Ok

Still haaving the issue, havent worked on it recently because it is

2 ******* degrees outside

That said,

here is the current situation

84 civic. Brakes are out.

Symptoms - popping noise in rear passanger wheel off and on, recently lost all pressure.

IF i pump the brakes a few times the pressure builds up fine, and it DOES hold as long as i push in the brakes. They do NOT gradually release. As soon as i let off the brakes and wait 5 seconds the brake pressure is gone.

I have replaced the wheel cylinders on both of the rear drum brakes, new shoes while i was in there. Nothing seemed broken, the shoes were about 50% out.

Symptoms have not changed. The good thing is honda brake parts are dirt cheap.

Any ideas on what to take a crack at next? no sign of any brake leaks.

 

Dude, I wish I knew how to help ya exactly here, but with those symtoms listed I don't know where to start.

If I were in your position I would start by paying a shop to bleed the brake lines. Its possible to have a touch of air in em. That would explain the pumping up part I think. I know when I done the brakes on my mustang, we never even opened the brake system at all. We DID however mess up and let the front callipers hang on the rubbet lines for a minute or 3. After we were done my brakes felt like a sponge. A quick bleed solved the problem. Also if you let a shop do it, the might let you under there to take a look at it all as they are building the pressure on the lines and releasing it. You might see something. . . . .


That was just really a shot in the dark bro, I wish ya well. Keeps us updated on this.

 

Is the fluid reservoir still going down even though you don't see a leak? And does this hunk-0-honda have power brakes?

 

Try bleeding the brake system from the master cylinder down. You may have a small air pocket. Also check that your calipers are not binding up. Your calipers may be sticking causing braking to suck until you get enough pumps to get them to clamp. This is somewhat of a ghost to chance by the sound of it.

 

Hey Jack, did you adjust the rear shoes up when you put them on? Were both of the shoes the same lenght or was one shorter? Does your handbrake work and will it hold the car if you put it in gear? Do you only hear the popping noise on the right side? Were the drums wore and did you have any problem getting them off (did they have a lip on the outside edge)?
The right passenger side wheel cyl. is the farest away from the master cyl. is all the air out of the system?

 

The shoes looked the same length, and i did pull them up, cant get the drum on without pulling em up.
ill admit, im a total noob on this, this is the first time ever working with drum brakes.

Handbrake has worked so far, it runs off a cable and spring though not with the hydrolics. i will test the ebrake this weekend when i get the wheels baack on the car.

the popping noise from my knowledge was only on the passanger side rear, if course im not 100% seeing as how i was in the driver seat when i heared it.

the drums were a bitch to take off, untill i released the parkingg break. lol. i had to use some bolts to screw in aand push them off, but they werent overly difficult.

my buddy came over and we bled the brakes, only did the rears i might need to do the fronts as well. we bled all the air we could find, mmy buddy was pumping and after a few spurts of air it just seemed to be brake fluid.


note, before this all began my brake fluid was on the low side. i have never seen any leaks around the wheels.


i need to read up more on how brakes work, once you pump them a few times they brake up nicely and hold pressure all day long as long as you hold the pedal down, as soon as you let off the brakes the pressure starts dying out, and in 5 seconds all the pressure is gone untill you p[ump it again

im assuming there should be some sort of a valve that allows some but not all of the pressure to leak out?

ugh..

it is supposed to be in the 40's this weekend, warm enough to mess with the car again

 

check the master cylinder....

 

good thing, the master cylinder is only 40 bucks. lol. i might as well give that a shot.

anyone have any perals of wisdom for swapping one of these out? i DO have the chiltons manual for the car.

 

So does it even have power brakes?

 

yeah it does... at least power assist, the brake gets a lot easier to push once the car is started up.

EDIT:

Yes it seems it does.

Maybe an issue with the vacuum booster?...

 

If its vacuum assisted aka power brakes I would look at a vacuum leak also to the brake booster.

 

sounds like the master cylinder is shot. That would be the next step if it were at the garage I work at. They are too easy to replace. Just remember to bleed the whole system after you replace it.
Also, make sure to properly adjust the rear drum brakes. tighten 'em up with a spanner wrench until the brakes just start to catch the drum, so it takes good effort to turn, then back off a few clicks. You should feel a slight drag when turning the drum.

 

THanks for the help everyone. It turned out to be a bad master cylinder.

Brakes are working great now! better than they have in the past year.

 

Cool. Glad to help, good to see you got it figured out and back on the road.

 

Nice to see a good outcome.

 

i was gonna say this happened on my honda rancher.