Am I supposed to leave the reservoir cap on in between fillups when bleeding? I usually don't...

 

i never have.

 

Hmm, my pedal just feels like crap lately. I'll try another bleed during the day with a pedal-pusher that can make it thru one cycle without falling asleep in the driver's seat

Perhaps I should look into checking out my rear drum brake adjustment? I've never pulled those drums off before, and it would probably help to clean out some of the gunk that's accumulated back there over the past few years...

 

Gravity bleed.

 

Although I can't help but roll my eyes everytime you push the gravity bleed idea, I sometimes resort to it when I don't feel like fighting with that tiny rear drum bleeder screw. It's worked well for me most of the time, but I did screw it up once (recently), and I think that's when the mushiness started becoming a slight nuisance

 

definately definately DEFINATELY look at the rear drums... for 2 years i had a crappy pedal, and i bled bled bled to the point that i now hate bleeding. oscar told me to check the drums and sho'nuff that was the solution. you don't even need to do anything to check them... jack the rear tires off the ground and spin the wheels, there should be some resistance.

 

can you gravity bleed all 4 brakes? i know u can gravity bleed a clutch, but the brakes?

 

oh, and no there shouldnt be any resistance ... for drum brakes, u take the drum off and spread the lock nut on the drum untill the drum has a tight fit, but not strong resistance or just adjust them from in the car, by going backwards 10 feet, coming to a complete stop and going forward 10 feet, and coming to a complete stop, doing this 1 time rotates the clicking wheel one time keep that in mind... but a garage parked car usually keeps up with that on its own... there should be resistance on the drums only if you just adjusted the wheel cyl manually,

 

Yeah, I'm away from my apt at college with limited tools here, so last night I pulled the wheel off with hopes of pulling the drum off. Never did pull the drum off, but the rear wheels spin way too much when they're in the air. I definitely need to adjust those rear drums when I get back...

 

can someone explain Gravity Bleeding to me???

 

Question. I cannot get the rear caliper to compress so I can change to new pads. I opened the reservoir cap, unscrewed the nipple behind the caliper(I sliped a hose with brake fluid over the nipple to prevent air getting into the line), but nothing worked. Is there something that I am missing?

 

Gravity bleeding is when the valves are opened and the fluid simply flows out of them, from the mass of fluid at a higher level. Technically, it should be called "hydrostatic pressure bleeding," since it relies on gravity acting on the mass of the fluid, and the difference between the bleeder and reservior heights, to make it work.

K

 

Can someone please explain to me what a drum brake is??

LX- Your Accord has rear drums?!

 

The piston on the rear caliper turns in on a screw mechanism. Get something on it that will grab it without damaging it and turn clockwise.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by REFLUX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">can someone explain Gravity Bleeding to me???</TD></TR></TABLE>

g00gle ownz you

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by krshultz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The piston on the rear caliper turns in on a screw mechanism. Get something on it that will grab it without damaging it and turn clockwise.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I use a big flathead screwdriver in the slots of the piston and turn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by siisgood00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Can someone please explain to me what a drum brake is??

LX- Your Accord has rear drums?!</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep, 98-02 LX/SE/DX/VP came with them. Although there was the option for ABS on the LX/SE, so there may be LX/SEs out there with rear discs. Only the EX, and the EX/LX V6s came with rear discs+ABS I believe. Even some of the new 03-05s have rear drums...

 

Deffinately adjust your rear drums. 90% of the cars out there are stopping no where near as well as they could because of this. A properly adjusted rear drum will make a noticable difference in pedal feel and stopping ability, as well as e brake feel.

With the wheel off... spin the drum and it should spin about 1 full revolution before coming to a hault. DOn't do so with the tire on, because this adds to much of a variable.

And I am against gravity bleeding, so you guys call it. No where near as efficient as pressure bleeding, let alone vacuum bleeding.

And when spinning the piston back in on rear discs, I found it easier to rptate the piston out a 1/4 turn, and then in....it will go in a lot easier

 

trying gravity bleeding a car with over 150k. You can sit there all day long hoping for some brake fluid to come out...only to be sorely let down. On a new car, no problem. but on an old car...gravity=good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">rear wheels spin way too much when they're in the air.</TD></TR></TABLE>

There's your problem...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by _RevHardD15 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">oh, and no there shouldnt be any resistance ... for drum brakes</TD></TR></TABLE>

wanna bet? not so it is difficult to turn, but there definately needs to be some friction.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Deffinately adjust your rear drums. 90% of the cars out there are stopping no where near as well as they could because of this. A properly adjusted rear drum will make a noticable difference in pedal feel and stopping ability, as well as e brake feel.

With the wheel off... spin the drum and it should spin about 1 full revolution before coming to a hault. DOn't do so with the tire on, because this adds to much of a variable.

And I am against gravity bleeding, so you guys call it. No where near as efficient as pressure bleeding, let alone vacuum bleeding.

And when spinning the piston back in on rear discs, I found it easier to rptate the piston out a 1/4 turn, and then in....it will go in a lot easier </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah I was having the same problem with a soft pedal feel. I adjusted the rear drums and was amazed at the difference it made

I need to do it again soon tho . . .

 

I think that it might be useful to make the distinction between a "soft" brake pedal and one that has travel before it works. Brake shoes that are some distance from the drum will influence the latter but the pedal will either be firm or not firm, once that travel is used up, based on other factors.

The last car with drums that I raced was our ex-IMSA Renault Cup Alliance. We worked very hard to make damn sure that the shoes were NOT dragging on the drum, to assure that we weren't using any of our 64hp making heat going down the straights...

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think that it might be useful to make the distinction between a "soft" brake pedal and one that has travel before it works. Brake shoes that are some distance from the drum will influence the latter but the pedal will either be firm or not firm, once that travel is used up, based on other factors.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes I should point out that my "soft" pedal feeling was actually too much travel before it became a solid pedal. That's why it was confusing me so much . . . . . I should have know better being that my first few cars had 4-wheel drum brakes that liked to be adjusted on a regular basis.

 

I think I have a combination of both: A soft pedal, and a little more travel, due to a poor bleed job and rear drums that need to be adjusted...