ekian

I have a 1996 Honda Civic CX, that comes originally with rear drums. I bought a 1997 Honda Integra Type R 4x114.3 suspension and brakes so that I could convert my drums to discs. While I had everything off, I went ahead and upgraded a few things. I am using a 2000 Honda Civic Si master cylinder and 40/40 proportioning valve, 2001 Acura Integra Type R front brake calipers, and 1995 Honda Prelude front brake rotors.
Now, my problem. I have the softest pedal in the world when I start the engine. The brakes do not even stop the car at all. I have to use the ebrake. Take note that I have not left my driveway with the car in this state. I have bench bled the master cylinder twice. I have spent about 2-3 hours bleeding each caliper and have gone through 4 large bottles of brake fluid. I have checked the Helm's manual page that .RJ posted to diagnose if it could possibly be the brake booster or even the master cylinder.. no dice. I do not know what else to do now.
I would really appreciate any help and insight you guys could give.

thanx.

SicilianSpeed42

this may be overly simple because I havent really dealt with brakes much, but did you connect the vaccuum line from the Intake manifold to the brake booster?

Probot

could possibly be the brake master cylinder is bad...need to bleed the brake lines.

similar thing happened to me in my old 91 accord...turned out to be the brake master cylinder. look into that

spoolinq

are u leaking brake fluid anywhere? did you bleed the system right? i have a very similar setup and the pedal is rock solid.

ekian

vacuum line is connected.

lines have all been bled, god, about 20 times now. like i said, i've gone through 4 bottles of fluid. bleeding sequence according to helms: RR, LF, LR, RF.

not leaking fluid anywhere. the car has been on stands consistantly for the past month, no puddles of anything under it.

i am thinking it's the master cylinder too. i'm gonna put the stock CX 13/16ths on and see if that improves it. if it does, then it's a bad master cylinder.

thanx so far.

schardbody

check to see if all the pads are seated to the rotors, basically if the calipers are pumping the pistons out, if one of them isnt you probably got a stuck slide.

schardbody

oh, a good way to rule out everthing: clamp off all four brake lines, if the pedal is still on the floor then its the master cylinder. if the pedal is good with all four clamped hold the pedal and have someone take the clamps off one at a time, when the pedal goes to the floor you know that wheel has the problem.

Dilly

your brake lines could be pinched. that'll cause the pedal to be soft and not braking.

schardbody

if the line was pinched he wouldnt have went through so much fluid bleeding it.

ekian

thanx again for the help.

still gotta test the stock master cylinder. i'm really thinking that the reman. master i bought is fux0r3d.

postman

bad seal in master cylinder

joey1320

see if the calipers are on the right side. (left and right) if they are backwards then you are keeping air on the calipers and that's causing your problem.

happened to my brother's accord. he put the calipers on the wrong side and had the same problem. he would bleed the system but 5 minutes later the pedal would go to the floor...

if not then you have a bad m/c

ekian

calipers are on correctly.

any other ideas?

joey1320

master cylinder seal...