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New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

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Old Mar 30, 2018
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New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

So I would like to say that yes I am a female but I do every bit of work to my civic. Note i only have 3 service receipts for a vehicle with 300,000 miles with all factory parts except the starter, radiator and brakes. I take great pride in my car and in my work but I have recently been stumped by the mushy brake pedal after replacing rear shoes and new hardware. Now the check engine light is NOT on and yes it does work I’ve tested it. When I was replacing my rear shoes the master cylinder rubber boot came off so I cleaned it (not using brake cleaner) made sure no dirt was in the cylinder and put it back together. Did the same thing on both sides. But when I got in it I realized quickly that something is wrong. The brake pedal is mushy, you can pump it 3-4 times and it gets stiff but then the minute you let go of the pedal it goes back to being mushy. What do I do? We didn’t bleed the system or cylinder but we are going to. Guys I need advice, I love my civic but I’m stumped with the pedal issue. Thanks in advance.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by mhammond1127
Now the check engine light is NOT on and yes it does work I’ve tested it.
Brake system would not cause a check engine light. Only systems that illuminate that light are emissions or engine related issues

The brake pedal is mushy, you can pump it 3-4 times and it gets stiff but then the minute you let go of the pedal it goes back to being mushy. What do I do? We didn’t bleed the system or cylinder but we are going to. Guys I need advice, I love my civic but I’m stumped with the pedal issue. Thanks in advance.[/left]
I'd say bleed the brakes then see if the problem still persists.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by mhammond1127
When I was replacing my rear shoes the master cylinder rubber boot came off so I cleaned it...... and put it back together. Did the same thing on both sides...... The brake pedal is mushy,......We didn’t bleed the system or cylinder but we are going to. Guys I need advice..
assuming you mean WHEEL CYLINDER, not master, also assuming NO fluid was coming out, also-also assuming the ebrake lver raises more than just a couple inches.. forget bleeding, you need to adjust the rear self adjusters until there is a slight drag(ie awkwardly spin the star through the backing plate hole using a flathead screwdriver). if you need help with it ask someone versed that can physically show you. there's no shame in asking and brakes are important.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Rear brakes probably need to be adjusted, bleeding the brakes wouldn't be a bad idea either
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by RobertD
assuming you mean WHEEL CYLINDER, not master, also assuming NO fluid was coming out, also-also assuming the ebrake lver raises more than just a couple inches.. forget bleeding, you need to adjust the rear self adjusters until there is a slight drag(ie awkwardly spin the star through the backing plate hole using a flathead screwdriver). if you need help with it ask someone versed that can physically show you. there's no shame in asking and brakes are important.
I mistakenly typed master cylinder, friend was talking about something related to his master cylinder and it got me all backwards. But we did bleed the system and now everything’s good to go. I checked to see if they needed to be adjusted and they seemed fine. There was never any fluid leaking from the wheel cylinder.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by RobertD
assuming you mean WHEEL CYLINDER, not master, also assuming NO fluid was coming out, also-also assuming the ebrake lver raises more than just a couple inches.. forget bleeding, you need to adjust the rear self adjusters until there is a slight drag(ie awkwardly spin the star through the backing plate hole using a flathead screwdriver). if you need help with it ask someone versed that can physically show you. there's no shame in asking and brakes are important.
Originally Posted by xRiCeBoYx
Brake system would not cause a check engine light. Only systems that illuminate that light are emissions or engine related issues
I knew that the check engine light wouldn’t come on for that. I was specifying it does work because most people when they hear about my vehicle having 300,000 miles on it and it being basically all factory parts and no check engine light, they typically ask if it even works.


I'd say bleed the brakes then see if the problem still persists.
I only specified the check engine light works because most people when they hear of the condition and miles on my vehicle they ask if it’s on, and no for the record it is not.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by mhammond1127
So I would like to say that yes I am a female but I do every bit of work to my civic. Note i only have 3 service receipts for a vehicle with 300,000 miles with all factory parts except the starter, radiator and brakes. I take great pride in my car and in my work but I have recently been stumped by the mushy brake pedal after replacing rear shoes and new hardware. Now the check engine light is NOT on and yes it does work I’ve tested it. When I was replacing my rear shoes the master cylinder rubber boot came off so I cleaned it (not using brake cleaner) made sure no dirt was in the cylinder and put it back together. Did the same thing on both sides. But when I got in it I realized quickly that something is wrong. The brake pedal is mushy, you can pump it 3-4 times and it gets stiff but then the minute you let go of the pedal it goes back to being mushy. What do I do? We didn’t bleed the system or cylinder but we are going to. Guys I need advice, I love my civic but I’m stumped with the pedal issue. Thanks in advance.

300.000 usa miles converted over to Canadian where i live is over 483,000 kms ..WOW.!! You must be doing something right Keep doing what Your doing Congrats on the brake Fix...
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Thanks so much! Really love this car. Miles is just a number to me.
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Old Mar 30, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by mhammond1127

I only specified the check engine light works because most people when they hear of the condition and miles on my vehicle they ask if it’s on, and no for the record it is not.
Just making sure. We get people here all the time that thing that things like a bulb going out shout illuminate the CEL.

Originally Posted by mhammond1127
Thanks so much! Really love this car. Miles is just a number to me.
Jeebus. 300k miles? I must say I'm jealous because my 2002 died (tried to fix her but it was just her time and I threw in the towel) at 205k. But, it brought new beginnings in the form of a 2018 civic hatch
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Old Mar 31, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by xRiCeBoYx
Just making sure. We get people here all the time that thing that things like a bulb going out shout illuminate the CEL.

Oh no, I know the check engine light isn’t for the tiny stuff. I’m still actually stumped on why my car has a fuse for a sunroof (factory fuse panel says sunroof) but I don’t have a sunroof, but I also don’t have a fuse for my cruise control which I do have.

Jeebus. 300k miles? I must say I'm jealous because my 2002 died (tried to fix her but it was just her time and I threw in the towel) at 205k. But, it brought new beginnings in the form of a 2018 civic hatch
Thanks, I take great pride in my 03 Civic LX, I’m fixing to rebuild her engine and do a big overhaul with the interior. This is the first Honda I’ve ever owned and I’ve really never had issues. Except general issues like coolant loss, slight oil leak, and bad starter. But everything else has been very smooth.
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Old Mar 31, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by xRiCeBoYx
Just making sure. We get people here all the time that thing that things like a bulb going out shout illuminate the CEL.



Jeebus. 300k miles? I must say I'm jealous because my 2002 died (tried to fix her but it was just her time and I threw in the towel) at 205k. But, it brought new beginnings in the form of a 2018 civic hatch
Originally Posted by RobertD
assuming you mean WHEEL CYLINDER, not master, also assuming NO fluid was coming out, also-also assuming the ebrake lver raises more than just a couple inches.. forget bleeding, you need to adjust the rear self adjusters until there is a slight drag(ie awkwardly spin the star through the backing plate hole using a flathead screwdriver). if you need help with it ask someone versed that can physically show you. there's no shame in asking and brakes are important.
I resolved the problem. When I took the old shoes off for some reason the little rubber boot on the wheel cylinder popped off so we cleaned it (did not use brake cleaner on the cylinder) and because of that and the fact it lost some fluid during the time where it popped off we had air in the system. We had already adjusted them it was just still being really soft and abnormal. So we bled the system and sure enough there was air in it. Now my pedal is back to normal.
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Old Mar 31, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by mhammond1127
the little rubber boot on the wheel cylinder popped off
Those boots keep dirt from getting in, while they will hide the fact a wheel cyclinder is leaking they don’t actually keep the leak from happening except of course preventing sand / brake dust and other stuff getting in there and scoring the piston / orings




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Old Mar 31, 2018
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Re: New rear shoes, now brake pedal feels soft.. PLEASE HELP!

Originally Posted by Slumpertcivic


Those boots keep dirt from getting in, while they will hide the fact a wheel cyclinder is leaking they don’t actually keep the leak from happening except of course preventing sand and other stuff getting in there and scoring the piston / orings



once we put the boot back over it and bled them we watched and drove it a while and never saw any leak we even took the tire off and inspected it and there was no leak. So thankfully didn’t have to replace both wheel cylinders. The shoes were already a bigger headache than what I wanted. Really debating on doing a drum to disc conversion at this point
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