I was fixing a stuck parking brake which required disassembly of the left rear drum. During disassembly, the pistons of the wheel cylinder popped out and fluid came out. I promptly pushed the pistons back. I also turned the star wheel adjuster so now the brake shoes were closer to each other. I reassembled everything, pumped the brakes a ton of times and hearing clicks after each pump (I assumed this was the autoadjusters adjusting brake shoe distance). The brake was soft, so I bled the brakes. After multiple rounds of bleeding, they are still soft, with much less braking power than before disassembly.

I noticed that the front brake shoe of the left rear drum was below the service limit, so I plan on replacing them when my new shoes arrive. I don't think this is the culprit because they were the same shoes on the vehicle when it had a hard brake pedal.

Could it be that the auto adjusters still have not adjusted the distance back to pre-disassembly amounts? The clicking seems to have stopped.

Could it be that more bleeding is required and that I still have air from when the wheel cylinder pistons popped out? I have done multiple rounds of bleeding, no air bubbles are coming out of the nipples, but the total amount of brake fluid I have discharged is probably no more than 100 mLs.

When the engine is off, after multiple pumps of the brake pedal, the pedal gets progressively hard but never fully hardens. The first inch or two of travel are soft, then it hardens up like a normal brake pedal after many pumps.

 

Re-adjust the shoes so that they are pushed out, or closer to the drum surface. There should be slight drag on the drum while the wheel is off. If the drum comes of with ease, you may have adjusted the shoes too far in.

 

Hi All, I have a 03 Acura TL and have NO fluid going to the rear right wheel. (I had No fluid going to both rear wheels prior to replacing the proportioning valve, after replacement I noticed the right rear still not getting fluid). Upon installing the new prop valve and after bleeding, I did get brake fluid to the wheel and I though my problem had been resolved. However after only one day I noticed the pedal feeling strange again ( hard and high). I pulled the same right rear wheel , bled and again noticed No fluid to this wheel again . Cant understand why it would be fine for one day and then back to same problem soon after. (calipers are new and not stuck) Im thinking master cylinder but if master was bad wouldn't I also not get fluid from one other wheel? Any help is appreciated.

Thank you
Frank