NCT - Brake Fail

vectra

Sons Civic EK2 Failed NCT today.

Brake imbalance of 37%
30% is fail

Brake Test
Front

Brake Effort
Nearside : 1.380kN

Offside :2.200 kN


Any ideas as to what to do?

New Caliper maybe?

Thanks for any input

hiluxman

check for a sticky brake caliper piston or slides and make sure the pads arent stuck in the caliper carrier. if that checks out ok, bleed the front brakes but with that much of an imbalance there is more than likely something wrong

bladespin

Clean and lube the caliper, probably sticking pistons.

Plug

bladespin wrote: »

Clean and lube the caliper, probably sticking pistons.

Vectra, would you be handy working with big cars? Maybe just fit a new caliper and bleed out the brakes all round. What do the pads look like are any of them rubbing off the disk?

Buford T Justice

Could be one of the pistons in the calipers that's siezed. Had the same thing happen to my A4, needed new caliper, discs and shoes.

vectra

I have been told this is a very common problem with Civic's
I was looking at getting a pair of these and bang them on.
members on another forum insist they would never trust buying parts from Ebay.
I know of several legit shops selling products on ebay

Rebuilt Calipers
Seem fine to me
after all
a rebuild is a rebuild aint it

Buford T Justice

If its not a pimped up, boy racer-ie type of car, then wouldn't calipers from a breakers do?

Be cheaper....

vectra

Fingers McGee wrote: »

If its not a pimped up, boy racer-ie type of car, then wouldn't calipers from a breakers do?

Be cheaper....

Not Pimped up/Boy racer type
although it has a little amount of kit on it.
Breakers yard is almost no-no.

According to Main Honda Dealer today when i rang them:
"Because it is an import"
It has to be from
A) an EK2
a 1993 1.3 DX

Any others wont fit
I am thinking "Hens Teeth"

hiluxman

take the caliper apart. clean the rust off the piston and providing the piston isnt pitted from rust, put it back together, bleed it and it will be grand

Tigger

hiluxman wrote: »

take the caliper apart. clean the rust off the piston and providing the piston isnt pitted from rust, put it back together, bleed it and it will be grand

this but get a seal kit for it
it'll be another skilll you have

Tefral

You could join up www.honda-haven.com its an owners club of all types of hondas, theres parts on there going the whole time and some of the lads are honda mechanics that would provide a step by step of how to fix a caliper.

Hondas are terrible for sticking callipers, the girlfriends CRX had it happen the whole time, i had to copper grease my own on my Integra too..

vectra

cronin_j wrote: »

You could join up www.honda-haven.com its an owners club of all types of hondas, theres parts on there going the whole time and some of the lads are honda mechanics that would provide a step by step of how to fix a caliper.

Hondas are terrible for sticking callipers, the girlfriends CRX had it happen the whole time, i had to copper grease my own on my Integra too..

Was it only a matter of putting copper grease on?

Slidey

A simple way of finding out if the caliper is sticking on the sliding pins it to push the piston back and put the caliper back on without the pads.

Try and move it over and back. It should slide reasonably easy and not feel tight in any one spot.

vectra

Slidey wrote: »

A simple way of finding out if the caliper is sticking on the sliding pins it to push the piston back and put the caliper back on without the pads.

Try and move it over and back. It should slide reasonably easy and not feel tight in any one spot.

Is it easy to take the caliper apart?

Slidey

Do you mean to remove the piston or to take the pads out?

If it is the latter I'm afraid I would be wary of you doing the job. It is a simple but very important part of the car and needs to be right.

vectra

Slidey wrote: »

Do you mean to remove the piston or to take the pads out?

If it is the latter I'm afraid I would be wary of you doing the job. It is a simple but very important part of the car and needs to be right.

No,
Just to remove the pads and check the sliding of the caliper and movement of the piston?

Slidey

Well if you feel confident enough to do it, fire ahead.

Unfortunately I haven't worked on a civic in years so don't know the layout of the calipers. Hopefully someone who does know may be along shortly.

vectra

Slidey wrote: »

Well if you feel confident enough to do it, fire ahead.

Unfortunately I haven't worked on a civic in years so don't know the layout of the calipers. Hopefully someone who does know may be along shortly.

Likewise
I never had a problem doing the brakes on old Cortinas and Escorts and the likes in that era.. Civics are new Fangled Gadgets as far as I am concerned

vectra

stripped them off.. Cleaned them.. Greased them with a bit of Copper grease.. Re-test today PASS
cheers guys

Masada

just a single bot caliper, nice and handy job to do on the civic, glad ya got it sorted.

vectra

Masada wrote: »

just a single bot caliper, nice and handy job to do on the civic, glad ya got it sorted.

Yeah
37% imbalance when it failed
30% max allowed
18% after the clean/grease :cool:

Fishtits

Any crazy imbalance I get on calipers, ie discs, I strip both sides and re-build them. The logic being if one is dodgy, the other isn't far behind.

Cheers.

vectra

Fishtits wrote: »

Any crazy imbalance I get on calipers, ie discs, I strip both sides and re-build them. The logic being if one is dodgy, the other isn't far behind.

Cheers.

I did both just to be sure

746watts

a handy tip for freeing up sticking caliper pistons is to remove the caliper (keeping fluid lines attached of course) and using a G clamp (type used for clamping timber) push back the piston slowly to it's home position. It will feel stiff probably. Then wind out the G clamp about 5-10mm and have someone depress the brake pedal slowly and make sure they don't push the pedal more than half way to the floor (to prevent reversing the master cylinder seals). The caliper piston will push out to meet the loosened off G clamp. Now turn out the G-clamp another 5mm and depress the brake pedal again. Do not press out the calpier piston any further, it is near its furthest point of travel.
Using the G-clamp push the piston back in slowly to the home position. It should start to free up hopefully. Repeat the process again and it should start to take less effort the push the piston home.
If the piston movement does not improve then your caliper needs a new piston and O-ring, replacing these must be done with surgical room cleanliness and with competency. Soak the O-rings(seals) overnight in brake fluid in a sealed container before attempting to fit. I've replaced caliper piston seals before and you must operate like a neuro surgeon to do it right. Remember... make an arse of it(replacing seals) and you may suffer brake failure.
Hope this info helps.