I know this is a civic forum but i am only posting here because it gets a lot of traffic and sounds like a general brake problem. My parents 93 acura legend's brakes are messed up. When you initially start to break there is the normal pressure and it works fine, but then as you hold the brake pedal down (at a stop light for example) it loses pressure and then the brakes losen and will eventually not grab at all. I don't think brake fluid is leaking from the car because it would probably be all gone from the system by now. The car is only driven to the train station and back for work and i only realized this problem when i drove it a few days ago so who nows how long this problem has been around.

 

Your master cylinder is shot and leaking fluid through the internal seals (the brake fluid stays in the system, but you loose pressure). I just had to replace mine on my '95 Civic EX with 140k. It cost me about $30 for a rebuilt master cyl and $5 for fluid. I didn't find it very difficult at all to change it, you just need to make sure you have vise-grips to loosen and tighten the brake lines. Your Legend probably has ABS which complicates things a bit though.

 

ok thanks guys, i figured it was that. Its not my car so i don't get to play with it plus I wouldn't know what I'm doing. It's gonna go to the mechanic, but it's good to know it won't cost a ton of money to get it rebuilt hopefully. Never know with my parents mechanic.....he's a good guy but i don't have much faith in him.

 

I live in MN 40 miles south of Minneapolis. Any suggestions on how I find a reputably rebuilt master cylinder? I have a 93 Del Sol and waiting to hear back from my buddy I bought it from if the master cylinder belongs to the car.

 

I'm going to have to do this myself, why would you need vise grips? Looks like all you'd need are metric wrenches or am I missing something?

 

ideally a line wrench would suffice.

 

its called a flare nut wrench! c'mon guys...just buy brand new mc. its only a couple bucks more.

 

Your not gonna get a response since this post is like 8 yrs old, C'MON GUYS!!

 

Please make your own thread for better answers. DO NOT use vice grips unless there is no other way of loosening the bolts/nuts.

 

Thanks, wasn't sure if I should start new thread or continue with an old one. Will make a new thread as this should be my 5th post and unlock the new thread ability for me.