On 09:06 PM 06/25/02 -0400, George Freeman said... >Did you bleed the brakes properly (been there, done that)? Unless you have >that cool vacuum pump Ken mentioned, it's a two-man job. Step #1: have a >helper pump brake pedal three times and hold pedal firm on third pump, Step >#2: Use your helms/shop manual to find the order of bleeding, then open >first bleed valve for a split second then close it (Pedal should only fall a >couple of inches, also I put a tube on it to a bottle to catch the fluid), >Step #3: Repeat steps 1 & 2, then move on to next bleed valve. Your helper >should notice each time you do this the pedal gets firmer. > > >George >'89 DX-Hybrid-D16Z6, 121k miles >"Seats, Suspension, Engine, MSD, next=dyno" > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On >Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 8:21 PM >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: CRX: changed rear drum brake shoes but no brakes! > > >ok i changed the brake shoes on both rear drums and adjusted them the best >that i could still being able to slide the drum back on....but i got very >very little braking power now and i tried backing up really fast and >slamming >breaks to adjust cuz i heard that helps it and it doesnt seem to be doin the >trick...the reservoir above Master Cylinder reads full.....what do i do >gentlerpeoples what do i do? > > >thanks, >ronnie (88 crx si )
Backing up and slamming on the brakes really won't help all that much and can damage either the master cylinder and/or the brake (slave) cylinders (pushing the pistons out too far). I think you may have also misunderstood when I was describing drum brake systems that are auto-adjusting (no star adjusters or rods that needs to be set internally). I only mentioned it because I was not sure if the CRX used an adjuster or it if was self adjusting. The one major benefit of a self adjusting drum brake system is that as the shoe wears, it self adjusts where as on the non-self adjusting systems you have to manually check and set them as time goes on ~ a good indication is when you go to apply the parking brake and you notice that you have to pull the lever up higher than normal. The other benefit is that it's one less step to perform when doing the brakes. :^) In any event, I would do what George has already mentioned and that is to bleed the system because it either sounds like: 1. You have air in the system. 2. They not adjusted properly. 3. You have a bad brake/slave cylinder) 4. All of the above. Worse case would be a bad master cylinder. If you attempt to bleed the system and no fluid comes out you either have a clogged line (which can happen but is very rare for "street" cars), a damaged line (kinked somewhere) or a bad master cylinder. If you pump the brake pedal, do you eventually get brake pressure? If you do, chances are very good that it's one of the 4 items listed... If you can't figure it out, have a brake shoppe take a look at it. A basic brake service shouldn't cost more than $50 from most shoppes (assuming they don't find anything mechanically wrong). BOL! Robert K. Kuhn CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal) 1990 Honda CRXsi (http://drive.to/jiggy) ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
