Recently the front brakes on my '97 Accord are dragging. When you first start driving it they are fine, then after a few miles you can feel them start to drag and the car works harder to keep going, and the brake pedal is super touchy. Then a few miles later it comes out of it, pedal goes back to normal, and it rides right again.

What would be the cause of this?

What would be the right way to go for repair.........bleed the brakes? rebuild calipers? master cylinder?

Thanks,

Steve

 

I would clean the old grease off of each slide pin on all of the calipers. Also check that the brake pads can slide back and forth easily.

I would then go on to bleed the brakes. At each caliper, I would loosen the bleeder valve, then push in the caliper piston (front and back pistons get pushed in differently). That will help you determine if a caliper piston is stuck.

Watch these two videos on how he uses the needle-nose vice grips to pinch off the line and push all of the fluid out of the caliper. Also see how he pushes in each caliper.

Front calipers: Rear calipers:
Here is how he bleeds the brakes:
This may be overkill, but this will help identify if the problem is with the brakes, fluid, or calipers. Hope this makes sense.

Here is a video on how to replace the master cylinder:

 

Has Master Cylinder (MC) been replaced recently or someone adjusted brake pedal/pushrod position? As engine warms the brake booster will push the MC piston slightly.

I've heard of this problem and their is an adjustment procedure in the shop manual to adjust gap between the brake booster pushrod and MC drive end. A special shop tool is necessary and working from underneath driver's seat to adjust booster push rod extension is req'd.

good luck

 

Nothing has been done to the MC that I know of.

The dragging wasn't bad at first, but now it's much worse and I can smell the pads heating up and the fluid heating up.

I'm going to have to call in a few favors for this one, sounds like this could require some specialized skills/tools.

Steve

 

If MC has not been changed, I don't think this is your problem, but if more than one brake is dragging, something would have to be wrong w/ MC to load both brakes.

Make sure brake assy; caliper pins and pads are loosening when pressure is released. I had a single caliper freeze when the caliper piston become corroded preventing the piston from relaxing after pressure was applied. Hard to see this simultaneously for both front brakes.

good luck

 

Check for bad rubber hoses down at the wheels. I've heard of those hoses deteriorating inside, so they would plug up. Then as the caliper got warm, the fluid would expand, applying the brake.

But that's also hard to see for both brakes at the same time.

 

It's supposed to be in the 40's and maybe 50 this weekend around here, so my plan is to take it apart and clean up the calipers, check the hoses, see if anything stands out to me.
After that, it's got to be either a vacuum line or that adjustment thing on the rod.

Thanks,

Steve

 

Well I was able to work on the car this past weekend, and I found the problem. Passenger rear brakes were dragging.
It appears that the car had a complete brake job before I bought it, the front rotors and pads are new and in great condition. The rear drums are stock, but the pads and mechanics are new. But, then didn't have the star adjuster done right so it was dragging. I adjusted them, took it for a 10-15 mile test ride and everything was perfect.
Nice easy fix..........thankfully.

Steve