Soft brake pedal, ABS & Brake lights on

Melon

Melon

SCCoA Member
Since money is tight for me, I want to double check opinions before I start spending money.

Been fighting an intermittent brake issue with the 90. First, the ABS relay wouldn't turn the pump off. Cleaned the contacts on the relay and it seemed to fix it. Then the lights started coming on again occasionally and the last few times I drove the car, I had the pedal go damn near to the floor. But by the next stop light, both lights are off and I have brakes again.

Brake pressure switch or accumulator ball? From what I read, I'm leaning towards the pressure switch.
 
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Do the ABS and brake lights ever flicker when you first apply the brakes.....

That is a sign that the accumulator is going bad....
 
Not that I recall. But it's been a while since I drove the car now. I didn't want to drive it and totally lose my brakes.
 
Does it still have the original accumulator on it.....

If so, it should be changed.....

It has most likely lost its charge and the pump motor cannot keep up with the pressure demand that the system needs....
 
To the best of my knowledge, yes it does.

Is it a specific enough part that I'll have to go through SpinningWheels to get it? Depending on the price of a new one - assuming I can get one - I'd rather go that way instead of a used one.
 
Pedal to the floor? Sounds suspicious to me. What I mean is that, if the accumulator isn't holding a charge, then there's no (or very little) assist. That should make the pedal rock hard. If your pedal is going to the floor, then I would suspect a problem in the hydraulic system. Are you sure you don't have a leak in the lines? If there is no leak in the lines, you may have an internal leak in the master cylinder.
 
Soft pedal - I would check for a leak first. Pull the wheels if you have to. When my ABS went I had a hard pedal. If you get tired of messing with the ABS then check out the thread on 'ABS to conventional' swap. Has saved me for the last 4 years.
 
I was thinking about that the other day and have started to see if I can find a new master cylinder.

I started reading the thread about the swap and if I had a garage to work on it, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Sadly, I don't so thinking of the easiesr solution at the moment to get the car back on the road finally.
 
I would check for leaks and/or air in the lines.

I recently went through my brakes. I had a leaking brake pressure switch (located under the master cylinder). When I changed the switch, I had lots of problems getting the air out of the system, but the other problem ended up being the accumulator went south also.

The pump would run initially with the key on, and then cycle off as expected. But most of the time the pump would kick back on with the first push of the brake pedal, sometimes the second. Anyway, since I was still seeing the occasional air bubble at the bleeder, I never suspected the accumulator.

Anyway, I bought mine from Bill @ SCP.
 
The car has been parked for a while now, but I took it for a drive the other day to see what it'd do. The lights were on for most, if not all of the drive, and brakes weren't 100%.

Try the accumulator? I hate to dump money into the ABS system, especially since parts are hard to find for it as it is.
 
My two cents is two thoughts hose from mc to switch could be rotted or bad cap wich would suck air every time you apply the brakes pump brakes while idle see if a. pressure backs up through cap or b. if its sucking air with a little help jmo
 
elanoresc said:
My two cents is two thoughts hose from mc to switch could be rotted or bad cap wich would suck air every time you apply the brakes pump brakes while idle see if a. pressure backs up through cap or b. if its sucking air with a little help jmo
Click to expand...

I honestly hadn't thought about that. Maybe I'll give that a whirl (a new cap) before yanking it out and swapping to conventional brakes.
 
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