1995 Civic Dx=3 stumped ASE Master Mechanics?

Tiny
TRAUMADOE
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 HONDA CIVIC
Hi there. I have a 1995 Civic Dx with 181K on the odometer. It is a 4 door manual Trans car. We brought the car in due to front end issues. They installed new struts and also noticed my e-brake needed adjusting and adjusted it for me. 2 days after we picked the car up, when I went to stop the pedal went to the floor and the car didn't stop. Immediately after the brakes returned to normal function. Ever since this moment the brakes work most of the time and do this at random.

I installed a new master cylinder myself and still had the same issue. I then took it to my trusty mechanic shop, they bled and bled and bled it before deciding it was a bad master cylinder. The new one they put on didn't fix it either. They have since replaced it 3 times and also replaced the proportioning valve, power booster, power booster vacuum line, rubber brake lines x 4, wheel cylinders, front calipers and for good measure pads and rotors. They did a great deal of this work for free since my bill is now likely greater than the cars value. They brought in 3 mobile Master Mechanics from the corporate office all with ASE Master Mechanic Certs and nobody has determined the culprit.

At this point they advised me to go to the dealer who told me it needed a master cylinder. I had already explained the above but he wasn't interested in entertaining any other ideas until I agreed to another new master cylinder at the cost of $600 something $. At this point it is sitting in the driveway because I am scared to give it to anyone else who may just rack up more $ and not fix it. I can't really back out now either as it has little value without reliable brakes.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance, I am at my whits end with this thing.
Friday, November 16th, 2007 AT 12:16 PM

2 Replies

Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,754 POSTS
When you say "new" is that what we are talking about is brand new and not remanufactured? I believe that reman could have successive failures. They use aftermarket parts and one defective part used at each rebuild is still going to cause a failure. New could do the same but with a much less chance of failure.
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Friday, November 16th, 2007 AT 3:47 PM
Tiny
TRAUMADOE
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
The last M/C they put on was new from Honda and came with the power booster attached as a unit. This was over $1ooo by itself. Someone else on a different forum told me to check the Bearings were bad. That is something I never thought to check? I guess it could cause the caliper to move the entire rotar? Sounds like it's worth checking anyways.
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Friday, November 16th, 2007 AT 4:47 PM

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