I have brake problems

[irtySanchez]

I am getting a bit frustrated here.

About 4 months ago, I replced my REAR brakes. Everyhing went fine, but my pedal was still a bit songy. I decided to do a gravity bleed to assure there was no air in the lines, but no luck.

Last week my ABS light on the dash came on a few times over the course of a week. Yesterday, I replaced the FRONT pads and rotors, and did a visual inspection. All looked good. When I took the Ex for a test drive, my rear brakes were stuck closed. So today, I removed the rear drums, made sure everything was adjusted and looked OK.

When I went for the test drive, the brakes all worked fine, but now the pedal is REALLY spongy. This little problem is making me nuts.

Any ideas?



P.S.- I do all my work by the book. No short cuts, everything that needs replacing gets replaced!

 

[Gary Steeber]

Seems like your rear brake automatic adjusters are acting up. Either they are not adusting at all or they are over adjusting. Possibly one of the springs are deffective.
You should inspect the rear brake hardware and make sure everything is working properly.

 

[irtySanchez]

^^^
I did that. The adjusters are working fine. After I put everything back together (and retorqued the lower intake manifold- which is completly irrelevant to this scenario) I kept driving forward and backwards to properly adjust the brakes. I could hear the adjusters clicking as I applied brake pressure.

What else?

 

[Gary Steeber]

About the only thing I know that would lock up the brakes is a bad return spring on the shoes.

 

[irtySanchez]

Sorry if I mislead you.

The breaks aren't frozen, they are moving freely now. The problem is that my pedal is very spongy.

 

[Gary Steeber]

Oh, that's a different problem.
I usually adjust my rear brakes manually with the brake adjusters on the rear brake plate. That way I have full brake without having to rely on going in reverse.

 

[VOATMJ1]

Sounds like a Mastercylinder or your Power Brake Booster, might not be holding full pressure/possible air leak?

 

[JDraper]

If you accidentally let the fluid in the master cylinder get too low when you bled your brakes, you might have air in the abs module. That is bled differently than the rest of the system. If you have the 4 wheel abs on a '96 and earlier model, you apparently need a special anti-lock test adapter to bleed the HCU (Hydraulic control unit) if air gets into it. The result is spongy brakes and an abs light (may be solid or intermittent).

BTW, I'm reading this out of my manual and paraphrasing because there are two paragraphs devoted to it.

 

[irtySanchez]

I found brake fluid fresly squirted from the master cylinder a bit ago. I am going to do a 4 wheel gravity bleed tommorow and see if that works. If not, its off to the shop for a ABS module bleed.

Thanks everyone! You are the greatest!