chas083

I have noticed lately that when I apply the brakes that the pedal seems to travel an excessive distance before any braking occurs. The loaner 2004 TL's pedal seemed much firmer and effective much sooner when pressed. I'm wondering if anybody else has experienced this? Could this be a master cylinder issue?

dsc888

How long have you had your TL? My pedal is not as stiff as when i took delivery 3 months back. This occurs because air gets into the system overtime. Air is compressible whereas brake fluid is not. If your lines have air in them, the air will compress until it can't be compressed anymore and then pushes the fluid along to the pistons in the calipers. A slight spongy pedal results. Also, in hot temps, the rubber brake hoses near the calipers may expand slightly from surrounding heat and from the brakes. This also results in some spongyness in the pedal. I find that my brake pedal feels a tad firmer in the winter due to all the above reasons.

Some people remedy this by purchasing after market stainless steel brake lines to replace the factory rubber ones. Bleeding your brakes with fresh brake fluid will also improve or eliminate the issue. Take it to your dealer to see if they can help you out.

dsc888

chas083

It is an early build 2xxx that has had few issues such as the bad EL 42s. I was one the fortunate ones that brought it to the dealer when there was no ACS solution. As a result of having purchased the vehicle from a great dealer they gave me the A/S Sports gratis. I have an appt. Sept. 2 to have the brakes checked and the AT recall performed.










a

Tomatin

Hi, My car is in the shop at the moment for this very issue. They suspect a master cylinder problem, I am waiting to hear. My pedal travels all the way to the base to engage breaks. Ewmergency stopping would be impossible.

2004Tru3Lov3

Tomatin,

Whatever happened to the fix that they did on your car?

Acura has replaced the master cylinder on my car twice already and just after 2 weeks the same symptoms would come up -- spongy feel, have to step almost all the way down to the floor before the breaks engage, have to pump the pedal 2 or 3 times before breaks are felt to be engaging.

Once, I almost hit a car 5 lengths in front of me. I was doing like 100kph (62mph) on a highway and I know that the car in front of me was doing the same bacause my distance to it was steady at about 5 cars length. And then it did a hard break because the car in front of it did a hard break too. I've stepped on the break hard and almost to the floor and my car wouldn't stop. It has slowed down a bit but it didn't feel like the breaks have engaged totally. pulling to the left or right was impossible bacause on my left was the barrier/divider and on my right was a big rig. Fortunately, the car in front of me released its break and sped off as if nothing happened. But I felt my balls up my throat that afternoon.

Anyways, it's been 2 weeks since the last master cylinder replacement and I am feeling the same spongyness again. It's getting cooller now here in Vancouver, BC and I don't think that heat is a factor.

Has anyone had this break problem? What was the cause of it on your car? What kind of work did they do to fix it?

I'll mention about the stainless steel break lines to the mechanic on my next trip to the dealer.

TIA.

KJSmitty

The braided steel lines wont make a difference with your problem. Don't embarrass yourself at the dealer with that suggestion. Now, if your current lines have a hole in them that's another issue - but they would be leaking etc.. Also, any heat /pressure swelling of the rubber lines (extremely unlikely) would not be noticeable in the peddle of a stock vehicle w/power assisted brakes.

From your and others description it sounds like air is definitely getting into the brake system. This is something that just doesn't happen over a few weeks/months etc. of ownership of a new car with a sound brake system. Granted, a bad master cylinder could be the cause but even then it's usually due to a "pressure" leak/bleed off within the cylinder, not air getting into the system. Either way, sounds like your dealership needs to perform more diagnostics.. I find it hard to believe several master cylinders would be bad.
If it were I, I would start by bleeding your system and witnessing just how much air is in there if any. Basically, is it a pressure issue or air getting into the system issue. They may find that it's a bad caliper or slave cylinder that continues to suck air causing your issue after two weeks etc. Each time they replaced the master cylinder they also bled the system. If it's back to a spongy peddle weeks later, sure you could have gotten another bad master cylinder but on the other hand I would probably be looking for another "air entry" source.

Today's mechanics/dealerships tend to just "replace" things vs actually diagnosing the what, where, and why of a problem.

ACER

I currently having this problem with my 05TL, my Rotators have wrapped 5 times, and have contacted THE BBB to help me resolve this issue and HONDA has agreed to buy back my TL. Only had it 8 mths and only has 8500 miles, looking forward to getting my money back. I still love the TL and HONDA has agreed to sell me another one at dealer invoice with a free A-SPEC KIT.

mickey3c

Well how does that saying go... fool me once shame on you... fool me twice...

If you love the styling and of the TL but are willing to risk having other issues... well then maybe you need to reconsider...

All I know is if I had to go through a buyback, I am not sure I would be jumping back into the brand...

clsdave

Do you have the Brembo's? I hope you are going to take the offer unless you just don't want the TL. It's a great deal and allows you get into a new car for nothing.

ACER

Still thinking about it, and yes ,. I did have Brembos dont get me wrong I love the TL and have 2 other acuras park in my garage. This is the first time in my life that I have any issues with any of my acuras. The cool thing is that ACURA is going to give me a 06 model at invoice and that any feature that I would like to add to my 06 TL in the future will be sold to me at invoice. Acura never gave me a hard time at all, it was the dam dealer, the only cool thing that I will be rolling in a 06 TL before a lot of people and that I got to drive in a car for year at no cost, I will post pics of my new TL with 20" GT5 as soon as I get it. Props to ACURA for manning UP.

2004Tru3Lov3

I brought my car to the dealer's garage and got it back last night. This time, they said that they have replaced the ABS motor. The mechanic said that that's the only other place where air could get into the system. He said that he couldn't think of any other parts of the break system that air could have get in. He said that he checked all other parts and they are OK. He said that it couldn't be any of the slaves because he should have felt it when he test drove my car -- he said something like it should have pulled opposite where the problem slave was and it couldn't be all slaves at once.

Anyway, I'll be watching it these next few days. At least right now the car stops where I want it and when I want it to stop. The first time and the second time they replaced the master cylinder, it only took about two weeks before any symptoms start to come out again. I really hope that they have fixed it this time.

I'll post again when the problem comes back.

Cheers.