Im getting beyond Frustrated with my Kids 1995 Civic Sedan. She The car recently had brake issues that i diagnosed as faulty maser cyl Could see the fluid running down the booster. Now to me this car has never had the greatest brakes and a soft pedal. So after the replacement and lots of bleeding the brakes it still seems to have a really soft pedal but under a panic stop i can get the fronts to lock up but the pedal is almost to the floor. I figured i had air in the lines as i had broke the bleeders off the rear and was trying to bleed them by cracking the lines. Went out and got new rear wheel cyl, and new front pads and rotors as i could see that someone had turned the fronts way below spec. The car seemed fine for a day still soft pedal but stopping way better than it ever had but the next day brakes were bad again. Pulled the rear drums off again checked all the self adjusters as the rear seemed to looser than the previous day. Adjusted everything up properly again. Re bled the whole system got a few big air bubbles out of the back after tapping on the lines with a screwdriver. Adjusted the slack out of the ebrake cable as well so full on was between 3-5 clicks. Still seemed to have a soft pedal but the thing stopped great could lock up the fronts on command and pulling on the e brake i could lock up the rears. Today she called me and said the ebrake is so tight she can not lift it and driving she could smell something burning. She brought the car over to me and the rear drums were cooking? Now it seems the rear auto adjusters are working way to well? One thing that i have noticed is that the hole in the backing plate for the adjuster seems to be at least a inch away from the adjuster. No mater what way i put the adjuster in. If i flip it the other way its farther away?

In all my years of working on car's i have never had issues with brakes like this. Im running out of ideas.

 

On the rear drums, parts can get swapped left versus right and then you are set up to have a Bad Time. Clearly you need to loosen the hand brake cable. The adjustment of the hand brake shouldn't affect the hydraulic brakes at all. Bleeding with a vacuum pump works a lot better than pumping the pedal.

 

If parts were swapped them it was before my kid bought the car. When i do a brake job i only do one side at a time so i have something to use a s a guide during reassembly. I don't think parts were swapped as with the self adjuster the star on the adjuster is on the shortest possible side of the assembly and is still no ware close to the adjusting hole..

Ya i agree on the vacume pump for bleeding but that's something that's in my budget at the moment. Just using a hose with a check valve on one end and someone pumping the brakes...

Would like to find a good picture of the actual assembly that someone took with a camera but have so far been unable to find one