Cardone rebuilt Power Master issues

[TurboBuRick]

Well said Nick!

 

[6 to go]

GM used the power disaster on some of the big Buick station wagons, also.
I ran up on a guy who rebuilt power masters and he had all the parts in stock
to rebuild them. when he quit rebuilding them, he would not sell the parts
because he said that he would not be a party to somebody killing themselves
because their brakes failed and he said that a tested good power master might
well fail the very next time it was tested. He quit rebuilding them and, as far
as I know scrapped his stock of parts. I switched over to a hydoboost on my
85 and never looked back. I am trying to keep my 87 going though, with
the Power Master system.

 

[J-B Racing]

After reading this months old thread, I had a good laugh of how it illustrates that the Powermaster is is BIGGEST POS that GM ever put on a performance car, especially as a "test bed" item.

If they had installed this piece of crap PM on millions of vehicles like they did/do with vac boosters, they could not have kept up with all the class action law suits.

Oh yes, now it is said you should change brake fluid every year, but that was not mentioned in 1986?

How many T-R's have rear ended another vehicle when the POS offered no assist in traffic? One is enough, but I know of many, and one in my family.

This debate will go on forever, but why owners let their car be exposed to sudden and unexpected failure, is beyond me? A vacuum conversion is easily reversed if it ever was wanted to be returned to "stock".

Thanks for the entertainment, and I am still waiting for at least one good reason to retain the most unreliable POS GM ever put on a vehicle with a critical job like stopping the car!

I agree with you on this. I kept it on because of how well it worked when it did.

 

[zeus87gn]

I just came across this - been out of touch with the web site for a while - i can't believe these issues are happening
I do remember the last PM I installed from Cardone - the solvent/cleaner/whatever it is that Cardone used in thier processes did smell quite strong
I remember flusing that stanky fluid out with denatured alcohol and getting it dry was a problem
It was a few years ago, but I think Gary did say something to Kirban about it (if memory serves)
I'll be contacting Gary to find out how his is doing.

Mr. Micale,
The more GM products I deal with the more I dislike GM.
The PM was an experiment - not well planned at all - If i ever meet any of those engineers.....

 

[Nick Micale]

Mr. Micale,
The more GM products I deal with the more I dislike GM.
The PM was an experiment - not well planned at all - If i ever meet any of those engineers.....

You are correct, it was an experiment for GM.

In 1986-7 I had a few friends that worked at the GM Proving Ground in Mesa, and they had a few GN's there for testing and development.

I was curious about the brake unit as they were then testing it. They told me the reason it was on the turbo cars and station wagons was for development of the up-coming ABS systems GM would be installing on their full line cars.

The turbo cars and wagons were low production vehicles, and were the field test beds before millions of ABS units were in production vehicles.

In 1989 the Cadillac ABS power brake unit looks identical to the PM, except the brake lines went into an electronic controller.

The rest is history, mainly bad, for us turbo car owners!

Also I am done with GM, aka "Government Motors", my twin turbo Ford works fine for me, and I love it even though I will never sell my turbo Buicks!

 

[dr_frankenstein]

Also I am done with GM, aka "Government Motors", my twin turbo Ford works fine for me, and I love it even though I will never sell my turbo Buicks!

shocked......... never thought id hear that ........ like finding out that John Wayne was gay..........

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

My Grand father bought new 1991 Buick GS with the 16" tire package. Well sure enough it too had a Powermaster on it. Except sat with the motor paralel to the fire wall. I think he had it replaced about 5 times since the car had been his. My uncle has had to get it fixed since he has owned the car. He had it done at least three time while the car was under warranty. FYI it cost about $1400.00 now from Cardone to rebuild those. It makes the price on our units a bargain. GM on his car has it optioned labled as ABS unit. So yeah that 1989 ABS on the Caddy is probably the same kind of unit. Hydro boost for me when my Power Master dies hopefully Im not driving it at the time....

 

[GNRick]

I sent in my PM to Cardone about 3 weeks ago. Let me know if anyone wants it. Tip- pump shouldn't run more than once with every 3 pumps of the brake pedal. If the pump runs with 1 or two pumps of the pedal, then the accumulator may be bad. I knew mine was running more than it should, and planned on sending it in to Cardone, but the motor burned up before I could get to it. Brake light came on and allowed one more use of the brakes before I got a hard pedal. Brake fluid had been changed once a year. Changing over to Hydroboost. Bought a new unit from Hydratech, a Cardone rebuild from Advance, and today picked one up from local junk yard (off 1997 astro van). I have two GN's I will be putting them on, and one for a spare.