1989 Honda Civic

Hi deFox03,

Thank you for the donation.

Bleed all for wheels to check if pressure is getting to all of them. If pressure are present t all brakes, check:
1. Caliper pistons.
2. Caliper slider bolts.
3. Brake booster. If pedal pressure is hard, you might have a bad booster.
If pedal pressure is soft but it is not easy to stop vehicle, and fluid pressure is good, either the brake pads quality are suspect or the calipers pistons are seized.

Are the rear brakes disc or drum?

If the master cylinder fails, the pedal would sink to the floor if you hold the pdeal for a few seconds.

To bleed the brake system, you would need an assistant to depress and hold the brake pedal while you release the bleeder nut at the calipers or backing plated of the drum brakes. Retighten nut before releasing the brake pedal.

A transparent hose attached to the bleeder nut would allow you to see if air is trapped in the system.

Does the handbrake hold and is lever very high?

Drum and disc brakes have different handbrake lever height.

If there is insufficient freeplay for the handbrake cables, the rear brakes would not self adjust and over time, the lever would get higher and higher with the pedal getting lower.

Ensure there is sufficient free travel when handbrake lever is released. If there are too much free travel, then you would need to reduce it by adjusting the nut below rear of center console.