A first generation Honda CR-V came into the shop with a scraping noise in the rear. It was coming from the left rear brakes.

I took the drum off and found the problem. One of the pins that hold the shoes on had broken off, making the parts grind against the drum.

After completely replacing the rear brakes, I went to pull it outside, but didn’t like how the brake pedal was felt. I decided to try bleeding the rear brakes in case some air had gotten into the wheel cylinder while I put the shoes on. But because the wheel cylinders were almost 20 years old, the bleeder screws did not what to turn, and after I got the left rear one loose, it just kept leaking.

I also found that the line going to the right rear wheel cylinder had sprung a leak. I now needed to replace the wheel cylinders and the lines going to them. In order to get it outside while waiting for parts to arrive I had to drive using the parking brake, because I had no braking ability due to the leaks.

To replace the wheel cylinders I had to unbolt the backing plate/bearing assembly, which thankfully wasn’t that bad. That gave me plenty of access to get the wheel cylinders out.

Honda still offers pre-made brake lines despite the age of the car, so we just got those. It was a lot easier than trying to bend and flare them myself, and looks a lot neater.

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-Dan