Cant Stop - Loosing Brake Presure

[MaxBURNOUT]

Ok, heres the deal. and its really bothering me. If I get in my car and crank it up. and pump the brake I get presure but I slowly loose it. If I start going and just say im going down the road at 30 and slam on my brakes I really get presure. but my car pulls so bad to one side I have to hold the wheel almost as hard as I can just so that I dont go into another lane. Now if Im coming to a stop at a red light and I put it in nutral so that I can stop or just hold in the clutch I loose all or most of all my brake presure. I tryed pumping my brakes but still no luck. Im afraid that one of these days im going to just go straight throught a red light.. and its going to be all over but the crying. thats if im alive to cry.

If anyone has any suggestions. please let me know.

PS(it has plenty of brake fluid and I do not have ABS)

Later J

[accuracy11]

you need a new brake master cylinder mine did that for the longest time as well until i changed it.

[MaxBURNOUT]

How hard and how expensive was it to fix?

[zagrot]

not very expensive, at least not as bad as most people think; usually under $30 for a rebuilt unit. the replacement is not difficult, but it is messy. new master cylinders come with the plastic plugs nessecary for bench bleeding and usually have the instructions too. if your car has a plastic brake fluid resivoir you will have to transfer it to the new master cylinder. usually they are held on by rubber grommets, so careful prying is all that is required to remove it. by the way, the resivoir is usually more expensive than the master cylinder, so be careful.

[MaxBURNOUT]

Will do.. thanks man. Think there is anything in my Haynes manual? I dont have it at work with me.. so

[zagrot]

i just checked my roommate's civic manual (chilton's), there are full instructions. you'll need to get a flare nut wrench if you don't have one. the flare nut wrench looks like a box end wrench with an opening the size of a brake line cut out of the end. don't try to use an open-end on the flare nuts because (and i can't immagine why) they are made of brass and deform easily without support on all sides. and the worst part is that you have to cut the flare off of the end of the steel brake line to replace the flare nut (doh!).

p.s. try down shifting

[MaxBURNOUT]

Aight... thanks

[MaxBURNOUT]

I have. but when I push the clutch all the way in and try to down shift.. the gears grind like the presure plate is not ingaging the clutch plate. thats another thing that started this month.. bad month.. bad...

[turtlecrxsi]

Originally Posted by MaxBURNOUT

I have. but when I push the clutch all the way in and try to down shift.. the gears grind like the presure plate is not ingaging the clutch plate. thats another thing that started this month.. bad month.. bad...

Have you tried adjusting the clutch cable to compensate and/or find that sweet spot? Also, don't take your foot off the clutch right away when you downshift (don't ride it either), sorta slip it easy, matching your speed... you don't have to heel/toe-rev match to slow down...

[MaxBURNOUT]

I tryed to adjust the clutch cable. and its as tight as I can get it with my hand. and I can get any tool down in there. and I recently found out about having to match up the rpms and letting off the clutch .. I just put a clutch in it not a year ago. I baught it with a blown clutch.. and I say blown becuse it looked like the guy that had it tryed to do a burnout and dumped his clutch and it exploded.. but I put a new one in and it ran great. until I found out that I had a electrical short. and every time that I had to leave in it I had to pop the clutch to get it to start. I think that just added to my issues. but I fixed the electrical and now I think im going to have to fix the clutch again. Im really dreading that..

[turtlecrxsi]

You may not need the cable so tight... Anyway, like if you're downshifting from say 50mph in 5th gear, depress the clutch and go to 4th at 40mph, then 3rd at 30mph and 2nd at 20mph or just one or two. You don't really need to downshift every gear unless you have like no brakes...

[zagrot]

you may want to check your trans. fluid level if it is hard to change gears. there is supposed to be a small ammount of play in the clutch cable, otherwise the throwout bearing will wear out prematurely. when you have the clutch pedal on the floor the pressure plate and friction plate should not be engaged, well, that's sortof the idea anyway.

[Hybrid1990crx]

master cyinder is a easy fix. just unbolt the two nuts on the side and take off the brake lines. then pull it off, you may have to pull really hard. before putting the new one in, you have to bench bleed it. you do that by running hoses from the brake line spots back up into the resivor and pump the piston with a screw driver until you dont see anymore air bubbles coming up into the resivor anymore. then put the master cylinder on but leave the bolts on the sides loose so you have movement to make putting the brake lines on easier. after everything is on tighten it all up, make sure not to over tighten the brake lines since the flare nut strips really easy. after that you have to flush the brake fluid, you can do this with a vacuum bleeder or a pressure bleeder. Pressure bleeder is usually easier. Then go to each wheel and open up the bleeder screws in the correct order. I thikn the order is Right rear, front left, Left rear, Left front. Im pretty sure thats it but make sure to double check just incase. DONT skip that part. The brake fluid in your car is probably black with all the particals from the brekaing down master cylinder and if you dont flush all the fluid it will greatly reduce the life of the new master cylinder.

[MaxBURNOUT]

Yeah, Thats what it is... Its leaking bad.... My wife works at Honda so im getting it at there cost and with a discount.. 150.. is that its going to set me back... damn cars are an expencive habbit..

[turtlecrxsi]

That's still expensive even with a discount. Advance Auto has Beck Arnley and it looks the same as OEM in pic -- $147 new.