Hi, I just had to leave my civic on the side of the road because I could not get the wheels to move.

I don't know too much about cars.. the car is a 95 civic manual transmission with a b16 swap.

the problem started when I noticed that my brake lights stayed on after I turned the car off. I have a broken brake light switch that I sort of fixed by placing a screw and nut in the brake pedal. About an hour later, I pressed on the brake pedal repeatedly, trying to see if the brake light came on like it should. as I accelerated the car started to slow down once I shifted into 4th gear. I pressed harder on the throttle and shifted into 5th gear. the car slowed down even more and eventually stopped moving, even in first gear. the RPMS moved when I pressed the gas, so I don't think anything is wrong with my engine. I kept the car running while waiting for a ride and there did not seem to be any problems. I just could not move my wheels at all.

if anyone has any suggestions or can help I'd greatly appreciate it!

 

sounds like either your pedal is being held down by your temp fix or your axle is broken or clutch slipping

 

I also forgot to mention that the brake pedal is stiff. kind of how when you use the brakes while the car is off.

if the pedal is held down, is there a simple way to release it?

 

I'm not sure how you bypassed or fixed your brake switch but it sounds like you need to undo it and start there

 

When you put it in 1st and let the clutch go....what happens?

 

Keep a small floor jack in the car at all times, makes it so much easier to troubleshoot instead of going home with nothing to go on. Go back and inspect your passenger side axle to see if it popped out or your axle boots are twisted. If the boots are twisted than the joint is FUCKED.

 

there is a small plastic piece on the brake pedal that turns off the break light when the pedal is not being pressed. that piece broke off so i just put something similar in size to replace the little plastic piece. I looked at it again and I didn't see how I could cause the pedal to be held down.

 

I haven't tried that so I'm not sure. it did move again after i let it sit for some time.

 

I thought it may have been my axle but it wasn't

 

I had the car towed to a mechanic. turns out that my breaks locked up it'll be about 600bux to fix them.

I'm not sure if i should hold on to the car at this point.
my power steering boot or something is torn, so that doesn't work.
the driver side window isn't working properly,
the reverse tail lights don't work.
and i also have a problem with my axle being too loose or something.
i can't remember all of the technical terms for the problems, but i know it will be expensive to fix all of this.

is it worth keeping this car?

 

That question can only be answered by you.

Personally i would research and get down and dirty and fix it myself.

Especially since it's already b16 swapped.

 

I wish I could but I don't have the resources... I try to fix what I can, but things like breaks are way out of my skill level.

 

Fix the brakes. Sell the car. Buy a nicer, STOCK car.

 

I find it weird that your brakes locked up. GL.

 

If the brakes are locking down, then as suggested you should have taken the brake light "fix" outta there first. Let the brake lights stay on while you drive the car long enough to see if the brakes lock down again or not. I can see maybe one caliper locking as a coincidence after your "fix" but one caliper locking up shouldn't be enough to bring the car to a complete stop. I guess it's too late to try these things since you don't have the car now.

But holy $600 brake job, dude! Lol, make sure the mechanic knows about your rigging at the pedal. Otherwise, the new brakes could get smoked too. Personally, before committing to the $600, I'd get to the car and remove the bolt/nut combo you put in that pedal and test the car out for yourself. Most times, calipers tend to start locking up when hot, but the wheels will spin freely when cold. Take a jack with you to raise the car and spin the wheels before test drive cold and after test drive hot. I have a feeling they won't lock up with the bolt removed.

 

If his brakes locked up and the car couldn't move, I'm surprise he didn't see his clutch burn up. Funny ain't it?

 

Great idea. I love my car but it's too complicated to have it repaired.

 

I let the mechanic know about my quick fix. he says he'll look at it and he'll also drain the brake booster and see if that works. but I do need a master cylinder....
I wish I knew all of this at the time, I could've done more checking if the car wasn't on the beltway. I was too freaked out by the passing trucks.

 

... why would the clutch burn up? the car was in gear and everything worked fine, but the car wouldn't go any faster.
i hope i didn't shorten the clutch life....

 

Ive replaced that little button on the pedal before. It wont do anything to lock up the brakes. If anything, you drivinng on locked up brakes might have warped the rotors and/or glazed the pads. Hope those are included in the quote.


Draining the booster? Draining what exactly?

Just sounds like a master cylinder took a ****. Swapping a MC should be about 150 parts and labor



I wonder if the "mechanic" knows the proper Honda sequence to bleed the lines.. This should be interesting. If it takes longer then it supposed to, then the guy is confused on why the pedal goes to the floor and is trying to fix it. This might be him replacing the replacement MC thinking the new one is bad. Well, at least youll get a chuckle and your 600.00 worth.

 

So I have my civic back

the replacing the master cylinder and brake booster drain thing worked.

Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice!!

I still need an axle and a bearing... and another car.

I does anyone know what kind of front right I need for this swap?
and if I can use a civc bearing?