Brakes acting up

[TURBO2]

I have an 86 GN and the brakes are acting up. If I hit the pedal for an emergency stop there is a good 3 second delay before the brakes grab. What would be causing this delay?
Other than that the brakes work well, no leaks, and fluid level is fine.

 

[TurboTGuy]

If it's a Power Master system it's most likely the accumulator ball.

There is a ton of info on the PM brake system on this site. The search feature is your friend.

 

[mongoose87]

I have an 86 GN and the brakes are acting up. If I hit the pedal for an emergency stop there is a good 3 second delay before the brakes grab. What would be causing this delay?
Other than that the brakes work well, no leaks, and fluid level is fine.

If you still have the powermaster system, it sounds like it will be going soon

 

[TURBO2]

If it's a Power Master system it's most likely the accumulator ball.

There is a ton of info on the PM brake system on this site. The search feature is your friend.

Thanks for the help. After not dealing with PowerMonster issues for almost a decade I guess I had a brain fart because I should have known this. I recharged my Accumulator back to 300psi and now it's back to braking like it should.

 

[TURBO2]

If it's a Power Master system it's most likely the accumulator ball.

There is a ton of info on the PM brake system on this site. The search feature is your friend.

Thanks for the help. After not dealing with PowerMonster issues for almost a decade I guess I had a brain fart because I should have known this. I recharged my Accumulator back to 300psi and now it's back to braking like it should.

 

[Coelacanth]

Thanks for the help. After not dealing with PowerMonster issues for almost a decade I guess I had a brain fart because I should have known this. I recharged my Accumulator back to 300psi and now it's back to braking like it should.

I'd be interested to know how you recharged your accumulator? I replaced a weak accumulator ball (ironically it was TurboTGuy who sold me a spare) and the replacement fixed the problem I was having (brake light blipping on from time to time with a hard brake, but everything else in the diagnostic tree checking out). I'd like to recharge my original accumulator because everything else in the system works fine (knock on wood).

 

[TURBO2]

I'd be interested to know how you recharged your accumulator? I replaced a weak accumulator ball (ironically it was TurboTGuy who sold me a spare) and the replacement fixed the problem I was having (brake light blipping on from time to time with a hard brake, but everything else in the diagnostic tree checking out). I'd like to recharge my original accumulator because everything else in the system works fine (knock on wood).

Back in about 2005 I got sick of the constant problems with the powermaster. First it would be the accumulator was bad, then the pressure switch. Then it wouldn't be long before the motor went and then I would be right back to needing another accumulator.
I decided enough was enough and got together with 2 accumulator companies, an electric components company, and a fittings company.. I ended up with a custom accumulator that could be recharged, another one that could be recharged and had a replaceable bladder, a pressure switch that was way more reliable, and the fittings to adapt to the GN system. I put them up for sale on my website and advertised it on all the Turbo GN sites and brought it to one of the vendors that is local for me. The end result.......no one was interested. All I heard was "It's too expensive, It's too heavy, It doesn't look stock" and even some vendors that I had done a ton of business with telling people on the forums NOT to buy them.. But they are willing to spend $200 a pop on each accumulator from GM, new pressure switches, and new motors because the previous 2 items keep failing. It made no sense to me. After investing thousands to get this to be a reality nobody wanted it. So I had to shut down the project and take the loss. Over 10 years later I am still using the same accumulator, pressure switch, and motor. Plus it took 10 years to lose the charge in the accumulator.
Like most GM stuff the accumulators and pressure switches were designed to fail so they can make a killing in their parts department long after you've paid for your car.

 

[TurboTGuy]

So, you're saying you can "refurbish" an accumulator ball to spec here in the present day?

I'd be willing to pay for such a service, so long as it is priced fairly.

My car is far from stock so if it looks a bit "different", I have no issues.

What is important to me is if it STOPS when I push the pedal.

 

[Coelacanth]

It's true that many dealerships just want customers to keep buying parts that fail, it's a guaranteed money-maker. I'm surprised your rechargeable accumulator and pressure switch solutions didn't get much response here. But I'll be honest and say I've noticed there's a bit of an "old man's club" here and not much respect gets shown to newer members, even those who have plenty of mechanical background. Maybe that played a part?

Like TurboTGuy said, I too would be quite interested to know more about your PM brake solutions. If by private message, that's fine by me.

 

[TURBO2]

So, you're saying you can "refurbish" an accumulator ball to spec here in the present day?

I'd be willing to pay for such a service, so long as it is priced fairly.

My car is far from stock so if it looks a bit "different", I have no issues.

What is important to me is if it STOPS when I push the pedal.

It's not a refurbished accumulator, but a brand new one from a totally different manufacturer.

 

[TURBO2]

So, you're saying you can "refurbish" an accumulator ball to spec here in the present day?

I'd be willing to pay for such a service, so long as it is priced fairly.

My car is far from stock so if it looks a bit "different", I have no issues.

What is important to me is if it STOPS when I push the pedal.

It's not a refurbished accumulator, but a brand new one from a totally different manufacturer.

It's true that many dealerships just want customers to keep buying parts that fail, it's a guaranteed money-maker. I'm surprised your rechargeable accumulator and pressure switch solutions didn't get much response here. But I'll be honest and say I've noticed there's a bit of an "old man's club" here and not much respect gets shown to newer members, even those who have plenty of mechanical background. Maybe that played a part?

Like TurboTGuy said, I too would be quite interested to know more about your PM brake solutions. If by private message, that's fine by me.

Unfortunately I ended the project so long ago that I don't even know what pricing would be now. With the economy it could be price prohibitive now. Back when I was selling them it was about $400- $450 for the accumulator, So for about the price of 2 GM accumulators you could just buy one and if it acted up, just recharge it and be done with it.