bashir

Hello,

I have been an avid reader of this forum for the last two or three years and I have benefited from the information that all of you share here by being able to fix many problems with my 96 TL, 2.5. I usually don't post anything because I can search and find all of my answers and I don't really know a lot about fixing cars so I don't have much to share.

Today I am starting a new thread because I can't seem to find a solution through a search. About 6 months ago or so I started having trouble with my breaks seeming to lose pressure at random times. I could be driving along and when I get ready to stop I notice that the brake pedal is going towards the floor but the car is not slowing down, at least not as fast as you would expect. (scary). Then the next day the breaks would be fine and work as normal, then the day after at a random time no breaks again. So I came here to see if any others were having the same problem and I found out that many of you had the same issues in the past and it seemed to always be tied to the Master Cylinder. So I made the investment in a new MC and put it on myself, I also bled the whole system. And sure enough the problem went away....... for about 2 weeks, and then it started all over again when I was on my way home from work about to get off at my exit off of the highway going about 70mph and NO BREAKS!! (really scary) fortunately I'm not a tail gaiter so I had enough room to slow the car down and was able to get it home. So after discussing the situation with my father, we decided that I must not have done a very good job bleeding the breaks, so..... I bled them again, and again the breaks seemed normal...... until 2 weeks later (TODAY) when I was coming home from work at the same exit off the same highway........ NO BREAKS! WTH? My question to the forum is, what else could it be, I have a new master cylinder, the breaks have been bled twice and that includes bleeding the MC, the breaks just go away for a little while then they come back....... I bought this car new in 1996 and it now has about 220k miles on it.. other than the breaks, it runs like a charm, but as we all know the breaks are not something you can just overlook. I would love to be able to fix it myself without taking it to Acura but I'm not sure what's going on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Broke with no breaks! lol

9632tl

I guess its possible that the abs pump is leaking internally. Your brake lines should go from the MC to the abs pump, then to the wheels.
You didnt have any signs of leakage anywhere? Is the fluid level dropping?

Is it a new m/c, or a remanufactured unit? Its very possible to get a "new one" that is bad out of the box.

tmnhs81

Internal leak in master cylinder sounds like the problem.

bashir

doesn't seem to be losing fluid, at least not anywhere that it's noticeable. Now that I think about it, the first time I ever had problems with the brakes, there always seemed to be fluid around the ABS module at the front of the engine. But I tried to tighten the lines and had not noticed any leak since. I purchased a new MC when I brought it, it was not remanufactured to my knowledge. Thanks for your responses!

9632tl

My 3.2 does the same thing (although i have yet to completely lose brakes), i noticed a small wet spot on ibe of the abs pump lines, but i havent tried to fix it yet. Eventually in going to swap the pump and master cylender.
Where did yoy buy it? And, if you dont mind, how much was it?

DUECEON9ER

ABS pumps are another common problem with the 2.5 really surprised 9632Tl is having a leak I have more miles than him and mine is bone dry. ABS pumps on ebay are quite inexpensive also. Depending on where you are located I have information on a place in Los Angeles, CA where you can get fairly new used parts cheap.

bashir

I'm in Atlanta. I just want to be sure of what it is before I make another purchase, I already brought a MC and that wasn't the problem lol.

How can I tell for sure?

9632tl

Mine has one rusty fitting, and the pump cycles every few seconds; when i have the fuse in. I found a few on carpart.com, as low as 45 dollars. But they are old and used.