Brakes barely slow the car down, have to stand on the pedal. Pedal is pretty stiff(But not as stiff as when engine off, I.E. brake booster ok).

I suspected glazed pads, but replaced w/ no change. Replaced rotors today for the hell of it, they needed to be resurfaced anyway. No change though.

Drivers side rotor looks brand new after 20 miles of driving, passenger side shows normal wear and was hot to the touch. Drivers side stone cold.

The drivers side caliper is not frozen, the piston moves when you push the pedal.

Anybody seen anything like this? I guess I'll replace calipers until the problem goes away?

91 si hatch w/b16 swap.

 

everything moves and the pads are touching the disc? try bleeding the brakes if you have not already.... maybe theres a crimp in the brake lines or its clogged with something.

 

I've bled them.

I know the pads touch the wheel because when i jack up the car and have someone push the brake pedal the wheel won't move.

Also, when i replaced the pads, i pushed the piston in the caliper. and when i replaced the rotors the piston had moved back out again. So i know it's moving.

The brakes bled normally, so i dont think a brake hose could be the problem, or could it?

 

Just a thought do the caliper sliders move freely. This can cause an adbnormal pedal feel almost like a bad master cylinder. and if only on is stuck the pads can wear at an angle. If not did you adjust the rears i assume you still have drums

 

yeah i do have drums. Not 100% sure how to adjust drums, but interesting you brought that up.

The passenger rear drum wasn't applying when i pulled the parking brake (it shares the same brake circuit as the caliper that isn't working),

I adjusted the star wheel tighter with a screwdriver till it held with the p-brake applied. is that the proper procedure?

man brakes suck

 

oh yeah and the slide pins do move freely. The pedal does not feel like a bad mc or air in the lines - it's stiff.

 

it could be a bad rubber line, if it locks the wheel when the car is jacked up there is no real hard pressure being exerted on the line, but under real braking, the rubber line could be balooning and your brake pressure could just be stretching the line insted of stopping the car

 

EDIT: Didn't read one of your posts my bad.

Check with a friend, get him to pump the pedal and check for swollen lines. Check the rear brakes aswell cause there could be something up with that. I had a minor leak and it wouldn't brake worth **** and I didn't need to top up my fluid for 3 weeks. The leak was in a grommet for the rear brakes and ruined my rear seat.

EDIT, Again: This might sound dumb but check for the vaccum going to the brakes. My friend didn't put his vaccum lines in correctly and the thing ran like **** and hardly braked. Wait...our civics have power brakes right? I'm still new to the do everything yourself. I like the mechanical part, not the fluids/electrical stuff.

 

did you check your porportion valve maybe thats bad put another hf or dx porportion valve on there and bleed the brakes again. It should work. make sure its not a 40/40 ppv either.

 

It's not a vacuum issue, as the brake booster gets vacuum. i don't think the lines are ballooning either, because i think that would give the pedal a mushy feel & extra travel. The pedal feels fine, but when you push it, the sucker doesn't stop.

I'm thinking restriction, frozen calipers or proportioning valve.

this is going to be expensive.

dx, std and si brake parts are all the same right?

 

so the front that isn't working is diagonal from the drum that isn't working, right?

i think it's the m/c. that one circuit isn't working. the fluid is bypassing the piston instead or working correctly. it's similar to what i experience before on my car.

 

how do i know if i have a 40/40 proportioning valve? Or did you mean 50/50?

 

You don't have one if you've got rear drums; unless someone replaced it at some point, which is highly doubtful.

 

oh well the brakes are all stock 91 civic si except the MC is from a 90 crx si with 4 wheel disc brakes.

That has a larger bore doesn't it? wouldn't that make my pedal stiffer/require more effort to stop?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sugarloafpkwy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how do i know if i have a 40/40 proportioning valve? Or did you mean 50/50?</TD></TR></TABLE>

40/40 is for rear discs, if im not mostaken, you have a 40/30 (discs/drums)