Ok, I've been dealing with annoying front disk brakes on my 2001 Civic LX for the last couple of years. The front right disk had a tendency to drag and I've done all the basics such as cleaning, scrapping rust, new pads even a new caliper on the right side (piston boot had a tear in it).

No matter what I do to fix this brake drag problem I find that within a few weeks or at best several months, the drag and overheating is back. I was really hopeful that the caliper replacement would fix it but it did not, in fact it now appears that both sides are prone to dragging now [:@] where before it was just the right side...

I'm hoping for some suggestions - could I have a hydraulic problem outside of the caliper? What am I missing?

-- I'm just tired of disassembling, cleaning and putting the breaks back together again only to do it all over again later --

 

Have you bled your brakes?
And during the process of all of these repairs were you careful to use only new, uncontaminated brake fluid?

 

Do you have any other mods on it? Such as rims or suspension?

 

I have with mixed success once. I had borrowed a vacuum unit which would draw the fluid down toward the caliper. I did not see much of any air released...
This was probably a year or more ago.

 

Nope it's all stock. I'm just using it as a commuter car - it's nothin' fancy!

 

i am having a similar problem, for me, i switched out the two front calipers since the old ones were dragging and had 150k miles on them. only problem is the new ones are dragging too. i noticed that the caliper pistons are NOT retracting / pulling back in when i let go of the brakes so they keep braking / pushing the pads on the disc. what pulls the caliper piston back in one you finish breaking? how can i fix this?

thanks in advance!

 

Well the solution was fairly simple. I just ground around the corners of the pads where they meet with slides (not sure if this is the right term here). While doing the grinding I placed the pads back into caliper to check the fit. I ended up with very little resistance between the pad and caliper, but just enough to allow them to stay in place. When I took these pieces apart originally they were tight enough to require some taps from a hammer to get the pads free. <<this is bad - I think... >>

So far they've been 100% better

 

Master cylinder maybe? According to my owners manual each chamber of the master cylinder controls opposite corners of the car, L front-R rear & R front L rear. Are all Honda's like this ? If so maybe look at the brakes on the opposite corner.
xmctech

 

are you using original honda parts?
tap the caliper plate with a hammer to get any excess corrosion off, make sure all the surfaces are smooth and totally straight.
this might solve it, but it could be the seals in your master cylinder - would you be confident enough to take it apart?

 

i don't think the kits to rebuild master cylinders are available any more.
at least i did not find one in the autozone site for the 2001.