Here we go again. I hate car problems.
If it were a weekday, I’d just take it my mechanic. But no, it’s a weekend, and he’s not open and I’m not sure, based on previous experiences, if I can trust anyone else, or if I even need to rush to a stranger mechanic right away. So I’ll ask you guys first.
It’s a 1988 Honda Accord. A couple of days ago the brake light came on and stayed on, and yesterday I put brake fluid in. Knowing next to nothing about cars, I consulted my male friend, who popped the hood and showed me where to put it- a clear container towards the windshield, on the left. It looked pretty full to me, but he said it was low, so yesterday I added some. I’m not sure if this is relevant at all, but it was very recently so I’m thinking maybe it’s connected.
Today, it’s started doing this: Once every few times I press on the gas, instead of accelerating, it lurches a little and makes a scraping noise. Ssscccrrrrr. Not every time, but every couple of minutes and it might do it 3 or 4 times, then stops and accelerates like normal. I popped the hood and nothing is obviously wrong. I looked underneath the car, and it looks like nothing is caught up under there.
My young son says that there’s a weird smell (dead fish?) but I presently have a cold and can’t smell anything.
Sounds like you need brakes. The pads are worn out and now that you’ve added brake fluid the pressure is increased and causing the worn out brakes to grind on the metal. The smell could be simply the pads getting hot or perhaps there is a leak and the brake fluid itself is “burning”. It would have a bad smell either way.
The screeching sound is typically what you’d hear if the brakes were worn out.
Was there ever a high pitched squeal prior to this scraping sound. There should have been. It is a device installed in the pads or shoes to warn you the brakes need changing.
BTW the brakes are probably locking up when you park. They cool off and stay “locked” until you start up and drive. whereupon they unlock and then you can go. The next time you take it out (although I don’t advise you take it anywhere without brakes) but if you do, the hub of the wheel will probably get real hot. You could pour or spray some water on the center hub and see if it boils. I wouldn’t touch it you may get burned.
I did get it quiet, roll down the window, and listen the other day to see if it was making that sound it makes when you need brakes, and I didn’t hear anything. Did they install that safety feature back in '88? And there has been no screeching sound, only the scraping sound.
At any rate, now I at least know where to start. Or rather, my male friend does when he comes over tomorrow to look at it.
I have a more recent Accord and was rather surprised to find it had no brake-wear sensors at all. First car in years that hasn’t - and I’m not talking new cars here.
You got that right. The thought that it could be the transmission (with the lurching/shuddering) makes me want to hang myself. Very relieved to think it could be just the brakes.
As far as I know, yes, they had that in '88. Besides, the brake pads would have been replaced since then. My mechanic brother told me that you can sometimes wear through the warning strip, and you won’t hear the high pitch any more, just the heavy grind when metal starts to grind metal.
All my other cars have had a copper ‘probe’ embedded in the pads that connected to an indicator on the dash. when the ‘probe’ contacted the rotor, long before the pad was worn down to the metal backing plate, the indicator would light - first on braking but later continuously.
hey trubl yeah they’ve been putting squealers in for damned near ever. They don’t always work though. It’s just a riveted peice that’s installed in the pad at a certain depth. If the brakes are old sometimes the back of the rivet wears out and the squealer falls out too.
Get those brakes checked out asap. It’s probably just fronts but look at all of em. You should be able to get both fronts replaced for about $100 anywhere in the country. Cost of parts probably won’t be but about $30/40 for the front brakes as long as it’s not too late. Rotor damage is a lot more truble.
YMMV but most cars have a “squealer” of some type in the brake pads or shoes. Like NCB was saying sometimes it is just a strip that lasts for a short time and they can fall out too. You may never have heard a noise. Then again I’m not a Honda guy so who knows?
I know, I know. But I’m a not a car person. Hell, if I didn’t have kids, I’d be happy to take the bus- think of all the money I’d save with no gas, insurance, or car repairs to pay for! I’ll take an old paid-for car any day over a car payment and comprehensive insurance. And this old car, up to now, has been a wonder. I’ve only had it 6 months, but other than a flat tire, no repairs, which is a big improvement over my last old car, which sucked me damn near dry.
I’m curious about the discrepancy between it looking pretty full to you and his saying it was low. That container where you added the brake fluid is called the brake reservoir. It has marks on it, usually “MAX” and “MIN”. The full (MAX) mark is usually pretty close to the top, the low (MIN) mark maybe 1/4 from the bottom. Where was the fluid level before you added some?
Did the light go out and stay out after you added fluid? This is a rather critical piece of information. If adding fluid turned the light off, I have to assume the fluid level was at or near the low mark, which can indeed turn the light on. If the light hasn’t gone out, that suggests a problem with the brake master cylinder.
Just so you know, it’s not necessary for the fluid to be at the full mark. The level will naturally drop, very slowly, with normal wear of the brake pads. This is not a leakage or loss of fluid, and this is why there’s so much space between the full and low marks. Resetting the caliper pistons when the pads are replaced will restore the fluid level. Of course the fluid level will also drop if there’s a leak, but much more rapidly.
This is a unusual symptom in that it comes and goes like that. And sorry to say, I wouldn’t rule out the possiblity of a transmission problem (I assume it’s an automatic). Still, I agree that a brake problem is more likely.
Since the noise is accompanied by lurching/poor acceleration, I suspect a front brake caliper is sticking on. There are various possible causes for this, but essentially it means the brake is applied on (at least) one wheel. This could account for the failure to accelerate normally, the scraping sound, and the smell (which would typically be somewhat like burnt rubber).
This does not necessarily mean any brake pads are worn out. Usually if they are there’s a grinding sound. The thing about brake noises is that there isn’t consistency in describing them (one person’s “scrape” is another’s “grind”) and there isn’t consistency in what causes them (a metal-to-metal grinding sound can also be caused by surfaces rust on the rotors, with nothing worn out). It’s fairly likely new pads would be called for, but it’s not a sure bet.
What to do? If it’s working okay most of the time, including stopping well and straight, I don’t believe there’s a safety issue in driving it. Driving is probably causing rapid wear, though, and could raise the eventual repair cost. I suggest drive as little as possible, and get it to your mechanic as soon as possible.
Now, I want to address this:
This is just totally wrong. Adding fluid does not increase the pressure and did not cause any grinding. The only time adding fluid makes a difference in operation is if it’s gotten so low that the pedal goes down too far and doesn’t stop the car. In that case, adding fluid can sometimes restore (or at least improve) pedal feel. But if the pedal feel was normal, there’s no way that adding fluid made any difference.
Wear indicators:
Many cars have wear indicators on the brake pads that typically make a squealing or screeching sound when the pads get about 85% worn. They usually work well, but sometimes the sound is never heard, and sometimes an essentially identical sound can be just disc brake annoyance noise (= no mechanical problem, just an irritation).
Some cars (in my experience European ones) have pad wear indicators that are little electrical contacts that turn on a warning light.
Both of these designs have been around for decades. Whether a car has them or not is essentially a matter of whether the car maker decided to use them.
The brake fluid was about an inch from the top. My friend who does know a lot about cars but is busy today (he’ll be by tomorrow to look at it) pointed to the line and did say that it was low and I should add it. As soon as I put it in the brake light stopped coming on and is still not coming on. I had transmission problems with my old old car, and while the lurching and acceleration problems are similiar, the noise and feeling of something scraping is not something I’ve experienced with a bad transmission. So I have hope that it’s not that! ::crosses fingers::
I figured if it could be something really and truly bad, I should take it in today, to anybody I could find open. But if it’s something my friend can fix tomorrow, like brake pads, then I’d be cool to wait. Based on the responses (so grateful!) so far, I feel safe in just not driving it and having my friend come see about it tomorrow.
I had something similar with a car that I used very infrequently
it did about 50 miles per year
The first time it happened, I went for a reasonable drive and noticed that it was sluggish on acceleration. I parked up near home to visit a shop, when I drove off again I had total foot brake failure (the handbrake was Ok).
It turned out that the driver side front disk brake’s pads were binding on on the disk, hence the sluggishness. The entire unit got extremely hot, and when I stopped it had no more air cooling so the brake fluid boiled - air brakes that did not work.
I got it fixed (second time success) and then the problem migrated to the passenger front disk brake. At that point I gave the car away - in my case it was because I used it so infrequently.
It is easy to diagnose, simply feel inside the back of the wheel.
If you get a serious burn, then it has to be binding brakes - they get /very/ hot.
Honda’s are well-neigh impossible to kill, however. I owned an 85 Accord that I paid a mere $500 that lasted 5 years, and I’d still probably be driving it, if I’d bothered to get the timing belt fixed (that’s Honda’s one weakness, the timing belt goes and your engine gets trashed). Presently, I’m driving an 81 Prelude, which until Bambi felt despondant and threw herself in front of the car, looked practically showroom new. Assuming trublmakr has all the routine mainteince done on the car when it should be, and doesn’t smack into anything, she should be able to drive the car forr at least another decade with no major problems. Now, if the car were a Yugo. . .
For all you who await news of my fascinating life with bated breath, heh.
So I took it in today, and bad news. It’s the transmission, and my choice is to junk it, put in a new transmission, or one from a junkyard. Also it apparently needs mounts. So I’m not getting out of this for less than 1500. :mad: He did say that if I put in a new transmission, I’d get another 100,000 or 200,000 miles out of it, but I’m not really willing to put $3,000 into it.
Since taking it to get looked at, it now won’t go into reverse. I had to push my car out of where I’d parked after leaving there!
My aunt, bless her, is going to let me drive her car for a couple of weeks until I figure out what I’m going to do. So at least I have that.
Anyway, thanks to all who replied. I so wish I just needed new brakes.
