Rick_Leuce
Registered User
Hey,
A couple days ago, I had been running several errands in my 1990 SC 5-speed. After I stopped for dinner, I started up the car, but the brakes were hard. I drove around the parking lot and realized my accumulator ball was not charging and I had no power brakes (it was actually pretty hard to stop the car at less than 10 MPH). I Googled the forums on my iPhone and suspected that the problem was either the 40 Amp fuse that goes to the "Anti-Lock Motor" and/or the 10 AMP Anti-Lock fuse of the Primary Junction Box. I bought both from a nearby Autozone and installed them. I was frustrated that neither fuse I was replacing looked blown. After replacing the 40 amp and the 10 amp fuse anyways, I re-plugged in the car battery and turned on the car (engine off). I was disappointed and kept turning the key on and off. When I left the key in the On position for about a minute, I suddenly heard the accumulator motor working. I'm a little concerned because my system WAS working all day up until this point AND it didn't seem to work again until after I replaced the fuses BUT not immediately (The car had the new fuses for like 5 minutes before the car would recharge).
I was able to safely drive it to our workshop without issues. I even plugged in the battery yesterday and turned the key to the on position; the brake accumulator was charging and I didn't need to wait. Since it seems to be working, I decided to leave the fresh fuses in place in case the old ones had corrosion or a lot of resistance. My parents aren't convinced the problem is solved, however. I won't know for sure unless I drive it again or if there is some kind of test I can do.
Background info: My ABS brakes actuator assembly was sent of to Super Coupe performance in the summer of 2015 (when I first got the car) to get rebuilt, so the system basically works like new and had a very thorough brake fluid flush at the time.
However, I did park on a slight hill at the restaurant and might have turned off the car while it was in the middle of charging (because I was constantly applying the brakes up until the moment I parked). Can these systems get freaked out if you turn them off in the middle of their job?
Slightly unrelated: My car has a power drain I haven't identified yet (I've known about it for perhaps 3-weeks). I have to unplug the battery if I don't plan on driving within a few hours because it will totally kill the battery in LESS than 12 hours (the interior lights won't even come on if I wait that long). So the car's battery is unplugged and re-plugged in every day. However, I did not unplug it at the restaurant until after I tried to leave and noticed the brakes weren't working. I can hear a faint clicking sound all the time even when the car is off and there is no key in the ignition. I think some switch or relay could be flipping on-and-off for no reason (I think somewhere on the passenger side).
Maybe the car is fine, but I thought I should say something in case it's serious and I caught it early. My car's E-brake does not work and the brake pads/rotors have not been changed since I've owned it, so if I lose power brakes, I would probably get into an accident without any hope of stopping in time (I can only downshift so fast). A part of me is tempted to buy the best rotors and brake pads I can and to fix my E-brake so that if I DO lose all power brakes while driving, I have a chance of slowing down in time; especially on Georgia roads where you don't always have more than 2 seconds to react to something.
A couple days ago, I had been running several errands in my 1990 SC 5-speed. After I stopped for dinner, I started up the car, but the brakes were hard. I drove around the parking lot and realized my accumulator ball was not charging and I had no power brakes (it was actually pretty hard to stop the car at less than 10 MPH). I Googled the forums on my iPhone and suspected that the problem was either the 40 Amp fuse that goes to the "Anti-Lock Motor" and/or the 10 AMP Anti-Lock fuse of the Primary Junction Box. I bought both from a nearby Autozone and installed them. I was frustrated that neither fuse I was replacing looked blown. After replacing the 40 amp and the 10 amp fuse anyways, I re-plugged in the car battery and turned on the car (engine off). I was disappointed and kept turning the key on and off. When I left the key in the On position for about a minute, I suddenly heard the accumulator motor working. I'm a little concerned because my system WAS working all day up until this point AND it didn't seem to work again until after I replaced the fuses BUT not immediately (The car had the new fuses for like 5 minutes before the car would recharge).
I was able to safely drive it to our workshop without issues. I even plugged in the battery yesterday and turned the key to the on position; the brake accumulator was charging and I didn't need to wait. Since it seems to be working, I decided to leave the fresh fuses in place in case the old ones had corrosion or a lot of resistance. My parents aren't convinced the problem is solved, however. I won't know for sure unless I drive it again or if there is some kind of test I can do.
Background info: My ABS brakes actuator assembly was sent of to Super Coupe performance in the summer of 2015 (when I first got the car) to get rebuilt, so the system basically works like new and had a very thorough brake fluid flush at the time.
However, I did park on a slight hill at the restaurant and might have turned off the car while it was in the middle of charging (because I was constantly applying the brakes up until the moment I parked). Can these systems get freaked out if you turn them off in the middle of their job?
Slightly unrelated: My car has a power drain I haven't identified yet (I've known about it for perhaps 3-weeks). I have to unplug the battery if I don't plan on driving within a few hours because it will totally kill the battery in LESS than 12 hours (the interior lights won't even come on if I wait that long). So the car's battery is unplugged and re-plugged in every day. However, I did not unplug it at the restaurant until after I tried to leave and noticed the brakes weren't working. I can hear a faint clicking sound all the time even when the car is off and there is no key in the ignition. I think some switch or relay could be flipping on-and-off for no reason (I think somewhere on the passenger side).
Maybe the car is fine, but I thought I should say something in case it's serious and I caught it early. My car's E-brake does not work and the brake pads/rotors have not been changed since I've owned it, so if I lose power brakes, I would probably get into an accident without any hope of stopping in time (I can only downshift so fast). A part of me is tempted to buy the best rotors and brake pads I can and to fix my E-brake so that if I DO lose all power brakes while driving, I have a chance of slowing down in time; especially on Georgia roads where you don't always have more than 2 seconds to react to something.