Mferris2

2004 Honda Accord LX 6 cyl 129k miles. Ok, the frustrating background: Car was running great, no problems. Brakes/rotors last replaced 9/2014 and only had 14k miles on them. I spent the summer in Alabama and decided to have timing belt, serpentine belt replaced before heading back to Colorado. Told the mechanic that sometimes my brake pedal would sink to floor while stopped, but not always. He said that would be master cylinder and replaced it with aftermarket. When I picked up the car, the brake pedal was hard, could not even push it down. I took the car to highway and car seemed bogged down on acceleration merge, front end and steering wheel started severely shaking, when I tapped brake to slow, there was serious grinding. I pulled off the next exit and at stop light, I had no brakes at all, pedal went to floor and brakes were smoking. I pulled off road, let things cool down while I figured out what to do, then took car at a crawl back to mechanic. Brakes seemed to have released after cooling.

Mechanic said master cylinder he had used was defective and put another in. I asked him if he checked my brakes since they had been smoking, he said he did and they were okay. When I drove the car off, I noticed the brake pedal was going almost to floor, but was stopping ok. Gave it a short highway test, no grinding, no shaking. A couple of days later, I took it back to mechanic and said to check the pedal, since it kept going to the floor. He adjusted it and when I picked it back up the 3rd time, it was better. I was ready to drive back to Colorado, got on the road, all was fine for about 75 miles, then the shaking started again. Just cruising the highway and bam... out of the blue... shaking, brake was hard, grinding if I depressed it... after 10 minutes or so, it all released and did fine. I was in the middle of nowhere and cautiously kept driving. This scenario repeated itself several times. I got to a friend's house and took to a shop nearby. They checked it out, said it wasn't master cylinder related, said I needed new brakes and rotors. I questioned that the master wasn't somehow involved, they insisted it was not. I thought well, I guess after the burning brakes, it could need brakes/rotors, but I also knew something else had to be wrong. I got the rolling eyes from the mechanic (I am female), I told him go ahead and replace pads/rotors. Picked the car up, the brakes felt like my brakes of old finally and I thought maybe I was wrong...

Got back on the road and car drove great. Highway driving, 100 miles, no problems. Out of nowhere, guess what. Shaking started, brake pedal high and hard, terrible grinding if I touched brake. I pulled off the next exit, let it cool, freaked out for awhile, got back on highway and drove 10 minutes to town I had just passed that happened to have a Honda dealership, but no techs available on Saturday. So, I'm in a motel until Monday morning when a tech can look at it.

Since this began instantly after the first mechanic did the master cylinder change, I have a hard time believing it's not related in some way... whether it be the cylinder, or something else he had to mess with to change the cylinder, or .... ?? I'm female, traveling alone with 2 dogs and have forked out $1800 that I don't have and my previously great running car cannot even be driven now. Please.... any advice or suggestions for me to research?

Mferris2

This was the problem/solution, if anyone is remotely interested. Aftermarket master with OEM booster, rod not set correctly. Original shop has agreed to pay my $1000 in expenses caused from this.

"The booster rod should almost be making contact with the master cylinder, but not actually touching. In a master cylinder with a deep pocket, the rod will have to enter the master cylinder by about 1.5” before making contact. If the rod is too long, you will notice that the master cylinder does not slide freely up to contact the booster because the booster rod and master cylinder piston are pressing against each other. This will “pre-load” your master cylinder causing your brakes to drag at first and eventually heat up and get worse the further you drive."

My brake drag didn't start each time until 70 miles down Interstate when everything got hot, causing hard pedal, grinding brakes and front shake, which burned up my brakes and warped the rotors. Been a great couple of weeks. : /

tech8

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Good to hear that the original shop will reimburse you.