Here are the only 2 threads I could find with relevant info to my problem.
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1069211
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=270490

I have a 95 VTEC. We recently had like $600brake work done. Replaced rear rotors, turned the fronts, replaced all 4 pads and had one or two calipers on back replaced because they were frozen, which led to the rear rotors being so shot.

We were super broke and the car was uninsured and had no tag so it sat for around 6 months. We have the car legal and driving it now but have a strange brake problem.

Pedal loses pressure in varying ways. If its warm it loses pressure more rapidly and easily vs lower outside temps. When sitting at a light with just enough pressure on the pedal to hold the car still it steadily goes to the floor. I can pump the pedal and build pressure but it loses it again as you sit with it held. When driving it can hold pressure and work fine OR it will just start dropping as soon as you get on them no matter how hard or soft. It just varys for no reason.

My ABS light was on before we got the brake work done because the rears were so bad and the light is STILL on after the work. My brakes are still under warranty and will be taken care of in the comin week but I would like to tell them what is wrong.

Thanks in advance
Daniel and Meredith

 

Maybe some air got into your brake lines...try bleeding the brakes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WifesVTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pedal loses pressure in varying ways. If its warm it loses pressure more rapidly and easily vs lower outside temps. When sitting at a light with just enough pressure on the pedal to hold the car still it steadily goes to the floor. I can pump the pedal and build pressure but it loses it again as you sit with it held. When driving it can hold pressure and work fine OR it will just start dropping as soon as you get on them no matter how hard or soft. It just varys for no reason.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds exactly like what was happening to me. I Replaced the master brake cylinder and fixed it . If money is you're problem then i suggest you do the labor yourself or you'll be looking at $400-500 to fix it

 

Bleed the brakes a LOT because it takes longer than you think, and if that doesn't fix it, try a new MC.

 

sounds like a your brake master cylinder is shot.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by snowblind7x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Sounds exactly like what was happening to me. I Replaced the master brake cylinder and fixed it . If money is you're problem then i suggest you do the labor yourself or you'll be looking at $400-500 to fix it </TD></TR></TABLE>
yep it happened to me too. I had to pay like $550 though.

 

When bleeding brakes it's important to use short strokes on the pedal because if you push the pedal to the floor it has a tendency to blow out MC's. Perhaps that's what did the MC in.

if it's not the MC, my other guess is that there's air in the lines, or a leak somewhere. air in the lines might explain the ambient temp difference in pedal pressure--though the varied nature of the problem sounds a little weird. a leak would be a more consistent problem.

i would first bleed the brakes very thoroughly, and if it doesn't help, look into replacing the MC.

 

my wifes dad said the clutch and brake are on the same MC if that makes sense.

I'm willing to assume its air in the lines judging by your responses. Value-brake / Brake Depot did the work so it wouldnt surprise me if they fucked it up somewhere in the process.

I doubt its the MC because I sometimes DO get good pressure and I have no fluid leaks. But the ABS light being on kinda aggravates me because it was on when we took it to them and told them about it and they sent it out without clearing it. I was at work while my wife took them the car or I woulda bitched first thing.

 

[QUOTE=WifesVTEC]my wifes dad said the clutch and brake are on the same MC if that makes sense.

[\QUOTE]

Don't let him near a car ever again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WifesVTEC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my wifes dad said the clutch and brake are on the same MC if that makes sense.

I'm willing to assume its air in the lines judging by your responses. Value-brake / Brake Depot did the work so it wouldnt surprise me if they fucked it up somewhere in the process.

I doubt its the MC because I sometimes DO get good pressure and I have no fluid leaks. But the ABS light being on kinda aggravates me because it was on when we took it to them and told them about it and they sent it out without clearing it. I was at work while my wife took them the car or I woulda bitched first thing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

see if you can get the ABS code pulled. that might have something to do with it, however, ABS is kind of its own system so i'm not sure if it'd have an effect on pedal pressure--it very well could, but ABS isn't one of those things i'm comfortable talking about just yet.

the master cylinder for the brake and clutch are 2 different things.

here's my doubt about air in the lines, after thinking about it some: in a closed hydraulic system that's been tainted by a compressible fluid, any sort of compression would lead to a somewhat consistent mushiness. also, if you were to build pressure in the system with air in the lines, you wouldn't be able to technically build pressure, since every time you released the pedal, the air would decompress...

in fact, now i'm inclined to think that the MC is blown: if there's a faulty seal, one that still seals but not completely, when you build pressure by pumping the pedal, the net effect is that pressure builds in spite of the seal's leak (pressure being built is greater than the pressure lost through the leak), but when you press and hold the pedal the pressure eventually dies because of the seal's leak, if that makes sense.

the thing that makes me unsure as to whether i'm right, or completely wrong about this, is that the brakes work *sometimes*. What i said about bleeding w/ short strokes in an earlier post as it pertains to the master cylinder: grit builds up in the MC over time and accumulates in the "unused" part of the cylinder, the part of the cylinder that never sees any piston stroke under normal pressurized conditions, so when the system is being bled, and the seals are run over the gritty part of the MC they get fubar'd. So i'm thinking that maybe there's some debris that sometimes helps the fouled seal do its job and build pressure, but sometimes does not.

 

definately Bracke MC