Advice on Powermaster

[mjkoob4461]

I have a 87 GN with 15k original miles on it. I just started to experience some issues with the awesome PowerMaster!! Out with Wife and 3 month old child I lose my brakes completely! Scared the absolute crap out of me not for me but for my newborn and wife.. luckily I was .5 miles from home and pulled into garage, covered it and that is where it has been for 3 months. Now I need to get these working again but I am hesitant to put any money into a flawed braking system. So the question I am posing is whether or not to convert to Vacuum system and put all those parts in a box for the next owner OR invest the cash and throw it into a flawed system that will I am certain fail again.

Any thoughts?? Hurt Resale?? I have thought long and hard about this resale thing and my conclusion is always the same, Car needs to stop at some point and my family needs to be safe.

[Keller]

Here's my view. Granted, I'm strictly guessing here. Take it as you wish...

You have a 21+ year old car in prime condition, but have likely never spent a dime on its brakes. Chances are 98+% that the accumulator is in need of replacement. Its a pressurized nitrogen bulb, and it leaks over time. Well, chances are its time is up. If you go through the diagnostics that we have on the site, it will help you insure that is really it.

My opinion: With a car in such primo condition, your brakes are probably otherwise fine. As long as your pressure switch on top of the Powermaster was changed under the recall (should be grey body, NOT black), I'd bet an accumulator will put your brakes back at 100%. If this were my car, I would change out the accumulator (if indicated), and flush out the old brake fluid with new as well. Its worth doing every 20 years or so. :winkgrin:

Have a look at the diagnostic tree and see what it tells you. If it is the accumulator, contact Kirban or another TR vendor to get a new one. Its an easy and simple replacement. (Pump the pedal to depressurize the system first!)

Don't panic yet! Things are likely not nearly as bad as you suspect.

I still have a Powermaster, and I think they are much more maligned then they should be.