jhungryman

Hi,

My '96 Civic EX has had problems with the parking brake not completely releasing for months. I go to release the hand brake, it goes all the way down, and then when i let go it kind of springs back up ever so slightly (half a click maybe?). At first this only happened in the cold, and after getting the car in motion, it would "unstick" or "relax" itself so the brake lever would go down again. Not so much anymore...

Recently it's been staying slightly engaged, but not even enough to set off the warning light on the dash. It just slightly holds the car back from a free roll, you know?

Well, this weekend while doing everyday driving, again the e-brake didn't fully release. Next thing I know, my brakes felt a little soft. I quickly noticed it, but tried to keep going on my way, but when eventually trying to stop at a stop light in traffic, I couldn't stop. Lost my brakes, and had to use the e-brake. Thank god it still worked.

Anyways, the brake fluid looked a little low, but not disturbingly so. I had it towed to my mechanic and he seemed to think that the e-brake staying hung up was heating up the rear drum brake, and also heating the brake fluid to the point where I was losing my brakes (boiling it?). The brakes evidently came back though, as when he tried to duplicate it, and the brakes felt firm when just driving it up the road and back. As a result, all that he did was loosen the tension on my e-brake cable and he lubed it up too.

Wanting to know if I could duplicate it, I went out tonight, and sure enough...20 minutes of driving casually, and my brakes are soft again. This time not being caught off guard, I pumped the brakes and they regained their firmness. They soon lost it again, and pumping them seems to kind of bring back the firmness on command...not sure if that will keep working though, or for how long.

So I made it home, I've been scouring the internet, and I'm guessing I need a new master cylinder, or maybe there's just air in the lines or one is "ballooning" on me. Is this what it sounds like to all of you as well?

Has anyone ever heard of this being caused by an ever so slightly engaged emergency brake? Is there a way to figure out how the cable is staying hung up? What would you do if you were me (someone who's willing to learn, but has limited knowledge and tools at this point)?

I keep leaning toward the thought that the two problems are independent, since I've been using my car with the e-brake problem since winter, and my brakes haven't gone out on me until now. But I really don't know based on my limited experience...I'm sure I'll end up back at a mechanic shop...just not sure if I might try a different one this time around.

Oh well, thanks for reading,
-John




Modified by jhungryman at 11:26 PM 7/14/2008