Can't get Accumulator Ball Off

[Jack Russo]

This is not the first time I'm replacing the accumulator ball. I've done it before without any issues twice.
Just bought a new ball, ignition is off, I pump the brake about 25 times, (The pedal never really gets hard like it's supposed to. Probably pump it 100 times)
I try to take the old ball off and it's impossible. I'm literally using the socket wrench it was a pipe on it. I don't want to break it off the powermaster. Any idea what's going on?
When I'm pumping the brakes I hear a hissing sound. But pedal never gets hard. Do you think it's not depressurizing ? Thats why it won't un screw?

 

[gsgnnut]

May be seized due to dissimilar metals? Personally I think its a sign to ditch the pm and replace with vacuum or hydroboost. Love my gn but after the third time the pm tried to kill me I got the message and chucked the death wish pm in the junk pile and went to vacuum.

 

[A2000RICH]

May be seized due to dissimilar metals? Personally I think its a sign to ditch the pm and replace with vacuum or hydroboost. Love my gn but after the third time the pm tried to kill me I got the message and chucked the death wish pm in the junk pile and went to vacuum.

to those of us that know and understand the workings of the PM and can easily maintain them your comment makes as much sense as putting a carburetor on your car if you have turbo or injector problems..........no offense intended but the PM is not a complicated device but any sufficiently advanced technology always requires a little more attention

 

[gsgnnut]

Not offended at all. Everyone entitled to their opinion. I personally love the idea of the pm however after owning a gn for 25 years you learn a few things. I went through 4 pm in that time and at ever increasing expense to replace or repair.By far the costliest and scariest problem the car has had. On top of this on 3 occassions sudden failures without any warning put me and my family in harm's way and only with the love of God we avoided tragedy. After the third such experience I had enough. I have over a million miles driving experience and the pm was the only 3 sudden brake failures I've ever experienced. Vacuum works and is tried and safe. Also a very well known and trusted gn experts advice to me when I went to replace the last failed unit told me to ditch it altogether since they we're problematic and had become so expensive to replace. I wish they didn't fall so suddenly and were so expensive but they do and they are. I did change fluid regularly and it still failed every 4 years or so. I know there are gn experts that know these units and can rebuild them and make them like new and safe but for how long? New England climate is hard on them no matter what you do. Hydro boost on the other hand is a much better alternative that came on earlier gn's. Vacuum system is an economical substitute that works perfectly fine on a street driven car and there are a lot of 87 gns running vacuum systems for the same reason I am.

 

[87WE4!!]

This is not the first time I'm replacing the accumulator ball. I've done it before without any issues twice.
Just bought a new ball, ignition is off, I pump the brake about 25 times, (The pedal never really gets hard like it's supposed to. Probably pump it 100 times)
I try to take the old ball off and it's impossible. I'm literally using the socket wrench it was a pipe on it. I don't want to break it off the powermaster. Any idea what's going on?
When I'm pumping the brakes I hear a hissing sound. But pedal never gets hard. Do you think it's not depressurizing ? Thats why it won't un screw?

Hit it with some PB blast tonight and have another go at it tomorrow. If it starts to turn and you hear or see brake fluid and air coming from the threads then stop and allow it time to depressurize (Sorry if I misspelled that) then unscrew the accumulator. Before you install a new one you may want to inspect the powermaster just to make sure that you don’t have another problem sending too much pressure into the Accumulator. You don’t wanna ruin the new one.

 

[DOshow]

A couple options I thought of; since the MC is cast and the ball is steel, try and heat the MC body local to the threads. This will expand the body, the heated MC body should release the ball due to expansion. Use a heat-gun or hair-dryer. Second, try using a Strap-wrench, wrapped around the ball body, using the wrench at this point will allow good leverage along with decent control of force. You should counter-support the MC body while working the Strap-wrench. Good luck!

 

[TexasT]

I can agree the PM requires a lot of maintenance, but if it was that great GM wouldn't have discontinued its use.

I'll keep with the hydroboost conversion, its superior braking performance, less maintenance and be able to stop.