Crippled Eagle

My 96 Accord LX seems to have a soft brake pedal which is how I bought it. I jacked up the car and pulled the rear drums and shoes seem acceptable and cylinders are not leaking or stuck. The problem seems like only the front discs work most of the time and other times I have a good pedal and the rears seem to work some. I've done a search on here and have not seemed to have found the solution which I am assuming has to do with the master cylinder. First question is how does one know if the car has ABS, is there a way that is visible from under the hood? From what I am gleaning is it matters whether it has ABS or not as fitting sizes are different on one side. Someone lowered this car a bunch and it is difficult to get a jack under it to check the wheel areas. What I would like to know is what part number is what I need in an aftermarket cylinder. I found an "answer" on another forum which seems to have said if it has 4 wheel discs it has ABS while with drums on back it does not.
Thank You in advance for all of the help!

AndyD

iTrader: (1)

EX's came with ABS. I think yo ucould order an LX with ABS was it was veeery rare.

I believe on 5th gen Accords, the ABS pump in on the driver's side of the engine bay.

Have you tried bleeding the whole brake system first? It's pretty rare the brake master cylinder goes bad. Bleeding the system is the easiest of the two also.

TheMuffinMan

iTrader: (1)

If you've got the big honking orange guy that says ABS under the hood, you've got ABS. It's directly behind the driver's headlight where the washer funnel is.

If you have rear drums, you do not have ABS brakes. When you added ABS to the LX trim it received rear disc. The EX and V6 models (including the LX) came with ABS.

I'd recommend just buying an OEM master cylinder as they're not too pricey.

From the Accord FAQ (I'd seriously suggest looking here first always)



Honda Automotive Parts

46100-SM4-A04 MASTER CYLINDER ASSY.

I'd honestly consider just flushing out the existing fluid and verify there's no bubbles first though. Who knows how old the fluid is and if it was bled properly.

Crippled Eagle

Thank You everyone who replied!
Non-ABS for sure. I bleed the brakes and no real change. I bought a new master cylinder and installed and it is better, but not like I think it ought to be. I have a power bleeder at work and I am going to make an adapter and pressure bleed it and see what happens. I took the drums off anf the wheel cylinders are free and shoes and drums OK.
Our mechanic at work was a long time service manager at a Honda dealership and he was telling me of the procedure for bleeding my brakes. He said one is to start with the left front wheel, then right front, then right rear and finally the left rear. Thats a bit different than what I was taught, but if it works, I'll try it!
Thank You Again!