playnejayne

Hey all,

I am new to the forum, new to honda, and new to taking care of my own vehicles, so please bear with me.

I bought an automatic 98 honda civic ex in september. It has been my absolute favorite car to drive. Currently has 138,000 kms; I have all the service records (it was serviced absolutely by the book) and I just started having a couple problems.

The car started having serious 'drag' and the rear end felt like I was towing something. No brake burning smell or anything. It didn't do it consistently; it would do it for a bit, then drive like it should, then do it again. I did consider it was a brake issue, and I 'jiggled' the parking brake. It instantly let go and started to drive fine. Then it would lock up again and I would jiggle the brake...and you get the idea. I took it to my service shop, they did some kind of adjustment to the parking brake, free of charge. It was fine for two days.

Now it's doing it again. Is it really a parking brake issue, or was that coincidence? What else could it be?

It is going back up to the shop on Monday for a tranny drain and fill on the advice of the mechanic (based on my research, I insisted no tranny flush, just drain and fill). It's also due for its oil change, and the shop is telling me that I don't need the crush washer. Based on what I've read, I disagree. Thoughts?

Thanks for your help...I can't stand being a newbie car girl and I'd like to be able to hold an intelligent conversation with the shop

MelJ

It's safe practice to replace the crush washer as it may not be as effective anymore. The piece costs next to nothing and it really shouldn't be that big of a deal to replace it during the oil change. I'd have the shop check the rear drum brakes. They might be dragging. Although I thought you could adjust the rear drums by pulling the hand brake multiple times on Hondas.