Hard brake pedal

Tiny
BLAINE PRICE
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 HONDA ACCORD
  • 4 CYL
  • FWD
  • MANUAL
  • 250,000 MILES
I had a driver side brake line start leaking and changed it. The brake pedal is hard. When bleeding it only goes to the floor on the driver front and rear passenger on the front passenger and the back driver I get little to no movement when the bleeder is opened, but do get fluid. It does have ABS.
Tuesday, September 27th, 2016 AT 6:09 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,864 POSTS
First of all, never ever push the brake pedal to the floor. Doing so runs the rubber lip seals over the crud and corrosion that builds up in those areas where the pistons don't normally travel. You may have a damaged master cylinder now, and the internal leakage often does not show up for two or three days.

Most front-wheel-drive cars use a split-diagonal hydraulic system with the right front and the left rear on the same circuit. On the GM cars, when there is a leak or when the brakes are bled and the pedal is pushed over half-way, there is a valve that trips in the master cylinder to block those two ports. The only way I have ever found to reset the valve is to loosen the cap on the reservoir, open the bleeder screw on one of those wheels, then give it a very short, quick burst of compressed air. Let it gravity-bleed after that. Once the air is bled out, close the bleeder, "irritate" the brake pedal a little by hand, then open the bleeder once more. You don't have to bleed all the wheels when replacing a leaking line.
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Friday, April 9th, 2021 AT 1:32 PM
Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,632 POSTS
Just to add a little, if you are trying to bleed the system with ABS, you have to have the proper scan-tool to open the ABS solenoids to bleed the system. I have learned this from another Tech on our forum here. He will always tell you to have a Tech open the solenoids with an ABS scan-tool. Just a thought.
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Friday, April 9th, 2021 AT 1:32 PM

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