How don't they work? Hard pedal? Slow stopping? Leaks? Is your brake light on? Check the fuses first. Do you hear the electric brake motor run when you turn the key on? Search here on the site. Many good post on this site on powermaster brakes. Also can check http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/brakes/brakespage.html for diagnosis charts.
When did this happen? All at once? Has the brake light been occasionally flickering before this happened? You need to check your PWR BRK fuse. It's toward the lower right of the fuse panel. Green 30amp. Hopefully you haven't been seeing, and ignoring the brake light illuminations.
i just got the car and it was like that before i bought it. i will check the fuse and see what happens. thx
Hope you don’t mind me high jacking the thread but I am having a similar issue too ….I was driving mine to work today(trying out the new tranny) looked down and saw my brake light on…tried the brake and they were very hard. Continue on another mile and the light went out brakes worked fine but when I arrived in the parking lot the light came on and a very hard pedal again…..I just took it the 30 miles home at lunch and the light was on. Wow that was no fun. Glad I wasn’t in North Carolina on a mountain road! However I am getting 12 volts to the pump.
I am going to try and fix it first...it has been perfect until today. I am reading the powermaster diagnostics info by Ken Mosher. Hopefully it won't be major.
Not trying to be nagative here but save you time and money and convert it for now. Then get a rebuilt one from Kirbans and put it on a shelf so that when you sell the car you'll be able to put it back on for originality. As you've noticed, when they decide to be problems you may not stop and then you really have a problem.
Not yet…it still has the old cast type combination valve....starting there I guess. On another note, after asking a lot of questions I am under the impression that the conversion to vacuum brakes can be a major issue due to the loss of vacuum after the turbo has spooled. (delay in braking) Would anyone else like to chime in on this? Experience ect?
I have yet to experience anything along those lines. The vacuum brake conversion is a boring modification as the brakes just plain work without any drama. There is a check valve on the booster that stores vacuum in the booster while preventing boost from entering the booster. The other option is hydro-boost. It has its own set of potential problems. ~JM~
Thought I would update the thread…The motor checked out ok but the relay was questionable so I removed the unit and took it apart. I was able to make the motor run on the bench using a screw driver to cycle the relay. Then we (yep, I have electronics guys that work for me) dissembled the relay board and found a bad soldier point on the back of the relay board. Repaired the area and reassembled. Motor is now running on the bench without issues. I will install it tonight along with a new combination valve. ( my car still had the old iron one) Should be good to go.
