Accord Brake Master Cylinder and Airbags

[WaterWatcher]

Greetings. My '95 Accord Wagon needs a brake master cylinder. My Chilton manual says to disable the airbags before doing this. My Haynes manual makes no mention of this. Does anyone know which one is correct? I'd hate to pop off an airbag when doing this repair, but I can't see how the airbags would know that the master cylinder had been changed, either.

Thanks for any help,
WW

 

[E. Meyer]

Greetings. My '95 Accord Wagon needs a brake master cylinder. My Chilton manual says to disable the airbags before doing this. My Haynes manual makes no mention of this. Does anyone know which one is correct? I'd hate to pop off an airbag when doing this repair, but I can't see how the airbags would know that the master cylinder had been changed, either.

Thanks for any help,
WW

Chilton is being paranoid. Since they mostly cut-n-paste everything in the book, there probably exists some car, somewhere, that has an issue with this, but its not the '95 Accord. Its highly unlikely you will trigger an airbag changing the master cylinder. There is no connection between it and the airbag system.

If there are any bright yellow wiring harnesses or connectors in the vicinity of the MC, be careful not to mess with them.

If I remember the '95 correctly, the only issue changing the MC is making sure the rod that connects it mechanically to the booster is adjusted correctly.

 

[TomP]

Disconnect the battery cables and you'll be fine.

Greetings. My '95 Accord Wagon needs a brake master cylinder. My Chilton manual says to disable the airbags before doing this. My Haynes manual makes no mention of this. Does anyone know which one is correct? I'd hate to pop off an airbag when doing this repair, but I can't see how the airbags would know that the master cylinder had been changed, either.

Thanks for any help,
WW

 

[motsco_ _]

Greetings. My '95 Accord Wagon needs a brake master cylinder. My Chilton manual says to disable the airbags before doing this. My Haynes manual makes no mention of this. Does anyone know which one is correct? I'd hate to pop off an airbag when doing this repair, but I can't see how the airbags would know that the master cylinder had been changed, either.

Thanks for any help,
WW

+++++++++++++++++++

Airbags systems are a bit like explosives, and they have 'standby power', because the car battery can't be relied upon in a collision. Make sure you get the correct answer before messing around. . . .

I doubt there much risk, but, like you said, you'd hate to pop one off.

'Cruly'

 

[Caroline (archive)]

Dunno if you've already completed the repair, but FWIW, autozone's site says for your 1995 Accord in the first step for replacing the master cylinder:

"If equipped with an air bag, disconnect the negative battery cable and properly disable the Supplemental Restraint System (SRS), as detailed in Chassis Electrical."

The directions at "Chassis Electrical" are very specific for disarming the SRS and airbags.

Repair guides are free at autozone.com for 1995(6?) and earlier Hondas.