My never ending luck never changes. I drove up to the local car show and on my way when I was sitting at a couple red lights I noticed my brake pedal seemed to be pulsating a little. Like a small flutter. On my way back home I was at a light and smelled a burning smell like electrical or burnt popcorn. I pulled in my grage and smelled it even more. I opened the hood and smelled it. I had a flash light in have and noticed my power assisted brake motor had smoke coming off it a little. Put my hand on it and it was red hot. What could be my problem????
My power brake motor is overheating. Help
- Thread starter Turbodan
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Evans Ward
Love those LC2/ Y56 cars!
- Joined
- May 24, 2001
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Turbodan said:
Google on Hank or Henry Terry as he sells the motors. If you can't find it that way, go to the site with the "s" at the end and try the same. He still has some at around $150.00 per. HTH.
Before replacing the motor or the switch, you need to check the accumulator (pressure ball). If the accumulator is going, the motor will keep running trying to build pressure that it can't do because the pressure switch is tellling it to keep running. There is a procedure on gnttype.org that takes you through it step by step. These are usually the first to go.
If your motor got that hot, you may want to consider replacing it anyway.
However, check for internal leaks in the master cylinder before you replace it. Mine was internally leaking and never building pressure. After I replaced the accumulator, it went to working fine but the motor just cycled on and off sooner because of the bleeddown caused by the internal leak. The leak got worse and ended up sending the motor to it's grave.
Evans, please email me.
If your motor got that hot, you may want to consider replacing it anyway.
However, check for internal leaks in the master cylinder before you replace it. Mine was internally leaking and never building pressure. After I replaced the accumulator, it went to working fine but the motor just cycled on and off sooner because of the bleeddown caused by the internal leak. The leak got worse and ended up sending the motor to it's grave.
Evans, please email me.
The accumulator bowl was replaced with a new Kirbans 2 months ago. It could have been the switch causing the motor to run. I also noticed when I turned the key before I left the car show last night. The motor came on for about 4 seconds but sounded noisier. Not a nice quiet hum. Is it hard to change the motor and switch?
That being said, Yea. You will probably want to change the motor. BUT...before you do, CHECK FOR INTERNAL LEAKS!. If you have an internal leak, the new motor will burn up just like the one you have now. These motors can't run for long before becoming hot and burning up. They don't have any cooling capabilities.Turbodan said:
Get the new unit from Hank Terry, he will insist that you replace the switch with a new one or his warranty will not be good.
Changing it out is not technically diffucult. Just diffucult to get to where it is at. Depressurize, take out the old unit, install the new unit and bleed the system until you are blue in the face
. Ask me how I know.How do you go about testing for internal leaks? My brake light never came on during all this. Only difference I noticed at first was a slight vibrating feeling every so often at the brake pedal. When left home and turn key on the powermaster motor seems to be a little loud as it cycled. Then when I left the car show it cycled and was quiet. Brakes never felt different as far as the brake pedal except the vibrating.
I have never seen my brake light come on, even when my PM flat out stopped working when I was pulling into my driveway and almost went into the ditch! Had to clean my pants after that one.Turbodan said:
Leak check: Make sure you can see the ports in the bottom of the fluid bowl with fluid in the bowl at normal level. If you don't, your fluid is too dirty and needs to be changed anyway. So - with good fuild, depressurize the system (10 or more good pedal pumps). Watch the (4) ports in the bottom of the bowl (pay special attention to the port on the passenger side rear) while an assistant turns the ignition key to 'on' but not 'start'. The pump motor will begin to run to repressurize the system and YOU SHOULD NOT SEE ANY FLUID CIRCULATING BACK INTO THE BOWL. If you do, you have internal leaks and the master cylinder needs to be rebuilt/replaced.
Be sure to read the applicable information herehttp://www.gnttype.org/techarea/brakes/brakespage.html. Best place for brake info short of buying the book. I bought the book, I want my PM to live.
The best way to check the pressure switch is with a gauge adapter. I am working on puting one together but haven't gotten that far yet.
HTH
Well I changed my motor first and thought I was out of the woods. Seemed like motor was running too soon. So I just changed the pressure switch. I depressurized and the fluid was level in the resevoir. Then i turned key and heard the motor humming and the passenger side resevoir got pretty low. Now would it be safe to say if you came outside the next morning and the passenger side did not rise back up. You have a good internal seal?
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