Hey All,

What would cause the brakes to stick like this? I jacked up the car, and tried to turn the wheel with the car outta gear, and I could just barely rotate it. I pulled the caliper off, used a c-clamp to push the piston back in, and then put the caliper back on. The wheel spun freely. I then stepped on the brakes once, and went back to rotate the tire... it was stuck. I could barely rotate it.

Is it the caliper? Should I replace it? Is there any other things to check first?

 

Pull the caliper back off and pull out the caliper pins. Use a wire wheel to brush the pins off and lube them up generously with high-temp grease. Sounds like the caliper pins are sticking.

What year is your car? What kind of car and brakes are they?

If that doesn't cure the problem (it should though) then you might want to look into replacing that caliper. If it suits you go ahead and upgrade to bigger brakes if you're running stock civic brakes.

 

ah ha!

Okay.. i was out there messing with it, and I notice that the drives side rear disc (just did a rear disc conversion about a month ago) isnt applying enough pressure.. the rotor is rusty as if it has been unused.

The trouble I am having with the brake sticking is the Passengers side front. I didnt think there was any relation as the proportioning valve is front/rear. However, I was flipping thru my book, and I noticed it said:

"The hydraulic system is diagonally split deisgn, meanign there are seperate curcits for left front/right rear and the right front/left rear brakes"

Obviously its the master cylinder.


[Modified by CustomCockpits, 11:08 AM 9/12/2002]

 

No. Why do you "know" it's the master cylinder?

It could be the booster, caliper pins, calipers themselves, etc.

 

Well think of it like this:

If the right front caliper pin is sticking and it's hloding fluid there, then why wouldn't the left rear not get enough fluid since they're linked diagonally?



See if the right front sticks then of course the one diagonally from it (the left rear) won't get enough fluid because it's all getting stuck in the right front caliper. That's also why the right front is staying locked down, because something is causing it to hold fluid, like a pin being stuck.

 

Could be a build up of road crap on the outside ofthe piston - esp if the piston boot is not sealing well.

 

well, I will give the pins a whirl, and see what happens

 

is there a kit to rebuild the calipers available? Could it be the piston is not moving freely?

 

ok..

The pins are in xcellent shape. They are not sticking, and lubed well. The piston boot is sealing fine, and not full o "road garbage".

What now? The proportioning valve? The way I now understand things (after doing some more reading and making some calls) is that the master cyl has two channels.. each goes to a proportioning valve.. this valve then directs the correct amount of fluid to the front left/right rear (or front right/left rear).

 

My 93 sol Si driver rear caliper is probably gonna have to be replaced. It keeps sticking which wears out the brake pads fast. Last time I got it worked on, they said it took alot of effort to break it free but they got it and it will probably mess up in the future again, So I should start saving money to get it replaced.

This one chain shop "rapid brake and muffler," that does a whole diagonostic on your car and tellls practically everything needs to be replaced, said the calipers for the rear would be 275 each. Thats pretty expensive to me.

 

Ok,

I pulled the rear caliper, and it turns out one of the pins is stuck/froze. Things are starting to make a little more sense now. I guess I dont see how if the rear was unable to apply any more pressure, how that pressure would be able to work its way back thru the system and be applied to the front. I guess the only way to find out is to fix the rear, and see what happens.

Anyone have any ideas on how to unstick a stuck pin? This thing is majorly stuck.. the cumulative brake pressure of 300 miles didnt brake it free, and neither did some persuding (IE: Hammer)

 

It's not uncommon to have a rear caliper go bad on the 1992-1995 Civics. My fiancee's 1992 Civics Si rear calipers stick on occasion.

Call some salvage yards and price for the following:

1992-1995 Civic Si hatch, EX coupe, EX 4-door, or Del Sol Si or VTEC rear calipers.

Any 1994-up Integra calipers.

They are all the same. Same size, same pads, etc. I know this because I work at a shop that does only Honda and Acura cars and I've swapped all of the above so they are infact interchangable.

Or simply call your Honda dealer and price a new/re-manned caliper. It really can't be too expensive. It's worth not having shitty brakes and also having to replace pads more often.

 

Again, I ask, Can't the calipers be rebuilt?

 

yes. do it yourself. parts available at autozone or wherever. MUCH easier to buy a rebuilt caliper though, the time it saves may be worth it....

 

I'll echo Owen:

Sure you can buy the parts, but why? El cheapo parts from your local store + your possible errors might just mean that buying a Honda remanned one or a low-mileage used one would be a lot easier.

I'm not saying you can't do it, but it'll probably end up being more trouble than it's worth.

How are you going to rebuild a caliper when you can't even get the damn pins out anyways?

 

Well,

I got that drivers side rear caliper pin/slider out... it was never lubed! It was all nasty looking. Anywho... I got it out, polished it, then relubed it. The passenger side front is still sticking. I went for a drive after everything was assembled, and came back, jacked the car up, and I can barely rotate the wheel with the car outta gear.

The proportioning valve is 180 bux and special order from the dealer, and the local parts stores say they cannot even order it. So before I go and order it from the dealer or run to the local junkyard, I would like to be sure that this is the problem. Do you guys have anything else to try test for me to figure this out?

I run the Midwest Road To NOPI Tour (http://roadtonopi.com) and I have to have this thing ready for a 2200+ mile round trip trek by Wednesday! Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

It's the porportion valve.

Get the one from the 93-95 Si and you will be fine.

Junkyard is your friend.

 

I've never seen a prop valve go bad.

Diesn't mean it's not possible, but it's just wierd that out of working with and around Hondas since 1996 or so I've never seen nor heard of a prop valve going bad.

 

$275 for a caliper! OMG!! Try http://thepartsbin.com and save yourself some money!!

HTH!

Steve

 

Just FYI, but I recall the Haynes (yes, I know, but I haven't looked at the Helms for brakes) saying that the REAR calipers cannot be rebuilt by the consumer. I'll double check, but I'm pretty sure that stated.

I'd definitely just replace them. I had a rear driver's caliper stick and burned through a set of pads REAL fast!! Required caliper replacement......

Steve

 

You are correct, no one sells a rear brake rebuild kit for those calipers.

I have a 93 si hatch, my left rear was the first to stick. I took it apart, cleaned it up, and put it back together. The dust boot is a PITA to put back on. Later my right read went and so i did the same to it. This time the dust boot ripped so now my right rear has no dust boot. So far i havn't had any problems, but i do plan on replacing them. My rear rotors are about gone now so i'm going to wait and just buy the parts off an integra. And if i remember correctly only the 94-95 integra rear brakes will bolt up to the civic brakes. They changed something on the 96-.... integra rear brakes.

Travis

 

 

I have the same problem with my 06 acura mdx
should I get a prop valve,
i have changed everything except master clinder

 

Why not investigate your calipers FIRST?