Maybe this has happened to you & can help me out... (Car is a 92-95 Civic Ex) front disk brakes, drums in the rear.

So I jumped in my car yesterday to run a quick errand & I while driving the car felt a little sluggish as if something was holding it back. The brake light was on so I checked my master cyl. & indeed it was low so I filled it up & the brake light went off (& I checked the tire pressure too but it was fine). After topping off the brake fluid the car STILL felt a bit sluggish, not AS bad as before, but now the brake pedal was very stiff & it responded when I barely pushed the pedal down, like an inch.

After driving for about 5 more mins when I came to a stop at the light, smoke/steam started coming from my left wheel & I could smell hot brake pad. It's like the pad was/is stuck on the rotor... Today my friend & I checked it out & the fluid in the master dropped from full to about half & there is some liquid directly under the master (not sure if it was brake fluid) & a small dried up puddle in the area of the front left tire. He suggested that the brand new master cyl. that I just bought is faulty...

So we bled the brakes & topped off the master cyl again & we were planning on just putting in a new master cyl... I drove it again tonight & the brake peddle at first it felt like it was back to normal (not super stiff) but there was still a little sluggishness like the pads were STILL stuck on the rotor a little... sure enough, the sluggishness started to get a little worst (not that bad,but noticeable) when i parked i could smell the pads... Anybody familiar with this problem or know what the heck it could be?! Any help would be very appreciated! Thanks ahead of time...

 

Caliper piston is frozen most likely. Take off a wheel and see what the caliper is doing while someone pushes on the pedal.

 

Alright, what is that caused from? there not being any grease/lubrication?

 

Caliper could be bad. Take it apart and use a c clamp or a large pair of pliers and try to press the caliper piston back into its bore. If it doesnt want to move, replace the caliper. Technically you could rebuild it, but its difficult if youve never done it before. Also, make sure to grease the slides and all the hardware the pads slide on. That will most likely fix your problem.

 

thanks!