Power master trouble

[85supreme]

My concerns about my power master system first started a while ago when a whining noise was audible from inside the car whenever the brakes were applied. This escalated to the whining noise being present at all times. I continued to drive the car periodically as the brakes still worked fine and there was no brake light on.

After the car has been sitting most of winter I finally got it out today and noticed that the brake light is now on all the time, the whining has kind of died down, and the brakes barely work. The pedal is very soft and goes all the way to the floor without doing much.

During all this the passenger side of the reservoir has been very low. I know it's usually lower than the drivers side, but how low is too low? I'm pretty sure time the reservoir was almost completely empty.

Any ideas as to what is the problem or what the whining noise was? Is it most likely the power master motor that finally gave out?

Any help would be appreciated. I plan on doing my research on the system but figured I would let you guys know what I'm dealing with since I'm only home every once in a while to trouble shoot problems.

Thanks, Mike

 

[gsgnnut]

Been down this road more than once. The power master is telling you to remove it and replace with a vacuum or hydroboost system. If you are set on keeping it then your either loosing fluid or the accumulator may be shot . After replacing 3 pm's in my GN and several sudden failures that scared the hell out of me I wouldn't trust a PM as far as I could throw it. I have hear there is a new PM coming soon if its not out yet that is supposedly very dependable but Its quite expensive.

 

[Fast4Ward]

Been down this road more than once. The power master is telling you to remove it and replace with a vacuum or hydroboost system. If you are set on keeping it then your either loosing fluid or the accumulator may be shot . After replacing 3 pm's in my GN and several sudden failures that scared the hell out of me I wouldn't trust a PM as far as I could throw it. I have hear there is a new PM coming soon if its not out yet that is supposedly very dependable but Its quite expensive.

x2. removed it and replaced with hydroboost with all parts from rockauto. very effective....brake boost even at rolling speed fun...holds hard right at the stab.

 

[TexasT]

X3 on my hydroboost swap. After two powermasters I had enough. Loving the braking with the new setup.

 

[85supreme]

After reading a little bit about both conversion options, I think I'm going to go with a vacuum setup. My car is almost completely stock and is going to remain that way for at least a few more years. Taking that into account, I'm going for whats going to be most reliable and the cheapest. I can get a vacuum booster and master cylinder from auto zone for $150 and I already have a couple vacuum pedals which I can pull from other cars since that will probably be easier than modifying the PM pedal.

I know people complain about not being able to hold boost with a vacuum setup, but I've had my GN for two years and still haven't attempted to hold boost on the line like that.

Thanks for your help guys. Kind of happy to get rid of the PM. I already had brake fluid leaking from the switch and luckily had a spare PM lying around. I just dont want to trust that system anymore.

 

[gsgnnut]

you wont regret it.