Brake problem, please help me

I had a mechanic replace my oxygen sensors. Once done, i started driving back home. I was driving for about 2-3 minutes when I noticed that the car wasnt going faster than 30 mph. So, I went and parked at a nearby residential area to check out the problem and I noticed that the whole time I was driving the car while the emergency brake handle was lifted up. Seeing that, i lowered the emergency brakes handle and started driving back home. A couple hours later while i was driving, i started hearing a squeaky noise. It would make the noise whenever I used my brake. I have no knowledge of automobiles, so I'm assuming that me having the brake on must have been the cause of the sqeaky noise. My question to you guys is how do i fix it and how much would it cost?

car is 99 Accord EX and has 100,100 miles

How "lifted up" was the lever? Enough to hold the car still at a stop?

What probably happened is the brake shoe got heat glazed (maybe?) and now your hearing the squeak from the "hardened" shoe material.

It might go away on it's own and if not take drums off and sand shoe surface to get rid of the glaze surface of the shoe. You don't have to take the shoes off, just sand them still installed.

I'm no mechanic and of course this is just my :2cents: worth.

How "lifted up" was the lever? Enough to hold the car still at a stop?

What probably happened is the brake shoe got heat glazed (maybe?) and now your hearing the squeak from the "hardened" shoe material.

It might go away on it's own and if not take drums off and sand shoe surface to get rid of the glaze surface of the shoe. You don't have to take the shoes off, just sand them still installed.

I'm no mechanic and of course this is just my :2cents: worth.

Yes, it was enough to hold the car still. What do you mean the brake shoe got heat glazed? I dont really know what you mean by the shoes, so coud you please explain it further?

Before I go any farther do you know if you have drums or disc in the back?

Alot have disc all the way around ("4 wheel disc") while others have disc up front and drums in the back.

Look up front through the rim and then look at the back and see if you can see the disc. If they look different (don't see much of anything in rear) then you have drums in rear, the same as front then you have 4 wheel disc. A disc is thin plate of steel about 12-14" or so round. The brake pads compress against the disc to stop your car.

Drums have brake shoes in that expand against the drum when brake is applied.

Driving that long (how did you not notice??) I'm sure you super heated the pad or shoe up so hot that the heat hardened the material compound of them which sort of put a glaze on the surface area. I don't think they will go back to normal...you might need new pads-shoes but you could try sanding them. You might of even distorted the drum - disc roundness, I'm just not sure.

Again, I'm no expert and this is only my theory.

Not sure about the disc-pad thing, just ask a neighbor to take a look.

i have disc in the back. Would i have to replace all the disc brakes or just the rear? How much would each cost?

Just the rear since that is what the emergency cable pulls on BUT if it got that hot it might of warped the disc, also called rotors. If so they might be able to turn them down which means they put them on a lathe to cut the metal away until they run true again.

Problem is with how hot they must have got that might of ruined the metal properties of the rotor and they might warp very easy all over again from just every day driving.

I guess you could say I'm giving you the worst case sinario of the problem. Hopefully maybe I'm wrong about everything and just a simple sand job on the surface of the pads will be enough.

Stock pads are around 50 for a pair or so and rotors I'm not real sure...maybe between 50 and 80 per rotor.

Don't ever get lifetime pads either...stick with stock Honda.

Lifetime means the pad material must be harder to last longer which = harder pedal action by a bit and harder wear on rotors. Softer pads you'll get better breaking but then they will wear out quicker. Same goes with tire compounds of rubber; do you want the thing to corner like heck with soft tires but then have the tires wear out in 20,000 or have average cornering hold with a harder compound and last 40- 60,000? Everything is a comprimise is what I'm getting at.

Hope I helped in someway.

-Huffa

yes, youve been very helpful. Thank you for your advice.

I just thought of this. You might of wore the pads down to the squealers. The squealers are warning devices that hit the rotor 1st before the pad gets worn down too far.

It's a possibility anyway.