Brakes went out, almost wrecked

D

DaveyX87

Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
I took my car for ride into the city yesterday and when I exited the freeway my brakes failed. I had to stand on the pedal to slow the car down and not wreck on the offramp. Luckily I was able to pull over in a safe place and call a flatbed. There seems to be fluid coming out around the master cylinder somewhere. I don't know exactly what is wrong. I don't know much about brakes on these cars. I want to fix this as soon as possible. Is it common to have brake issues on these cars? I have seen others convert their brakes to vacuum so I am guessing these systems are problematic.
 
Brake trouble is common. With these systems you gotta fix problems before they get bad as in your case.

Do a search and there's a whole diagnostic thread that will help you fix it.

Glad you and your car ok! [emoji106]

sent from deep within a tomato field
 
Issues are common, the systems do not age well, and they are quite technical and expensive to repair compared to vacuum.
 
I was determined to stick with the Powermaster until I had an incident similar to yours now I convert every Turbo Buick I have over to vacuum brakes. Some swap over to Hydorboost brake systems and there are some benfits to Hydroboost but vacuum brake systems are inexpensive, reasonbly easy to install and are very dependable.
 
Do not be tempted to repair the PM. It will only last for a certain period of time and then some other part will fail. When it does it might not turn out as well as it did this time. Invest in vacuum or hydroboost.
 
X2 do not fix a powermaster. Do a vacuum conversion it Will be much more reliable and no more soiled shorts. It also will be at least 1/4 or less the cost of. A power disaster.
 
I blew through a stop sign once when my PM blew a fuse. I run hydroboost now. Hydroboost is nice, although, if you lose your engine, you lose your brakes, but if you can turn the starter over you get enough pressure to stop easily. I say hydroboost with an accumulator is the way to go.
 
That's the really bad thing about the powermaster,it will stop working without any signs of it going to do so.

Upgrade to vacuum brakes and never worry about the brakes failing again.
 
Same here almost crashed when my powermaster failed and my pedal was rock hard had to go off the road with my kids in the car to avoid rear ending the guy in front of me. That night i ordered the vacuum conversion from kirbans. Havent had a problem scince and i know i will stop
 
Yeah, I am going to either go vacuum or hydro. I want to know a little more about the hydro systems. Kirban sells two different hydro kits.
 
 
Last edited:
The exact same thing happened to me on Sunday. Absolutely no warning, and no brakes. Thank goodness for the parking brake. I just bought all of the parts to convert it to hydroboost like the 84-85's for $250.
 
Hydroboost all the way, it's the cheaper route and better in my opinion.
 
Hydro boost isn't all what it is cracked up to be I had a unit go out and you loose brakes AND steering!
No thanks.
 
87GNSteve said:
Hydro boost isn't all what it is cracked up to be I had a unit go out and you loose brakes AND steering!
No thanks.
Click to expand...

Only if you have a power steering pump failure.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk.
 
TurboDave said:
Only if you have a power steering pump failure.


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk.
Click to expand...
I had a failure with the unit itself, sprayed my hood liner with power steering fluid and was a tow truck only disability.
 
Was this an 84 gn with factory HB? Or was it off an Astro Van? Or Kirban's? Or Hydratech? Did the hose blow off? Did it have an accumulator and if so why didn't it work? Sorry for all the questions.
 
It was an 85 Ttype 17K miles on the clock. I wasn't very well versed in the units back then, but fluid was spraying from where the two housings came together.
I had to have the unit replaced.
 
Hopefully the newer versions are a bit more reliable. So far no problems with my Hydratech. I probably have 15-20k miles on it.
 
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