Hi, this is my first post, however, I have been lurking on this forum for a while now and there is some great information on this site! I just recently purchased a 97 Honda civic DX coupe that needed a desperate brake job. I took it upon myself to learn how to change the brakes and for the most part it was not very difficult. I ended up having to replace the wheel cylinders because the rubber ends were pretty tore up as well as the rear passenger side brake line.

After I finished the install, I purged the brakes but the brake pedal would still go down all the way down. I checked to see if the brakes were engaging and noticed that the rear driver side brake engaged once I applied the brake, but the rear passenger would not. I noticed that the wheel cylinder was not expanding at all which led me to believe that brake fluid was not reaching the cylinder. However, when I purged the brakes there is brake fluid coming out of the purge nozzle. I tried applying the brakes and then rotating the rear passenger side wheel to see if it would lock but it wouldn't. I spent a lot of effort learning how to change the brakes and now I'm a little disappointed that they don't work. Does anyone have any idea what may be wrong? I think somehow brake fluid is not reaching the wheel cylinder, but I'm confused why it does come out of the purging nozzle. I don't think the wheel cylinder is bad because I replaced both sides with new ones...I did a search and didn't find anything similar to my situation so sorry if this is a repost. If anyone can direct me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I got a Haynes Brake Manual that tells all about brakes. If you don't have this book maybe you should get and read it! I haven't read the drum brakes section but I definitely will because I don't want to pay $185 for a rear brake job!

If you fixed your problem tell us how you fixed it!

 

1) Make sure the master cylinder reservoir is full of fluid, and then rebleed the brakes (see picture). It's possible that you still have some air in the lines, particularly the one leading to the passenger rear wheel. The latter wheel is bled first.

2) The rear brakes are self adjusting. When all air is out of the lines, you may need to pump the brake pedal multiple time before they properly tighten up.

 

Hey thanks for the help. I'll give this a try and let you know how it went. It probably won't be until this weekend when it hopefully gets nicer outside. This has been a loooooonnnng Chicago winter.