brake booster gone?

tbird79

Registered User
Hey was drivin my 90 tbird sc and all the sudden the brakes just went as hard as a rock. And its really hard to stop the car, like havin manual braking i guess is what happening. Does this sound like a brake booster gone bad?

Thanks guys
Joe
 
check to see if it came disconnected. Everything is really tight under there, and that happened to my car, and the symptoms were exactly like you described.
 
It's probably one of two things. Either your accumulator ( the ball on top of your ABS unit which maintains system pressure) has failed or the ABS relay is shot.

The accumulator is known to go on the 90 SC's as I saw many people on here, including myself have theirs go on them last year. It's best to try the relay first cause it's only something like $15 and then go for the accumulator if that fails. :) They are about $100 for a remanufactured one.

I'm sure Larry Griggs will wade in with his $0.02 as well. He was a great help to me and my brake troubles.

Hope that helped :D
 
brakes

The weird thing is i took it for a spin and a couple minutes later, the brakes were fine all the sudden. By the way the antilock light was on while the brakes were acting up. And it went off and the brakes were fine. Any ideas?

Thanks
Joe
 
My 90 dis the same thing. Brakes came and went for a while. Changed sensor, 3300psi ball. Worked great for a few weeks then the unit went. These things were about $900 or so rebuilt was the best price I found. We lucked out, just before I ordered, we found one in salvage yard, car had burned previously and had a brand new brake booster on it. Got it for $150.
 
My $.02

It sounds like you lost operating pressure in the system. That will cause the brake pedal to get very hard to push (and you will basically have no braking). The hydraulic pump provides the operating pressure and the accumulator maintains the pressure between pump cycles. In your situation, it sounds like the ABS Pump Relay (or Brown Pump Relay) is malfunctioning. These relays tend to either fail closed (pump runs constantly until it overheats and fails) or it fails open (no power to the pump). The relay is located on the passenger side next to the firewall near where the heater hoses pass thru. There are two (2) relays; one for the ABS controller and one for the pump. The pump relay is dark brown and should be labeled ABS Pump. A replacement is available from most parts houses (GP Sorensen #MR120).

Something to watch for:
If the ABS and Brake warning indicators flash on then off when the brakes are applied, the accumulator is shot. Replace it or the pump will fail from overcycling.

If the Accumulator is bad, or if the Hydraulic Pump is bad, contact the guys at Prior Remanufacturing www.priorreman.com and order either the accumulator (about $100.00 US), or the entire system (about $500.00 US). Tell them you have the "Teves Mark II ABS", that's what is installed in the '89 to '92 SC.

Let me know if you need any assistance...........
 
abs

Ok, thanks alot for the advice guys. Cause now brakes are perfectly fine i think the best bet would be to just replace the abs relay, cheap stuff first! And see how that goes.

Thanks again
Joe
 
Yes. That would be the best bet. Watch the brake+antilock lights also. After startup, these should never come on while the car is running.
 
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