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Before you say air in lines… not the case.. brakes were tight before i swapped pads.. no air could have got into the sysyem.. swapped pads out.. brake pedal goes almost all the way to the floor… Im thinking maybe the pads have to bed to the old rotors ? iv seen this could take a few days sometimes? felt the pedal was so soft so i figured the drums needed to be adjusted YES they were super loose.. so i adjusted them.. Got those real tight.. pedal still very soft… Any suggestions or previous experiences? car is a 2003 honda accord not that it matters
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I am assuming you did not open the bleeder valves when you did the pad swap.
Did you recess the pistons in without opening the master cylinder?
How is the fluid level in the MC (and what is the color)
The reason I asked is that you may have damaged the seals in the master cylinder.
Karl
no i didnt take off the cap for the master cylinder… never have. and i didnt mess with the bleeder valves.. jus a quick pad swap
how many miles ye’ got on your vehicle?
i wonder if the seals in the master cylinder could have been damaged when fluid was forced back up into it resulting in an ‘internal leak.’
Have you tried bleeding the brakes to see if hydraulic
pressure is created when the brake pedal is pushed?
If no or little pressure is observed.replace the master.
You should really open the bleed screw when resetting calipers.I’ve never had a problem with the MC when pushing the brakes back with a c clamp without opening the bleed screw, I just push it slowly and smoothly but cracking the bleeder screw will make it depress much quicker and easier. You may just have to press the brake pedal a couple of times. Also, I think eric made a video on this but find a secluded road and brake HARD. Drive straight down the road and slam on the brakes. This will firm up the brakes.
LOL yes i know to pump the brakes.. i do 20-30 brake jobs a week.. i wouldnt have posted this question if it wasnt rare.. ill try bleeding.. but again.. you shouldnt have to bleed brakes when changing pads… no air is introduced to the system
[quote=”2StrongMNG” post=51546]Before you say air in lines… not the case.. brakes were tight before i swapped pads.. no air could have got into the sysyem.. swapped pads out.. brake pedal goes almost all the way to the floor… Im thinking maybe the pads have to bed to the old rotors ? iv seen this could take a few days sometimes? felt the pedal was so soft so i figured the drums needed to be adjusted YES they were super loose.. so i adjusted them.. Got those real tight.. pedal still very soft… Any suggestions or previous experiences? car is a 2003 honda accord not that it matters[/quote]
Just noticed you said drums. Rear brakes. And that’s a quick swap? They a pita cause the adjustments…parking brake, auto adjuster…that never works. If somebody has really old drums, they develop a lip and you need a stinking gear puller to get them off.
[quote=”2StrongMNG” post=51602]LOL yes i know to pump the brakes.. i do 20-30 brake jobs a week.. i wouldnt have posted this question if it wasnt rare.. ill try bleeding.. but again.. you shouldnt have to bleed brakes when changing pads… no air is introduced to the system[/quote]
20-30 brake jobs a week sounds like a shop. You say rotors and then you say drums, which is it? A good brake job includes new rotors or drums or machining the old rotors if there is enough stock on them. Just slapping pads on isn’t the right way to do a brake job. Did you clean and lube the slide pins of this is disc? That is also part of a good brake job along with bleeding or flushing the system. Most manufacturers recomend replacing brake fluid every so many miles or a certain time. Pad slapping is not a good way to do brake jobs.
If you didn’t open the bleeders when pushing the piston back into the caliper there may have been some crud at the bottom of the caliper that you pushed back into the lines. Dirty fluid tends to settle down in the caliper. Always open the bleeders when pushing the caliper back in. Buy a vacuum or pressure bleeder and charge a little more to bleed the system, since it’s recomended maintenance by most manufacturers.
This is why I tell people to go to a quality shop instead of just the cheapest shop. Slapping new pads on without addressing the rotors/drums is a sloppy way to do brake jobs. I know you probably won’t like reading this but it’s the truth. If you are a shop(doing 30 brake jobs a week) do your customers a favor and give them a full service brake job. It will also allow you to charge more for your quality service. New rotors/drums and a brake flush take an extra 15 minutes to do and can make some good proffit and your new pads will last longer. Most shops charge around 80-100 to flush the fluid. Charge 40-50 while you’re doing the brakes anyway, takes you 15 minutes.
The rotors didnt need replaced… And it was pads in the front.. drums in the back.. lets not act like we have never heard of that before folks… and yes i work in a shop.. customer brought int here own pads and just wanted them swapped.. so again.. before jumping out there about things you dont know about… ask qustions.. not make assumptions… customers do not need ROTORS EVERY!! time then get brake….
So what was the problem then?
If the car needed pads then the rotors at least needed to be turned. I assume you checked them with a run out gauge since you are so sure they didn’t need to be replaced or turned right? Sorry man slapping pads on isn’t the right way to do it. I didn’t make assumptions, I read your posts which stated the brake job wasn’t done the way it should have been. I’m not going to get into a pissing match, your customer and all. But there’s a lot more to a proper brake job then pad slapping it. If a customer won’t pay for a propere job then I would send them away so you don’t have to deal with problems that arrise like this. Good luck.
[quote=”drthrift035″ post=51666]Does anyone know of a 1 person method of bleeding the brake system ? Please let me know thanks.[/quote]
There are a couple ways to do it. I believe Eric has a video on using a plastic soda bottle to bleed the brakes. Cheap and works. Otherwise you can buy a bleeder, either pressure or vacuum. I personal like the vacuum method, don’t like the idea of brake fluid under pressure in case something were to go wrong and spray it all over. Also the motive pressure bleeder you have to have a different adapter for every make of vehicle you use it on. Where the mityvac vacuum bleeder works on all vehicles and pulls the fluid from the master to each wheel. It’s about 140 bucks but well worth it to me, even for a home mechanic. Most manufacturers are recomending brake fluid be changed now, most shops charge anywhere from 60-100 bucks so two flushes and you have your tool paid for.
The OP needs help, and although I respect the opinion that pad slapping isn’t ideal, the discussion has not gone in a direction that is helping him at all. Let’s be a little more positive try to help him out.
I once had a similar problem with rear disc brakes, and it turned out the pads weren’t close enough to the rotors to autoadjust. The solution in that case was to adjust the slave cylinders inward and once they were close the problem was solved. Of course this case is different, with rear drum brakes. Did you adjust the rear drums with the emergency brake, shifting into reverse to activate that star gear? Does the emergency brake work correctly? I would retrace your steps and be sure you haven’t reassembled anything incorrectly. Anybody else with constructive comments?
[quote=”spelunkerd” post=51687]The OP needs help, and although I respect the opinion that pad slapping isn’t ideal, the discussion has not gone in a direction that is helping him at all. Let’s be a little more positive try to help him out.
I once had a similar problem with rear disc brakes, and it turned out the pads weren’t close enough to the rotors to autoadjust. The solution in that case was to adjust the slave cylinders inward and once they were close the problem was solved.
Please give me some more details on the above. Thanks.
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