Murphy84

I have a 99 accord I just did front brakes on. While bleeding the brakes I wasn't getting any fluid to the left front caliper. Both lines coming from the master cylinder had fluid coming from them to the abs hydraulic unit but no fluid was going from hydraulic unit to the line going to that caliper. All 3 other lines have fluid coming from them so I'm wondering if that part of the hydraulic unit is bad and if there's a way to actually test it further. I'd prefer not to take it out unless I absolutely have to since from what I was reading online it's a big pain to bleed. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

MAD_MIKE

It could be there is crud on the bleeder valve, remove it. If fluid flows with bleeder removed the bleeder is clogged. Clean and reinstall. If after removing the bleeder fluid does not flow, loosen the caliper banjo bolt. If no fluid flow still, remove the hose from the brake line, and so on.

Back track to trace where the fluid flow problem lies.

If the car braked normally before, it's probably just a clogged/corroded bleeder valve.

Murphy84

I already said I'm not getting fluid from the abs hydraulic unit to that one line. Is it possible to clean the hydraulic unit or am I out of luck without a new part? Has anyone ever seen and dealt with this problem?

Murphy84

I forgot to mention the main reason I replaced the brakes was it started taking longer to stop and pulled to the right while braking so this happened before I took the old brakes off.

MAD_MIKE

You made no mention of prior brake issues.
Much more better.

If it is just that one line, then the solenoid for that line has probably failed closed. Does your ABS light work? Is it currently on? Have you checked for codes?

Murphy84

Abs light works but is not on. I mainly just have codes for misfires which is easy enough. I assume the same thing about that solenoid but really don't know where to go at this point. How hard is it to bleed if I replace the hydraulic unit? I think I found one at a junk yard for 50 bucks if it comes down to replacing it. Is that what I most likely need to do or do you know a way that will allow fluid to pass through?

MAD_MIKE

Fairly sure on the later 98-02 CG cars you only have to bleed the system normally.
Driver Front, Passenger Front, Passenger Rear, Driver Rear.
These units don't have a reservoir like on the 90-97 cars that requires separate bleeding.
Turn the car on, check for any ABS codes, if none, go for a drive/test brakes.

Murphy84

Already driven it to see if my stopping power improved at all with the new brakes which it didn't. No abs codes other than when I unplugged the system to see if that made any difference. I did have one for that wheel sensor but it went away with the system plugged back in. I don't think a bad wheel sensor would cause a solenoid to prevent fluid from passing all together even if it was dirty or bad but I guess I could be wrong.

I may go pick up a better repair manual than the haynes one I have since I can't find anything about checking or servicing the system anywhere.

MAD_MIKE

What was the code for that wheel sensor?

Murphy84

Codes I got with abs unplugged were 32, 53, 54, 81. Nothing for that wheel sensor, not sure why I thought I had one but 32 says it's the right front output solenoid short to ground or wire in my manual. My scanner gave a whole long description but said left front output solenoid. Let me know if you want what my scanner says for all of them but I'm going to clear the codes, start the car and check again in a little while to see if any still show up. The abs light is not on with the system plugged in though.

Lost Again

Can you remove the hard line from the hose and see if you are getting fluid before the hose?

Murphy84

I could but the problem isn't in the brake line itself, it's in the hydraulic unit for the abs. This is mentioned in my very first post. I'm going to check all my grounds and hope that's all it is. I've been told it's rare for the hydraulic unit to go bad but it can happen. I honestly don't even care if I have anti-lock brakes, I just care if I can stop normally. It's really bad when your car does a 180 if you have to hit your brakes on a slippery road, that's the day I stopped driving it and started using the wife's civic.

Lost Again

Yea....my bad, I missed that in your post.

Murphy84

Grounds look fine. Anyone know where to hook up a jumper wire to activate the individual solenoids? Mainly the one for the left front wheel, I just wanna see if I can get it to move.

Murphy84

No one knows or is it not possible? I thought I saw somewhere online that it can be done with a jumper wire or a scan tool but my scanner doesn't have those functions.

MAD_MIKE

Each hydraulic circuit has two solenoids.

There is a test procedure and is fairly easy to do. I'm guessing you do not have a FSM?

Murphy84

Not sure what a fsm is.

belairbrian

Factory Service Manual

and some looking around online will reveal a downloadable PDF

Murphy84

I tried searching fsm honda accord or something last night and found nothing but it was messaged to me so I got it. If I knew I could have downloaded this I probably would have done it before posting. I still appreciate the responses and hope I can figure this out now.

belairbrian

here is a thought on checking the modulator.

You could remove the cable and exercise the solenoids to see if they respond. They are all powered by 12v on pin 10. each solenoid is activated when a ground is applied to the corresponding pin (normally by the ABS control unit. But you could apply a ground with a jumper).

Wouldn't leave it too long but might be able to determine if a solenoid is stuck.

To make it easier cutting off a harness conector at the junk yard would be useful.

RF solenoids are on pins 1 (FR-IN) and 5 (FR-Out).

Murphy84

Thanks for the tip. A friend who used to be a mechanic was helping but was just as lost as me. He should hopefully be able to come by tomorrow to help so I'll show him the fsm and tell him about your idea. At least now I have wiring diagrams and more info than my haynes manual.