So I have two issues (right now) with my '98 Accord Coupe I4:

1) I had this rattling noise coming out of the right air outlet on the dash. Eventually I've realized that I can take out the grille which covers it, and I found 4 pieces of broken windshield glass in the bottom of the well. I took them out, and that improved the situation somewhat, but I still get some noise sometimes. I've checked for more broken glass bits, but they aren't there -- I mean in the visible part.

My question is: how can I "open up" the rest of the ducting in order to see if there are more broken glass pieces making the noises? Do I have to remove the dash or the glove compartment or the blower motor?

2) I used to have a problem with my front brakes: they would shimmy when I pressed the pedal. The pedal wouldn't pulsate, but the front end would shake. The higher the speed at which the brake applied, the worse.

Around two months ago, I paid a garage to fix this issue. They did (I think they charged for new discs & labor). That fixed the issue for a while -- but now it is happening again. I drove maybe 2,000 km in the meantime and I don't overuse the brakes; if anything, I underuse them as I tend to use the engine to brake some (I have a standard gearbox). I do accelerate quite aggressively in 1st speed (which is a very short one on my 5 speed gearbox), plus I have smaller tires (18" instead of 19") which puts more torque on the front wheels. Is it possible that the front end is "loosened up" by all that aggressive acceleration and that is causing the front braking shaking? I'm very disappointed that a supposedly solved problem returned so quickly.

 

Try to find a repair manual. It might have the layout of the ducting work. I am sure you are able to take it apart. i have never done it myself, however, I have pulled apart my dashboard numerous times. Search youtube for videos to see if you can find instructions.

Check to see if you have any 'play' in the wheel. Jack up the wheel and rock it top to bottom, and side to side to see if you any play. Inspect all the rubber boots on your front suspension, make sure that you do not have any broken boots. A broken boot will cause the joint to wear and fail prematurely. A worn joint can lead to a shaky wheel.

The most common cause of pulsating front end when braking is warped brake disc. Did the shop also change your brake pads when they changed your brake disc? I know that it is common practice to put on a new set when you change this out. I would not imagine that new rotors would warp again so quickly. I would probably take it back to the shop to have them warranty inspect your brakes for you.

CHECK YOUR LUG NUTS! A loose wheel can also cause your front end to shake when braking. I have seen this happen before, so dont laugh.

Also, check out the condition of your tires. Make sure that you dont have uneven wear around the circumference of your tire. This should not really cause your steering wheel to shake during braking though. You could also have your wheels balanced. Try rotating your wheels and see if you observe any differences.

 

I bought one; the only thing it mentions in that area is the blower motor & the fan. I guess I'll have to search around.

Thanks for the brake info. I loath to take it back to the shop: every time I go there, something else needs to get 'fixed'. I think I'll take it to another shop I had recommended to me.

 

How did you bed in your front pads?
Find a nice empty stretch of highway, accelerate up to 60-65 and slow down to 10MPH as you would on an off ramp. Not slamming on the brakes just a consistent reduction of speed. Do this about 10 times.65>10<65>10 etc You don't need to cook the brakes, and you do not need or want to lockup the wheels. Nor do you want to stop, just keep rolling, accelerate back up to speed and slow down again. A gently rollercoaster of acceleration. After you have done your last slow down, drive the car without stopping(stay on the highway) for 15-30 mins to allow the rotors and pads to cool back down to a normal temp. Then you can stop/park the car.

What may happen during the bed-in process is the shimmy may get worse initially as the rotors/pads head up, but it should diminish to no shimmying.
You cannot 'overbed' a rotor. You can overheat the brakes, so remember to prevent from overdoing it. If your ABS activates you are braking too hard, but you don't want to just drag the brakes either, you want to a solid slow down, but remember do not stop during the bed in process.

What this will do is get the pads/rotors hot enough to lay down a layer of pad material on the rotor. You need to transfer a nice linear layer of pad material to the rotor for proper bed-in.

What you most likely are experiencing, especially with the increase of shimmy to speed, is when the rotors get hot their are areas of more and less material on the the rotor. The well bed in sections grab, the non bedded portions do not thus you get a pulsing/shimmy feel.

Rotors don't warp. http://www.centricparts.com/files/Wh...ake%20Disc.pdf

 

I've tried the process last night: the shimmying got somewhat less, but did not totally disappear.

I had an appointment w/ the shop for a warranty check this morning 8 AM. They took the car for an hour, then handed it back to me (no charge). Now there's no shimmying at low speed (I had no chance to go out to the highway yet), but the brake doesn't 'bite' either: it slows down the car but kind of 'softer' than before.

Should I go out to the highway and do the "bedding in" process now?

 

Yes.

But if the pedal seems to be softer the tech may have overheated the brake fluid. This will make the fluid compressible, you may need to do a caliper bleed, not a full flush, just enough to remove the fluid from the calipers.

 

Thank you.

 

Glass in your ducts is kind of curious? Has this vehicle been wrecked before to your knowledge? Something to keep in mind and look into if your thinking of selling the vehicle down the road.

A good way to clear out all your ducts is to remove the driver (1-2 screws) center console (2 screws) passenger (pops out) vents and use a shop vac with some small/slim attachments and run those attachments as deep as you can into each vent. Then remove the glove box to gain access to your cabin air filter/blower motor. Remove/replace your cabin filters and vacuum out that whole box the best you can. Should remove all "loose" debris from your ventilation system.

There are alot of write-ups and DIYs here on HT and also at 6thgenaccord.com to help with all these ventilation/dashboard issues. They are very well detailed and illustrated.

The braking issue here seems to be near solved so im not going to beat a dead horse.

 

Yeah, well, either my Hondas were banged up before I bought them, or if they weren't, I made sure that I did it myself.

When I bought the current one, I got a statement signed by the used car dealer that "there was never an insurance claim in excess of $2,000 on the vehicle". It is pretty obvious that the car took a hit on the right front end in the past; and it was fixed "privately", as opposed to on an insurance claim.