aklano

92 hatch, discs all around. Calipers are nissin, don't know what model car they are specifically for. Car was outside for the winter, not sure if that has anything to do with it. Probably about my 4th drive after the weather got nice I smelled em for the first time. Just the rears, can barely turn the rotor on one side, can't on the other. Didn't go through a brakes class so I'm clueless about where to start here. Any help much appreciated as always. Thanks.

Would pictures help any? Wasn't sure...

gsrhatch2356

I am assuming from your statement that you havent driven it in a while so if I were you I would try to take the cailper off and try and compress it like you were going to put on new pads and this may break them loose. if the piston seems to compress fine and you put it back together and it does the same thing have someone pump the brakes while you open the bleeders one at a time. If you notice that your "stuck ones" dont have fluid coming out try to remove the rubber line and see if you get fluid out there. sometimes the steel inside the rubber can break and act like a one way valve so it might hold fluid and causing cailper to hold pressure. I would try that first, obviously if one cailper wont compress you need a new one.

JDM EJ2

Here in the northeast, due to the mass amounts of salt that is dumped on the road, corrosion gets the best of brake systems. The slides on the caliper brackets tend to rust up something terrible causing brake pads to "hang up". Basically what that means is that the pad actually rusts into position on the slides. The way we keep this from happening is by filing down all the rust off the contact points on the caliper brackets where the pads touch, then greasing the **** out of them using caliper grease. This definitely helps a lot by keeping water and salt out of the contact points. Also, it makes for a much freer moving system. If the car sat all winter, I'd bet that is your problem so your best bet is to take everything apart, file and clean off all the rust, then grease it up nice before putting it back together. A quick way to check if everything is moving freely is by sticking a flat headed screwdriver into the caliper between the rotor and the brake pad, and pushing towards the inside of the car. You do that to get the caliper to compress slightly. Once the caliper is slightly compressed, grab hold of the caliper and try to wiggle it back and forth to see if the slides are freed up. If you don't get movement, take everything apart and go through my procedure because lucky you, your brakes are frozen up. By the way, if you do one side, you have to do the other and remember, your rear calipers are the screw in type and you can't compress them using the front caliper technique, you have to take them apart to see if everything is OK. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. Good luck.

aklano

Thank you guys.

aklano

So they needed to be replaced. I have the new ones but have a question about bleeding them. When I took the old ones off all the brake fluid drained out. I'm not sure if I was supposed to try and stop the flow or whatever, brake noob. Anyway my question is if I now have to bleed all 4 brakes or just the two I disconnected. Thanks again.

JDM EJ2

Well honestly there was no reason to take off the entire caliper but since you did, just to be safe go around and bleed all 4 corners. To make this really easy unless you have a pressure bleeder, get a friend, (if you don't have one get a sibling, grandparent, neighbor, robot, or a dog that knows how to bleed brakes.) While the person sits in the car, have them pump the brakes EASILY, (if you pump to fast/hard you can damage the master cylinder,) and after a few pumps tell them to hold the pedal to the floor. As they hold the pedal to the floor you need to unscrew the bleeder valve on the caliper. After the air/ brake fluid comes out, screw the bleeder back tight and tell them to release the brake pedal. Keep doing that until no more air comes out of the system and you have a solid feel in the pedal, then move to the next wheel. You can only do one wheel at a time, so theres no reason to rush. Good luck and PM me for any questions.

aklano

I think I did have to pull the caliper as I replaced them. We've been doing what you just said, and I'm on the third bottle of fluid. I go around and bleed one after the other and then the pedal still feels mushy, so do it again and there's air in all four again! Gone around the car about 7 times now. Am I just stupid or did I break something?

1992Si

http://hondatech.info/downloads/Auto/Manuals/

Go down load the manual and read about the brakes.

It can take a while to get all the air out, but it helps if you have someone that knows how to hold there foot on the pedal until you tell them you've tighten the bleeder.


BTW a 92 Hatch with 4 wheel disc brakes is an Si unless someone else has done a brake swap. If it has a factory sunroof, power mirrors, pin striped seats, it's a Si.


Modified by 1992Si at 7:54 PM 7/14/2008

Pothole987

the way i bleed brakes is start from the rear right, ( farthest away from master cylinder... sort of routine) get somebody inside the car, get them to pump the brakes ( 3 times slowly, on the third hold as far as it can go down, get them to press down while bleeder is open) you, on the outside open 1 bleeder on the caliper looking at the fluid each time, ( look for air bubbles). close bleeder. repeat until you notice the caliper bleeders fluid has no air bubbles.

make sure to keep the master cylinder full of brake fluid. continue around all the wheels.

try not to get brake fluid on your hands ( brake fluid eats paint, i tend to touch car )

and test the brakes before you take it for a drive.

1992Si

Honda's are a little different, the manual tells you which order to bleed them in.

JDM EJ2

Oh I had no clue that you replaced the calipers... Still though, if you got all the air out of the system in each caliper, there should be no reason your brakes should feel mushy. After you bleed all 4, try to pump up the brakes easily for 4 pumps then give it some force for another 4. If your brakes don't feel solid after that, you may have done something wrong...

aklano

We weren't pumping them to build pressure before holding... I'm assuming this is why air kept coming out? So then we did, and everything seemed fine, no air came out. Pedal still felt kinda mushy. Turn the car on, no resistance in the pedal. So I guess I'm downloading the manual and see if it's because I didn't bleed them in the proper order. Any other ideas? I am doing the proper procedure as far as pump, hold the brakes, bleed, tighten, tell em to release. So it must be the order then right? oh well downloading now, thanks for the link by the way.

Crx Jimmy

if the whole system went dry you should take the master off and bench bleed it before you bleed the brake system its very hard to get the air out of the master

aklano

thanks for the help, i didn't think it was pumped TOO hard. How hard do you have to pump it to [freak] up the MC? The brakes would be mushy if the MC was bad but this car had a bad MC when I got it and they did not feel like this, they just feel like nothings there. I can't push the car when the brakes are held but I don't feel like taking it around the block with the pedal feeling like that. I guess Ill try bleed em again.