[saweetlou]

So I drove my wifes 06 ridge which had new brakes and rotors a year ago seems to be having some concern with the brakes. Maybe 20000kms put on in that year with the occasional towning of a small 4x8 trailer. The pedal is low and feels spongy, I hit the parking break a bunch of times and it brought the pedal up a bit but I think it could be better. Any suggestions, bleed them maybe....

 

[skelley521]

Some good info and brake troubleshooting steps in this thread.......here.

 

[skelley521]

Also here are test for the 06-08' for cross-reference if they differ.
Of course check for brake fluid level.

 

[skelley521]

Master cylinder inspection.
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[Dnick]

First "blind" suggestion: Bleed the brakes thoroughly & in the correct sequence. See if that solves your problem.

Second comment: I don't know if/how the parking brake could/would effect your brake pedal, but be advised that your parking brake operates a for-the-most-part separate braking system that is comprised of a set of brake shoes that reside inside a brake drum arrangement that is inside your rear disk brake rotors.

So they use neither the hydraulic system, nor the rotors/calipers/pistons/pads or ABS that are used in your primary braking system.

Maybe you know of a method that I'm unfamiliar with whereby activating these drum brakes (parking brake) somehow automatically "adjusts" the rotor brakes???? Sounds like a stretch; but it wouldn't be the first thing I'm unaware of. It used to be (in way-back years) you'd drive in reverse & hit the brakes to "adjust" the shoes in the old drum brake systems, but I'm unaware of any such method for our RL.... using the parking brake or otherwise. Please help me understand if there's something I'm oblivious to here. (Thanks)

 

[eurban]

Bleeding the brakes is good idea. Unless you know for a fact that they changed out the brake fluid when the brakes were worked on a year ago, I would absolutely do that too.

In my experience the brake feel of the Ridgeline is on the spongy side even when everything is working properly. Make sure you are not chasing your tail.

 

[Dnick]

Bleeding the brakes is good idea. Unless you know for a fact that they changed out the brake fluid when the brakes were worked on a year ago, I would absolutely do that too.

In my experience the brake feel of the Ridgeline is on the spongy side even when everything is working properly. Make sure you are not chasing your tail.

I would have agreed (characteristically spongy) except for the fact that OP says pedal is also "low". Suggests performance problems of some kind.

But then again, I did not understand the parking brake comment at all, so who knows.

 

[saweetlou]

I dont drive the truck regularly so to me the pedal seems low and spongy, Ill have to look into this a little deeper as this potentially could be a big problem. Thanks for the tips guys

 

[saweetlou]

Im back, sorry for the delay, as i said I never drive the truck and my wife never said anything about it so it slipped my mind, anyway I bled the brakes yesterday and there was lots of bubbles at each wheel, sadly nothing changed the pedal drops pretty low. Im going to go through the steps that skelley521 has posted and hope for the best. I did notice that there seem to be a bit of seepage at the reservoir lid but only after I pumped the brakes aggressively, I wonder if the seal has gone hard, didnt happen everytime just a couple of times.
As for the parking brake by engaging it several times it adjusts the rear brakes(drums) allowing them to engage sooner. I used to do this on older vehicles with rear drum brakes, I see now that the Ridge is a little different.

 

[skelley521]

While you're doing you test/inspection, put a eye on the VSA Modulator-Control Unit.
I've read a few post of other 06' owners having either leaks or air entering the system at this point.
You might get someone to pump the brakes while you watch/listen around it.
Pic for reference.
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