ezone

Airbag codes, see this thread:


https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...04-hybrid.html

teezyyoxo

Another update.....

Bled the brakes again. No dice.
After doing more research, I'm convinced that the master cylinder is at fault. And after watching what the piston does when the brake pedal is depressed, my convincing is validated... it goes way too far toward the far end of the cylinder. So a seal or something is broken.
I ordered a new one today and it should be in Monday, if not, Saturday. Hoping for sooner than later. Also hoping that my intuition turns out to be correct.

Sigh.

teezyyoxo

Well. Another valiant effort was put forth...

Replaced the master cylinder... bench bled with new fluid... pedal still goes to the floor, except that it gradually goes straight to the floor now, as opposed to building up pressure and then releasing it... kind of like an AHHHHHhhhhhhhh...hhhhhhhh..... sort of thing. Lolol

I know I should've bled the brakes afterward, and I'm hoping that that's just the last thing I need to do. Yawn

Edit: changed "master wheel cylinder" to "master cylinder" because I'm tired lol

ezone

Saay whut?


Which of these did you replace?

wheel cylinder:


master cylinder:

teezyyoxo

Whoops. Apparently I can't talk and type, lol. Master Cylinder. I replaced a wheel cylinder a month or so ago.

ezone

Did you bench bleed it before installation?

teezyyoxo

Yes I did

teezyyoxo

Alright so it's been a while...

I re-bled the brakes, and the only difference now is that the pedal smoothly goes straight to the floor instead of being firm for most of the travel and stopping near the bottom, and then goes to the floor. Braking power difference is nominal.
Bled fluid is also green, and fluid that appears to have returned to the reservoir is green as well. Not quite sure what to think or do at this point.
Won't have the car for much longer than another 3-4 months, but I'd like to get this at least fixed so it's worth something when I try to get rid of it. I don't want to just trash all of the time and money I've spent on it. Not yet or in 3-4 months at least lol

ezone

If you remember, early in this thread I mentioned this:


Interested yet?

teezyyoxo

My apologies, I must have overlooked that. I'm 1000% interested.

ezone

Sometimes purging trapped air out of the high spots (air bubbles always RISE in liquid) requires a different approach. Instead of normal pumping up the pedal until it builds pressure then bleed, this approach uses speed and volume to push trapped air bubbles downward (before they can float to the top again) so they can find an exit.

You have an EX with ABS? That sucker can trap air and keep it there because it's a high point in the system. If it has large diameter lines between the master and ABS pump those can hold air yet be large enough to pass fluid while letting air stay inside.



Needs:
2 persons for this operation
Some pint or quart bottles of brake fluid
tools as necessary
rubber gloves (blue is my preference)


Pick the brake fluid bottle style carefully because you want to
Insert fluid bottle upside down in master cyl reservoir like so:



You just quadrupled the fluid capacity of the reservoir, now you don't have to worry about it going empty as often LOL
Keep more fluid handy, you never know how much this will take



Place helper in the car, roll down windows so they can hear you yell out instructions (and hope they can follow)

Since the car has ABS I would first bleed at the ABS unit.
Follow the two lines from master cylinder to ABS (on many models those two are fatter than the rest and can hold a lot of air)....Crack each one loose and resnug.
Now....
Helper pumps pedal as you manually bleed at each of those fittings in the usual way: pump/hold/loosen/push/tighten/pump/hold/loosen etc..
Did any air spurt out there?




On to the wheels.
Pick ONE wheel.

Open the brake bleeder enough it should flow freely.


Place gloved finger over the bleeder opening gently enough that anything that wants to come out can come out (you said it can't build pedal pressure now, so this is gonna need a very gentle touch), but if the system tries to suck anything inward, your rubber glove fingertip will seal off that bleeder hole.
Your finger and glove are now a one-way check valve.


Yelling commands takes a coordinated effort, sometimes you need to call the shots and other times the pedal pusher needs to yell what they are about to do. You decide what's best for this as you go.


Have helper stroke the brake pedal full travel top to bottom quickly, let pedal come up fast (MAKE SURE YOUR FINGER CLOSED OFF THAT BLEEDER DURING THE TAKE UP STROKE SO IT DOESN'T SUCK AIR IN) pause maybe a half second at the top of that stroke to allow the master cylinder to refill its chambers before the next down stroke.
I'd guess do this about 10 times at each wheel.
If you do this quick and correct you can push trapped air down the system and out whichever circuit it was trapped in.
If a slug of trapped air gets pushed out past your finger it should be pretty apparent.
Close bleeder of course when you think it's ready.

Repeat at each wheel until pedal feel is restored (assuming the whole problem is trapped air somewhere)

teezyyoxo

Woaaaahhh this is amazing lol.
I'll have plenty of time to read this to death since it's gonna rain the next two days and my next day off is next Thursday haha, thanks a million. I'll continue to keep the thread updated.

teezyyoxo

Update.

I've given up. The car has been posted for sale on Facebook.
I ended up buying another Civic (08 EX coupe 5spd) for the low-low and that has become my new project.

Ezone I can't thank you enough for your advice and support! I look forward to having your support with the new car moving forward!

ezone

Damn. Well, best of luck in the new endeavor!