s2kscott

The past few months my brakes have been acting odd and i have searched relentlessly but cannot find an exact diagnosis for my problem. Randomly when braking just normally on the streets, the brake pedal becomes very firm and braking power is decreased drastically and under the hood it sounds like there is a clunking/popping noise the harder you push on the brakes. But if you release the pedal and push it right back down braking goes completely back to normal??? I changed the brake fluid about 6 months ago using using billman's gravity bleed technique and i had great results with it but then a few months later this started happening and i cannot understand why. The noises i hear make me think there is potentially a problem with the master cylinder/brake booster, but if that were true the problem would be much more consistent i feel like. Anyways let me know if any of you have had similar problems or any insight into this.

Also my brake pads are close to needing a change, but i don't think that this problem should be related to the brake pads unless someone thinks otherwise, in which case this may be an easy fix.

macr88

Sounds like a brake booster issue, I think there's a check valve in the vacuum line if memory serves me right. I would check that and or replace that vacuum line and valve.

s2kscott

any idea how to check it?

Croc

here we go:
http://garageninja.com/honda-s2000-b...oster-testing/

s2kscott

Thanks for that croc, and I just did those tests but it didn't seem to show that there was anything wrong with the brake booster

s2kscott

bump for opinions/help!

macr88

Did you check the check valve?

s2kscott

what exactly is the check valve? I took the vacuum hose off the brake booster and started the engine and it vacuum for sure so i think its okay according to the brake booster check posted above

-=Zeqs=-

What is the wear on your tires? A while back when I had badly worn tires, my ABS would activate at times due to the lack of traction. The "thumping/clunking" sound and feeling was the ABS system causing the front brakes to rapidly lock and release.

I ask because you stated that your pads are near needing replacement that it makes me wonder how far along your tires are..lasso, poor quality tires or tires on poor quality surfaces can have a similar effect.

s2kscott

hmm interesting, i haven't thought about that before but that would make sense, my tires are in good shape but i am on snow tires for the winter so that could explain it since they dont have near as much grip compared to what the system would expect. I'll be changing back to my summer tires in a few days though and then ill see if the problem disappears. This definitely makes the most sense though i don't know why i never thought of this