i installed my earls ss brake line kit yesterday and bled the lines but i noticed that my pedal isn't hard at the top anymore. The pedal has to travel more before i feel the brakes start working. I thought maybe that there was still air in the lines so i took it to a garage to have the brakes bled and they said they fixed everything. They don't feel the same to me. I do need new pads but before the line install the pedal still caught at the top and felt great, it just feels like i have to push the pedal down more to get the same results as before. If anyone can offer me any advice it would be appreciated because i have no clue what it could be. thanks

 

Bleed it again. Chances are that you still have some air pockets. Also, try to get ABS to kick in, that can sometimes dislodge air bubbles. Soft pedal= air or burnt fluid.

 

 

When I first put in ss lines, I felt the same thing. A second bleed the next day fixed it all. Do the ABS thing TubeDriver mentioned and give it another bleed.

Do you know how to do this yourself?

 

I replaced my brake lines with SS and the pedal felt so funky that I completely reflushed the system. It still felt exactly the same. But as I started driving on it, I decided that what I had first thought was a problem was actually an improvement. I think that what I was interpreting as a "soft pedal" was actually a more linear response. The brakes became less of an "off and on" system and were actually easier to modulate. This became most apparent when I put the track pads on instead of the street pads.

YMMV, I suppose. No way to diagnose what is happening on your car over the internet.

 

i had a garage power bleed the whole system and there was no improvement. The garage said that my brother may have damaged the brake master cylinder. Do you think this is possible, or should i take it to a dealership. thanks

 

By installing new brake lines? I don't see how that is possible.

 

It's possible to damage the piston seals in the cylinder manually bleeding the brakes. This is a Honda Service News article covering the topic:

On all Honda models, if you’re manually bleeding
the brakes, make sure whoever’s pumping the
brake pedal pushes it only halfway to the floor. If
the pedal is pushed all the way to the floor, you
run the risk of driving the master cylinder
secondary piston into any sediment or deposits
that may have collected on the piston cylinder
walls. If this happens, the piston seals can get
permanently damaged and cause a leak.

 

[QUOTE=Slows2k,Mar 23 2005, 07:42 PM] It's possible to damage the piston seals in the cylinder manually bleeding the brakes. This is a Honda Service News article covering the topic:

On all Honda models, if you

 

It's really only an issue on car with old contamiated fluid. Is your brake pedal "normal" ? If the pedal is dropping to the floor while braking, the Master cylinder would be hosed.