Brake pads stuck on rotor??

[SiCRX88]

Maybe this has happened to you & you can help me out... (Car is a 92-95 Civic Ex) front disk brakes, drums in the rear.

So I jumped in my car yesterday to run a quick errand & I while driving the car felt a little sluggish as if something was holding it back. The brake light was on so I checked my master cyl. & indeed it was low so I filled it up & the brake light went off (& I checked the tire pressure too but it was fine). After topping off the brake fluid the car STILL felt a bit sluggish, not AS bad as before, but now the brake pedal was very stiff & it responded when I barely pushed the pedal down, like an inch.

After driving for about 5 more mins when I came to a stop at the light, smoke/steam started coming from my left wheel & I could smell hot brake pad. It's like the pad was/is stuck on the rotor... Today my friend & I checked it out & the fluid in the master dropped from full to about half & there is some liquid directly under the master (not sure if it was brake fluid) & a small dried up puddle in the area of the front left tire. He suggested that the brand new master cyl. that I just bought is faulty...

So we bled the brakes & topped off the master cyl again & we were planning on just putting in a new master cyl... I drove it again tonight & the brake peddle at first it felt like it was back to normal (not super stiff) but there was still a little sluggishness like the pads were STILL stuck on the rotor a little... sure enough, the sluggishness started to get a little worst (not that bad,but noticeable) when i parked i could smell the pads... Anybody familiar with this problem or know what the heck it could be?!

Any help would be very appreciated!

 

[efhondakid]

Sounds like the caliper is hanging up, and if your losing fluid you obviously have a leak somewhere.

 

[ZCpowerdSI]

Yeah I'd take the wheels off and take a look at the brake lines to see if one broke from being rusted. sounds like a seized caliper. You might need a new one. To make sure your caliper is not seized, take off the brake pads and check if the inner pad is more worn out than the outter pad. Or the other way around. Im pretty sure it only happends to the inner pad tho (the pad which the piston puts pressure on).

 

[E_SolSi]

seized caliper.... you overcooked your fluid and boiled it over

replace the caliper and completely drain and replace the brake fluid

 

[caboose]

seized caliper.... you overcooked your fluid and boiled it over

replace the caliper and completely drain and replace the brake fluid

+1

 

[SiCRX88]

Thanks guys! I've never had this problem so I didn't know what was up...

So basically I need to... find the leak (probably in the brake line), replace the brake line, & possibly the whole caliper... & since I was riding w/ the pads rubbing for awhile should I replace them? Or do you think they'll be fine...

 

[ZCpowerdSI]

It depends on their condition.

 

[E_SolSi]

the caliper is frozen/seized/locked up/fucked... replace the caliper

you might have cooked and cracked the soft line... so inspect that... if it is cracked or blistered then replace it

depending on how the pads look you may or may not want to replace them... if they look ok then dont worry about it right now

it is also very possible that you warped a rotor... if so... replace the rotor and your pads

flush out all of the old brake fluid (you should change out your brake fluid at least every other year... but no one ever does)

bleed the brakes at all 4 corners

enjoy.

 

[caboose]

Thanks guys! I've never had this problem so I didn't know what was up...

So basically I need to... find the leak (probably in the brake line), replace the brake line, & possibly the whole caliper... & since I was riding w/ the pads rubbing for awhile should I replace them? Or do you think they'll be fine...

You will need to replace/repair the caliper. You can buy rebuild kits, but it's a fair amount of work to save a little money, plus there is a chance the caliper will lock up again without a properly rebuild one.

I think that your brake lines are ok. I would check to make sure that you didn't get the caliper so hot as to melt the rubber line that attaches to the caliper. The reason that you leaked brake fluid was because the fluid in the lines boiled and pushed the fluid out of the top of the master cylinder.

You might want to have the rotors replaced/machined if they are warped, and I would replace the pads because high heat can permanently damage the pads causing them to delaminate and crack.

 

[caboose]

Also, replace all the fluid and bleed all of your brakes

 

[99sidude]

It could be just the caliper sliders. They tend to get rusty when the grease dries up in them after years of use. It's a cheap fix, so you might want to check that before you spend money on new calipers.

 

[ZCpowerdSI]

I dont know if its the same where you come from but here you can trade an old caliper and get dicounted 70 bucks on a new one. 70 bucks of my ef caliper. (at most parts places)

 

[E_SolSi]

yeah its called a "Core Charge"

 

[jeremy112683]

havent changed brakes on my honda yet, but i know a few previous cars had what was called a brake hardware kit, and there was a type of spring that went between 2 pads, not sure though!!!

 

[SiCRX88]

thanks for all the help..

so the caliper wasn't frozen, it was the faulty master...

 

[E_SolSi]

wow...

symptoms definitely sounded like a seized caliper... sorry bout that

 

[SiCRX88]

it's all good!

 

[LIUCOCO]

Hi Guys, I have totally same problem now. I changed brake fluid, Caliper, hose already as abvoe suggestion. But left-front caliper cylinder pressure still very strong. I found "parking light" is on. Any where I should check it out ?
Thanks for your help first

 

[SiCRX88]

Search the lines for leaks and/or change the master cylinder