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Got a honda civic 03 IMA manual (with stock brake disks front and rear - no drum).

The brakes get hot while driving, even if I don't use the brakes - the rear left gets red hot at anything over about 50 mph.


Not sure where to start diagnosis. Can some other owner tell me... If you jack the car up and put it in neutral, can you spin the wheels with one finger? Currently my front two wheels can be spun with one finger, and the the rear right takes a whole hand, and the rear left takes my whole bodyweight.

Took it apart and the rubbers were degraded and slides seized, but even after getting slides and calipers moving again it's still the same, so I guess there must be some other issue.

Seems to still happen with the handbrake cable disconnected, so I guess it isn't that.


Any common brake problems with this car?

 
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Moved to mechanical issues section.

7th gen hybrid does have only rear drum brakes.
https://hondanews.com/en-US/releases...107&query=sohc
Previous owner likely swapped rear discs conversion.

do you have 4 or 5 lug wheels? donor cars differ.
4 lug - EP3 hatch Si (SiR in Canada)
5 lug - RSX

anyway, my miatas have to use an hex key to back the cylinder after changing pads, isn't that the case on EP3/RSX?

 
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It's an EU model, so discs all round from the factory: https://hondanews.eu/eu/en/cars/medi...0/civic-ima-03

 
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Could be seized park brake cable or some issue with the the calipers. You may be able to feel if the park brake cable is loose (at the caliper) to verify that's not it. Otherwise you will have to take the calipers off.

 
Rep Power: 366

yep, looks like you need to turn the cylinders to back them off.

Around 7:30 min of the video. Did you do that?

 
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The park brake cable is fairly loose - and unhooking it doesn't let the wheel spin freely, so I don't think it can be that.

I have indeed spun the calipers to back them off, but the wheel resistance returns after reassembling it and taking it for a test drive.

Could it be something in the master cylinder? Is there any adjustment there for how much to release the brakes?

 
Rep Power: 366

you might need to get some calipers? Possibly the cylinders are seizing?

 
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or kinks in the lines? Although you have issues on both sides

 
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Caliper is most likely bad

 
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Update: disassembled rear left brake. Bled a little brake fluid to remove any pressure, but brake did not disengage, so assume fault cannot be master cylinder. Discovered stuck slider. Fixed it. Wound caliper back in by a few mm too. Wheel spun freely till Brake was first used, then spun okayish but not great. Brake drag resolved there, but now severe brake drag front right.

Disassembled front right. Discovered corrosion preventing movement of pads. Scraped all corrosion off, and regressed with lithium grease. Pushed caliper a few mm back in without much difficulty.
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After a few miles, red hot wheels have reoccurred on both front right and rear left. Unsure where to go next.



Other potential clues: the brake fluid reservoir has black dust inside it. Could this be corrosion or something blocking stuff?? The fluid itself looks pretty clear and no droplets of water or anything.

I used bicycle lithium grease on the slides. That's the wrong stuff. Might it have solidified with the heat?

 
Rep Power: 221

Get the proper brake lube, bicycles don't get nearly as hot as cars. Could still be bad calipers or hoses. Or potentially the proportioning valve, i thing those two wheels are on the same circuit

 
Rep Power: 223

I'm still leaning towards bad calipers because of this info. No brake fluid pressure and the caliper is still engaged.

 
Rep Power: 366

this parallel case - should be same rear caliper.

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...ng-solved.html