Hi, Just got back from Texas where the MOT equivalent is about 7 quid. Takes about ten minutes. However the 1996 Accord 2.0 my daughter (kind of) looks after for me is not too bad, but the rear left brake is giving me problems.

Sorry if I'm going over old ground, but they've given me until Thursday to do the fixes without paying again and I can't find the thread I was reading before I signed up.

It looks like daughter had new pads fitted, but they were put onto discs/rotors that had bands of rust. I've cleaned the discs and flattened the pads, and the right one tests out okay, easily stopping the wheel with the handbrake if there's any gravel about. However, the left does very little. After a hard test the right was hot, and the left cold.

The rolling road didn't show a normal brake fail, so I'm assuming the piston is free, though I don't dare push it out cos I'm using a pal's tools, and haven't got a clamp to press it back.

From what I read, there is a mechanism (under a cover - a coil spring showing ) near to the caliper. The main cable looks as though it has been replaced and feels free. But the left just works slightly. 85 I think the reading was. whatever that means, but the other was more than twice that.

Could such a failure be caused by adjustment alone? Certainly, the lever position changed radically when I cleaned up the right side, and brings the good brake in within a couple of clicks. I can not detect any significant drag.

I got the pads roughly even according to a vernier gauge, and was relying on burn-in to get them flat. If the darn thing won't come on, I can't get past first base.

Would appreciated any help.

 

the rear on these, IMO, have issues with the caliper piston sticking.....

PS...It "screws" back in...not a press like the front.

 

Wow! Good job I didn't have a clamp!! Thanks for that.

So, hence the cross in the end of the piston.

The power of forums.

 

Its good that your problem is solved now.

 

Sadly, not fixed. The piston obviously works in normal braking, but the handbrake mechanism works, but does not adjust.

I've removed the pin and pulled the cam-shaped lever arm back as far as it will go. It does not reset/adjust, and the cable is pulling at a very poor angle. ie way past 90 degrees. Any attempt to adjust the cable would mean the other brake would be on all the time of course.

The coil spring doesn't look broken.

Is there any trick to making it adjust again? Right now, the brake starts to come on with the lever well past 90 degree optimum. But at least, it does show it has the potential to work, if only it would reset.

 

You know, this may be a dumb thing to check, but what does the tension look like from within the car? If you pull out the arm rest you should be able to see the actual lines for the handbrake. I'm wondering if maybe when the brake setup was changed out if they didn't damage something?

And yes, it definitely could be alignment related on the handbrake cable - my '97 Accord had absolutely horrible handbrakes until we readjusted the rear drums again.

 

As MuffinMan suggested you can adjust the cables, side to side, from just behind the e-brake. However it sounds like the caliper has given up. Pull the rear wheels, then pull the e-brake, if both cables move that caliper "arms" in about the same amount and one side diesn't hold....

 

Really having trouble with being in rented place in UK. Thought I was on a British site. Doh! Not that it matters. Huge number of Accords in Texas.

I have a well equipped workshop there, but here I'm working in a garden - in typical British weather.

I asked the guys on the pilot's forum Pprune. Some good stuff appearing in the latter posts.

I'm getting the gist of the design philosophy, but still not sure why the need for a special tool. My outer piston - for want of a better term - seems to adjust with ease. Maybe this is a problem in itself.

Rushed now, but will come back soon.

http://www.pprune.org/jet-blast/4531...te-jets-3.html