floor though.

JEEPIN/J.S.A
09-06-2012, 12:02 PM
Ok after searching all over the car and checking the rears and nearly turning it on it's side I found the leak. I'm not kidding I had the drivers side jacked and propped up so far It looked like I was attempting an RTI ramp with a honda. and it was a good thing cause that was the only way I could've found the leak. one of the brake lines running to the rear wheels has a hole in it but the line is protected by a plastic cover and that plastic cover is where all my fluid was going it was pooling in the cover and it never flowed out till i tipped the car far enough on it's side for it to run off the side. so I wasn't crazy The car was hiding the fluid....lol so now I need to replace the brake lines. On the plus side I also noticed now that I need new rear drums on the back cause mine are badly rusted and brittle and I also have some exhaust work to do....yay

HeepH8erTy
09-06-2012, 12:43 PM
Pull the drums. It could be leaking from the wheel cylinder seals and the drum shoes are soaking most of it up and burning up the rest so you don't see a leak.

My dads corvette would always leak a little fluid and have weak brakes for awhile and we figured out it was all the caliper seals leaking the fluid to the pads. Pads were ruined after being soaked in fluid. Never saw a leak on the floor though.

the calipers wouldnt happen to been duracraps were they? haha we went through 4 sets of calipers from them (they took returns) and they all leaked, so we said f this and got actual corvette ones for ours (way over priced). Took us a while to get them all bled right, couldnt figure it out then found out they all had bleeders on the back sides too haha