Failed Inspection!! Brakes!!

[BlackDemon87GN]

Failed Delaware Safety Inspection. Twice.

Rear Passenger brake. Failed the first time and brought it home and checked everything. I am getting no brake light, no noises or anything to indicate the brake is not functioning properly. I took off the drum and hit the brake and the brakes work. I bled the system and tried to pass, and failed again.

Passenger Rear Brake
First Failed Test: -24.2% 34lbf
Second Failed Test: -17.4% 78lbf

Going to go over the whole system again, anyone had this problem and can point me to a specific thing.?? Due to these failed tests my registration has run out, want to get this fixed and passed as soon as possible.

Thanks.

 

[UNDER-PRESSURE]

Rear brakes are out of adjustment. Crank down on the adjusters untill there is some drag & you should be OK.

 

[turbo nasty]

Tighten up the adjusters and when they ask you to put on the brakes dont be bashful.... stand on them!

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

Thank You very much, adjusters will be the first thing we do.

 

[TurboDave]

I had no idea anybody had such comprehensive brakes tests for a safety insp.

 

[87granny]

you do not live in nj the suck here fail you for window inop:frown:

 

[Project TNX]

I had no idea anybody had such comprehensive brakes tests for a safety insp.

Ditto. In WV they take off one tire and see if you have enough pad, and those are the good shops, which I avoid. I found me a nice tire kicker.

I remember the days when my Powermaster was acting up and my inspection was due. I drove around the store tapping the brakes until my brake warning light went out and then I drove it in and passed, LOL. :biggrin:

 

[Red Regal T]

Meanwhile, here in Florida there is no state auto inspection. Proves to me such inspections are bureaucratic thievery.

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

UPDATE

Made adjustments to the rear brakes and still failed. Only thing left to do is let a auto shop check it out. Car still is not registered due to these failures, hopefully that won't be a problem for the auto shops. If anything I'll get the 15 day permit to cover my butt. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Mr86t-type]

Subscribe! Man this is getting Interesting...never knew we could Adjust the
rear Brakes THAT MUCH!!

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

Well thankfully it's a friday so I have all weekend to figure this out. One thing I did notice while looking over the failed brake charts. On all three charts the front passenger side brake is well over the full mark. Could the front brake be over compensating and causing the back brake to not work as much on that side? If so what would I look for on the front brake that would be causing this? I'm thinking the first place I'll go if I can't fix this problem is the local buick dealer. Anyone object to this? Thanks again.

 

[Red Regal T]

I don't know what you could do to the front brakes that would effect the rears. Have you already installed the larger S-10 wheel cylinders in the rear? If not, now might be a good time to do that. The larger wheel cylinders will increase the brake shoe pressure against the drums.

 

[UNDER-PRESSURE]

What are the condition of the rear brakes? Were they adjusted properly? How does the car drive? Usually on a dynamic brake test out of adjustment rear shoes will give you those low readings.

 

[Nick Micale]

UPDATE

Made adjustments to the rear brakes and still failed. Only thing left to do is let a auto shop check it out. Car still is not registered due to these failures, hopefully that won't be a problem for the auto shops........

My guess and starting point would be the master cyl. If your car has the Powermaster system, even when new they would not lock up the rear brakes.

But the shop should first bleed the MC, then the rear brakes, making sure the linings are good, not coated with oil, or slick from being glazed.

Still have a problem after that, the MC is probably worn out.

 

[gofstbuick]

According to the service manual, after adjusting the rear brakes, you should click the parking brake pedal three clicks and adjust the parking brake cable until the wheels lock up. Is your parking brake out of adjustment? I suspect that the factory relied on the parking brake adjustment to fine tune the rear brake adjustment.

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

Car feels fine driving and stopping.

After the first fail, we inspected everything and bled the system.
Second fail: adjusted the rear brakes
Third fail: Now we'll check the wheel cylinder, brake lines, and proportioning valve. And I'll add the parking brake adjustment to the rear brake adjustment procedure, Thank You for that info.

If the wheel cylinders are the culprit then I will make the upgrade. If they aren't the culprit but I get this fixed I will get them too. Just don't want to add anything to this problem till it's fixed.

One thing that would be nice would be to get someone who knows something about cars at the dmv. It's like pulling teeth trying to talk to these people. Even trying to have a general conversation about the failed test was unsuccessful. Here's your results now get out of my face was the feeling I got each time. Some real dull, grumpy @ss people.

 

[BlackBandit]

I'm assuming the driver rear works? If that's so it's probably not the MC. Just bite the bullet and do a brake job. New wheel cylinders, shoes, and get the drums turned. Probably cost you $60. I would guess if that one isn't working the other side is probably allot more wore out anyway. FWIW our brakes are not "smart" enough to reduce applied pressure to one brake and give extra to another. If your fronts are working then they're not the problem. james

 

[wagon]

If you only have one brake that is failing, and you have already adjusted/tightened them, then I would suspect the wheel cylinder. My Malibu had bad back brakes, but they did work, just not good. It turned out that both of my rear wheel cylinders had one frozen piston. The wheel cylinder was only pushing on one of the shoes. Replace the wheel cylinders with the big S-10 wheel cylinders, and bleed them. Then bleed them again. Then tighten the shoes up until the drag good and smell after driving for a little. Then you should be able to pass with flying colors.

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

New rear shoes and bigger wheel cylinders on the way. I will update how the next inspection attempt goes for those who care. Hopefully it'll pass.

 

[BlackDemon87GN]

Passed!!! What a pain in the butt but finally found the culprit, it was a bad wheel cylinder. It was trashed, neither piston would budge. Installed the bigger wheel cylinders and shoes and it's tagged and ready to go for two years.