And.............I have no brakes....

[Renthorin]

The facts:

87 GN
38k miles
last 1000 miles or so (I only drive 3k a year) the brake pedal has been thumping my foot while I am stopped with my foot on the pedal. Not a hard thump...just a little feedback like it was hickuping.

Tonight I smelled something burning while driving 25mph down the road from my house. Thought someone was burning trash.

Drive around for 15 minutes.....go to stop.....BRAKE light comes on.

Still have brakes. Something is really burning....pop the hood and the gold motor under the master cylinder is pretty warm.

Drive a bit more....and no brakes. Have to push the pedal hard to the floor to slow down.

I don't know much about the PM system.

Any thoughts as to what died and what I have to do to repair it? I want to stick with the PM system for now so please no "go to vac breaks".

Thanks. Brakeless in Michigan....

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Brake light generally means the accumulator bowl is dying or is dead. Kirbans Performance has them.

Is the brake fuse ok??

You might be able to cheap out and just replace the ball, but if it goes beyond that, it can get $$ if you want to stay with the Weak Master.

 

[Renthorin]

I will have to check the fuse tonight when I get home.

Not sure if replacing the 'ball' will get me fixed. Something smelled realllyyy burnt and I am betting it is the motor part :-(

 

[WLDWST]

If you are sure it's just your motor, order a new motor from Hank Terry.

GM PowerMaster Sales

 

[Renthorin]

At this point I am not sure of anything

Thanks for the link though, I suspect that as I smelled burning electronics...the motor is dead. If that is the case then I have to find out WHY it died...

 

[WLDWST]

At this point I am not sure of anything

Thanks for the link though, I suspect that as I smelled burning electronics...the motor is dead. If that is the case then I have to find out WHY it died...

Absolutely correct. It may be a number of things causing the motor to keep running and burning out. All of which are getting pricey.( switch, accumulator ball, internal leakage) Do a search on the boards and you will be surprised at how similar symptoms appear regularly. If having trouble diagnosing the problem, ( Powermaster Diagnostics ) get a rebuilt unit either from Cardone, Kirbans, GBodyParts, or even E-bay. There is a big difference in the price of these units between vendors it seems, be aware of that.

 

[zeus87gn]

Bill,

My email won't go back to you for some reason now.

Kirbans has a complete reman P/M for $420.
Limited Lifetime warranty.

Just thought I would let you know if you ended up going that route.

Patrick

 

[Renthorin]

Hey Patrick. Not sure why the e-mail is acting up but thanks for the tip on Kirbans.

 

[Renthorin]

I have begun my diagnosis. Didn't get very far but I did find the 30amp fuse is blown. Hoping maybe that saved the pump motor but not holding my breath.

 

[Renthorin]

Put the fuse in.....pump ran for about 13 seconds then shut off....

My fluid is very dark so I plan to clean all that old stuff out and put new fluid in.

Now I need to discover why the pump ran so long.

 

[zeus87gn]

You have mail.
Weak Accumulator.

 

[Renthorin]

Put the new accumulator ball on, added some fluid, ran the system...all seems well.

Now it's time to bleed the brakes....joy...