The brakes on my 94 accord have gotten to where the pedal travels down further than it used to. The brakes still work pretty good but I don't think they would lock with hard braking. I still have good front pads and I;m assuming the rear shoes are not to bad as the parking brake works well. I have no hissing sound like a leaking power booster would make and no fluid loss anywhere. Is excessive pedal travel a sign the master cylinder is bad? Pumping the pedal does not give me a firmer pedal. It does nothing at all. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Have you bled the brakes? That's where I'd start. Maybe air in the lines.

 

did this just start happening? perhaps your have a bad wheel cylinder in the rear. wheel cylinders are somewhat hard to tell if they are leaking.

 

also look directly under your brake master cylinder. is there fluid running down your brake booster?

 

Does the pedal change height if there is no boost assist?
Pump the pedal with the engine off to bleed off the boost assist.
Does the pedal have a more normal height, although harder to push?
If so, possibly one of the seals in the MC is worn and you are only working of one of the pistons and not both.

Any work done on the brakes recently?

 

I went out and pumped the brake pedal this morning and it does seem to pump up to a normal height with the engine off. I left my foot on the pedal and started the engine and the pedal traveled down a good ways. The pedal also feels a little spongy. I;ve done no brake work in the past 6 months.

 

When the pedal is firm with the engine off, but drops with vacuum assist, more than likely the MC has a bad seal. With no vacuum assist you cannot create the same pressure at the MC piston(s) as you would with assist. Thus pedal drops with vacuum assist.

Another test you can do is drive the car, and when coming to a stop gently pull up on the hand brake lever. Does the brake pedal seem to come back? Is so I would suspect the MC has a bad seal.

 

The brake pedal is much better if I pull up on the hand brake and then push down on the brake pedal. Seems to be normal then.