Advice on Handbrake / Brake problem Honda Accord

mobfromcork

I tried to fix a brake problem at the weekend but didn't quite get to the bottom of it and want to see would anyone have a bit of light to shed on the subject before money is spent unnecessarily on parts.

My brother in law asked me to take a look at his car the other night. It's a 2001 Honda Accord 1.8 litre Petrol Sport. The rear offside wheel brake disc was overheating badly, not all the time but regularly over a week long period. He brought it to a Honda dealer who didn't have the time to look at it when he brought it in but they told him to drive away as it didn't sound too serious and to drop it in for a look when they had time. He finds it hard to drop the car over due to work so I said I'd have a look on Friday evening.

I raised the back end on stands and took off the caliper in question. Pads were very new looking and worn evenly. Disc was fine with no scoring or glazing. Cleaned off the brake dust/road grit from around the piston body using brake cleaner. Depressed the brake pedal to push out the piston a bit, no pitting, good movement. I got the piston tool to twist the piston back in, then removed the brake fluid filler cap to find the cylinder completely
empty. Not a drop. I wound the piston back. It went in easily and smoothly but the level in the filler never rose. I filled it up and bled the brakes from the rear calipers and pushed out a good bit of air. (I'll do the whole system during the week as I reckon there is probably still some air in there somewhere if the level was that low).

I greased the slider pins as one of them wasn't moving too well. Put the caliper back on and pressed in the pedal. The pads gripped and released normally. Now for the handbrake. After removing the centre console I first tightened up the 10mm nut as it was very loose. After tightening, the handbrake started to engage the nearside wheel after 2 clicks but even when fully pulled up, it didn't engage the offside problem wheel. I could see that the handbrake cable wasn't physically pulling back the spring at the caliper to apply the handbrake piston in the caliper. I couldn't see anything down around the caliper or cable to adjust to tighten it up. At the part underneath the centre console you have two handbrake wires, one going to each caliper. There is an obvious imbalance there as the wire that is not engaging is about an inch further forward / looser than the one that is working.

Now, after that extremely long-winded explanation, can anyone tell me the best thing to do next? Are we looking at a new cable or new caliper or both? Is there any way to adjust the cable? I don't have a manual for the car so am playing it by ear a bit. I'm leaning towards just replacing the cable, but am puzzled as to why the discs were overheating. That would seem to indicate that the handbrake was sticking on, even now it is not working on that wheel at all. Would the slightly sticky slider pin be to blame for that?

Any advice gratefully accepted.

Mark

Slidey

More than likely the lever on the caliper is stuck in the on position. Check it in relation to the other caliper.

When they stick if it has not stayed that way for too long a tip of a hammer should get the arm to return to the off position.


I had a similar problem on my Golf. One side was sticking about once a fortnight. There was no springs on my calipers and I don't know if there was supposed to be but I got 2 off a Superb and the caliper has not stuck once since

mobfromcork

Thanks for that. I'll have a look at them both and see if there is any difference.

jimmyw

You need to get someone in the car and work the handbrake while you check to see what's happening (or not) at that wheel.The cable seems to be stretched I think.I used to have a 1996 accord a good few years ago that had one cable slack while the other one was ok and I botched fixed? it by putting spacers on the slack one.I would not recommend this as I am a cheapskate though:P


Why cant car makers incorporate drums into the discs like my (former) Saab and others.

the merchant

+1 on a caliper. You may also want to roll back on some of your cable adjustment a bit as it sounds like you may have over done that a bit.

Even though you're a a different stage, here's a great video on how to replace Accord rear pads & discs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kf8C4Qxu-A

mobfromcork

That's for the link The Merchant. I watched it the other day before tackling the job. Pretty good video alright. I'm not sure that I overtightened the cable. Before adjustment, it wasn't holding on any bit of a slope. I have the Haynes manual for my Mazda 626 and I also have one for a 323 and both of them seem to say that on the first one or two clicks of the handbrake, the discs should start to be held a bit. Before adjustment, even on the good side, it was taking 5-7 clicks up before I couldn't turn the wheel by hand. I tightened it in until it was just starting to catch on 1 or 2 clicks.

JimmyW - I had Mike (brother-in-law) sit in the car and apply the handbrake while I looked at the caliper and cable and while it was being pulled towards the caliper spring slightly, it wasn't pulling far enough to actually engage the handbrake. I could still turn the wheel by hand even when the handbrake was fully up. Maybe a new cable for that side should be the first thing to replace and if the problem isn't rectified, go for replacing the caliper. Should the cables be replaced in pairs or is it ok to just replace one? Reconditioned calipers are 160 for side, not sure about the cost of the cable, maybe around 50-60 euro. I like your idea of bodging it. I was running out of daylight the other night but maybe adding spacers would do the trick. Did you add them at the caliper end or at the handbrake lever end?

Thanks for your replies.

Mark

Nissan doctor

If the lever on the caliper is moving then its likely a stretched cable, possibly caused by the sticking slider.

If your going to change cables, change both, as a 10 year old cable will have stretched anyway compared to a new one.

mobfromcork

Nissan Doctor - Thanks for that. I'll probably go for replacing both cables, I'll remove calipers on both sides, clean everything up, re-grease sliders on both sides, bleed the whole braking system properly (as I'm sure there must be air in there somewhere due to the empty master cylinder) and hopefully that will rectify the problem.
I'll post back again with further updates in case anyone else comes across this problem.
It'll probably the weekend before I get around to working on it.

Thanks

Mark