help me plz!!

i bought this 86 crx si 3 weeks ago and everything seems to work fine except the breaks. well they work but they get super hot. i changed the break booster, pads, rotors, caliper on the pass side(twice, they gave me a bad one the first time) and cv boot on drivers side. drivers side doesn't get hot anymore the pass side gets hot some times but not all the time and sometimes smokes. i changed the caliper for the second time saturday and drove it yesterday with no prob. and today its hot again. does any1 kno what else might be wrong? thx for any help.
oh yea and today there was this cow bell sound on the driver's side by the wheel. could it be a cracked cv joint? :confused:

not sure about the brakes but the cow bell noise is certainly not the cv, cv's make a clicking noise when u make sharp tuns if they are failing, then they make a very big bang when they do fail. if the boot is not cut u r probally alright

I had a similar problem on a car that I once had. Turned out that the rubber brake hose had been kinked at some point in time and the inner hose lining seperated from the rubber housing. This created a clog that wouldn't let the brake fluid back into the master from the caliper thus creating a "hot rotor".

Anyway, assuming that your hoses and pads are good on both sides, and that you bled the system after replacing the passenger side caliper... My guess is that you have a "sticky" caliper on the drivers side. This would cause the passenger side caliper to do most or all of the work, causing it to over heat. If your car pulls to the passenger side when braking then this is probably the case.

What were you doing when you heard the "cow bell"?

FYI: Upgrading your CRX brakes to '86-'89 Integra disc brake system is totally worth it! This is something that anyone with average mechanical skills should be able to handle in a weekend. I performed this swap on my '86 CRX SI about 3 weeks ago and now it stops on a dime!

the only time i would hear the cow bell sound was when i turned and when i went over speed bumps. so anything that would make the car bounce is when i hear the noise.

so i found out what was wrong. the entire brake system is contaminated. some dumb idiot that owned the car before me put something other than break fluid in the master cylinder. so now anything with ruber in the brak system needs to be replaced. so now my question is, would it be smart to do this all my self or should i put in the hands a professional? the master cylinder, calipers, wheel cylinders, and all the hoses have to be changed. so anyone who has had to do this or know someone that has, any advice would be appreciated. thx in advance

Replacing these parts is relatively simple. Since you have already replaced some of these parts, you should have some idea as to what you will be getting yourself into.

If you are not comfortable doing this procedure then I would recommend having your car repaired by a professional mechanic. This way they can also check out the cow bell sound. The first reply to your question is correct, cv joints don't make a cow bell sound when they to go bad but the circumstances under which the noise is heard is typical of a bad cv joint (?). At this point without actually driving your car it will be difficult for anyone to speculate what is making this sound.

A little advise... if you do decide to take on the brake system yourself, pick up a tubing wrench (10mm I believe). It will save you a huge headache when trying to disconnect steel fittings. An open end wrench will usually slip and round out the fittings. Also, unless you have someone to help you bleed the brakes, you will need a one person brake bleeding kit (don't get the cheap one, I have never been able to get the $10 version to work right). Since you are going to all this trouble you should definitely consider getting your rotors and drums turned or replaced. I am assuming that since someone was dumb enough to put a foreign substance in the brake fluid, they probably didn't maintain the brakes very well and you will probably have a deep groove in the rear drums. This will also make them very difficult to get off. If you feel that your rotors are in good condition, you can refurbish them a little by lightly sanding them with a coarse sand paper to get the glaze off of them.

If you are on a restricted budget with this project, I still have the master cylinder and front calipers for a 86 CRX SI (left over from my Integra swap) that I am willing to donate.

we i do thank you very much for your help lxnder. i actually changed the rotors right after i got the car. they were warped pretty bad. so ive done that. and i am on a very tight budget since i wasnt expecting this to happen, so if you would be willing to donate thoes parts that would be great. and i would appreciate it. just let me know where you're at and we can arrange something to get them from point a to b. im in az. again thank you very much

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Thanks
Briea

i hope your brakes are ok but for the cow bell sound you really might want to check to see if maybe a rod bearing or something in the oil apn it may not be the brakes at all but that is just a suggestion..... :smokin: