Please help me I have 1996 gsr rear disks on my Honda civic cx hatch with a 13/16ths master cylinder and stock dx brakes up front ... I think I have the stock proportioning valve but don't know how to tell .... I can't figure out why my brake peddle is hard to press to the point that it litteraly barely moves and has almost no effect on the car when trying to stop... I really hope there is somebody who can help me because I am at a loss here as to what to do... Thank you very much for any information you may have for me.

 

check the condition of your brake booster, if it failed it will give u a hard pedal and it will be hard to stop the car.

 

When I say it's hard to push the brakes I'm talking almost solid like it moves about 1/2 and inch and badly stops the car at all I have to do almost all braking by down shifting and have to leave it in the garage because I can't drive it on the stree safely

 

I assume the pedal was normal before and then some mods were done. Exactly when did the hard brake pedal problem start?

Have you inspected the hardlines from the m/c to make sure they are routed correctly?

 

Honestly I bought the car like that so I don't know where it went wrong just need to fix it asap so I can drive it

 

So why on earth would you buy the car in the first place? Thats sounds like a leak in the vacum hose to the booster!

 

Got the car cheap and it sould be an easy fix once I figure out what it is ... I switched the vacume hose around and now when I start the car the pedal goes all the way to the floor instead

 

Any info would be helpful I need to corect this problem asap ... Thank you for your help

 

You need to give more info than that. What did you switched around? and from where to where? I'm not following you here. But if I'm following what you're saying and the pedal goes to the floor and feels soft whereas used to be hard, then that means that you now have a working booster, all you need to do is bleed the system to fix it.

 

I switched the vacume hose that connects the intake manafold to the brake booster around so that it was connected with the proper side attached the the brake booster and the othe side to the intake. Problem is now instead of a pedal that I can't push it now sucks the pedal all the way down when I turn the car on and you can pull it back up like it's stuck but when I turn the car off it pops back up the the normal possision. It's very strange and I am very lost here.

 

what hes saying is the hose that was connecting the intake to the brake booster was on backwards. he turned it around and now hes having the opposite problem.

and correct me if im wrong but when i talked to you earlier it sounded like the pedal just falls on its own, not like air in the line causes the pedal to drop when depressed. and i believe you also told me you CANT pull it back up right??

what would cause the pedal to naturally rest in the depressed position when the car is running and pop back up when the car is turned off????

could it still be the brake booster??

 

Yeah that's exactlly right it's very odd .... I'm kinda thinking brake booster but I hoped there would be someone who knew better than me ... Thanks again for all of your help

 

billy says you may need to replace the valve on the vacuum line, might be faulty due to having been backwards for so long... its a cheap place to start at least...

 

Any other ideas???

 

Nothing .... I'm lost on this one

 

Bump

 

the first guy who replied to your post looks to be right. When i was having problems with my car to check to see if it was the booster or master cylinder.

From doing a lot of research when the booster goes bad you will have a stiff pedal. If you don't believe me search bad booster. It can also be the check valve between the hose.

Also since you have rear disc brakes it's best to change your proportioning valve and also i think you master cylinder too.

 

Well I did some research and I have the same proportioning valve as a civic si ... I guess I will change the hose and see if that fixes my problem ... Thank you

 

hey guys i changed the vacuum hose and the brake pedal still sucks down to the ground when i start the car and it remains on the ground till the car is turned off and the pedal slowly comes back up. Also when the car is off i cant pump the pedal and build pressure in the brake booster till it is hard because whether the car is on or off the pedal is solid in place so i am not really sure where to go from here and i would like all your opinions and ideas... thank you very much.

 

change the brake booster i had the EXACT same problem. i couldnt even press my brake pedal. the booster isnt hard to change. four bolts holding it to the fire wall, a pin holding it to the pedal, and remove the two bolts holding the master cyinder to the booster.20 min fix.

 

do you have to drain the master cylinder to do it ? do you have to remove the brake lines before you move the master cylinder?

thank you green eg6 for your help i will try that and i hope it fixes the problem.

 

brake booster is going out, many cars do this

 

no to all your questions. just follow the instructions i gave you and it will take no longer than 20 mins. no fluid wil even come out. you dont have to drain?bleed anything.just remove the two 12mm bolts holdint the master cylinder to the booster,remove the vacume hose the connects to your booster. and the master cylinder should just pull right off the booster, just push the M.S. to the side to make room when removing the booster. next remove the four bolts under youtr dash that hold the booster to the fire wal, last remove the cotter pin and rod that attaches the booster to you pedal. just reverse the instrustions for reinstall.