garykf16

I have always had difficulty getting the rear drum brakes on my '95 Civic LX to work right. I've got the 4 door sedan w/automatic, non-ABS brakes. The adjusters do not seem to work properly. I have had the brakes completely apart, replaced all springs and the adjusters themselves, cleaned out and lubricated the adjuster threads. The starwheel moves easily when adjusting manually, the starwheel ratchet is in contact and clicks when turned. I have tried the back-up-and-jam-on-brakes adjustment technique, doesn't make the adjusters move. I get the shoes adjusted as far out/snugged up as I can without too much drag, so I won't overheat the brakes/wear them out.

At normal temps, they are OK, but on cold mornings, the drums make a lot of scraping noise for the first few minutes , until the drums warm up and expand enough to allow clearance, that's how close I have them adjusted. If I adjust them too loosely, the parking brake has too much travel, and my brake pedal goes way down because the shoes are expanding farther.

Not leaking or losing brake fluid anywhere in the system. Drums sound like they are very slightly, but not badly, out of round, no scratches/scoring. No pedal pulsation, can squeal both back tires and stop straight using the handbrake.

Any ideas how to get the adjusters to do their job? May need to try turning the drums lightly and true them, but I think the problem lies elsewhere.

Evs-One

Your rear drums do not "auto adjust"...it's all manual.

With the brakes cold, and clean, adjust the star so that with the drum on and a light effort spin of the drum, it should spin about 1 revolution then stop.

Make sure the leading edges of your shoes are chamfered as well, this will help with noise.

garykf16

That's weird. What's the point of the adjusters if you have to do it yourself? They should compensate for wear as the shoes wear down, if you do the back-up adjustment procedure.

I'll try having the drums turned, they sound slightly out-of-round when spun during adjustment. I have never filed the leading shoe edges, but that makes sense. Have to be really careful of dust, I'll wear a mask. I'll spray and wipe them clean with some Brakleen.

onepoint6i

Your pedal shouldnt be going "way down" regardless of shoe adjustment..you probably have a bad MC.

What shoes do you have on there? original? if so how many millimeters of life do you have left on the shoes? if not original what did you replace them with?