About two weeks ago I changed my front rotors and pads, it pumped and got hard like supposed too...Today I changed my back brakes drums and shoes, now the brake pedal wont get hard at all. I have pumped it for 20 mins taking about 5 min intervals with the car on/off however everything worked before I changed them at 4pm now it wont...this is a 96 civic cx hatch

 

Good excuse to do a rear disc conversion lol

 

The rear drum brakes may have alot of travel which has to be reduced to reduce pedal travel. The best way to adjust them is manually with the drum off and frequently installing the drum to get a slightly tight fit (can turn by hand). This will adjust the parking brake to be tight when engaging also.
The travel is coming from excessive movment in the braking system that the master cylinder is trying to compensate for.

 

The rear drum brakes may have alot of travel which has to be reduced to reduce pedal travel. The best way to adjust them is manually with the drum off and frequently installing the drum to get a slightly tight fit (can turn by hand). This will adjust the parking brake to be tight when engaging also.
The travel is coming from excessive movment in the braking system that the master cylinder is trying to compensate for.

 

Either you have a shitload of air in your lines, you have a massive leak, or you fucked up your brakes. Are you sure you installed everything correctly? Did you use a new brake hardware kit? Did you make sure all four shoes were properly seated on the brake cylinder? Have you been keeping your master cylinder reservoir full while bleeding?

The rear brakes are automatically self-adjusting. Everything Tyler just said about how to install them is a pointless waste of time. Put the car in reverse, and make a sudden stop from 10 to 0. Boom, rear drums are adjusted.

 

I didnt know that you were supposed to get new hardware, the guys at Oreillys didnt tell me I would need that when I asked a few times "is this all I need?"...Yes the brake fluid is full, it actually doesnt go down while I bleed it which is odd.. All four shoes were seated correctly I believe

 

Double check. How are you bleeding your fluid, if the fluid level isn't going down?

 

Its possible there is crap blocking the brakelines, impeding the bleeding procedure. Try blowing them out from the master cylinder by disconnecting the line and forcing compressed air thru it, with the calipers and rear brake cylinders disconnected from the lines also.

then redo the bleeding procedure properly, use directions if you have to, with fresh fluid that hasn't been sitting on a shelf for years or that you borrowed from your neighbor or anything like that.


honestly it sounds more like his master cylinder is toast though. If his brakes dont work and he cant even bleed them? Thats what I would probably do first.

 

I agree with shotoutaccord. I would check to make sure you have fluid traveling to each corner when you press the pedal. All that being said I'm assuming you installed your rear brakes correctly and wheel cylinders are good....

 

That's a first.

 

If you only replaced the shoes why are you bleeding the brakes ?

 

Viagra.
Are you bleeding the brakes in the proper sequence?