mfewtrail Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Brake Rating - Good Have you driven a powermaster3 equipped car? My brakes are pretty good on the TGP...a shitload better then the ones on my 93 SE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
93CutlassSupreme Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Brake Rating - Good Have you driven a powermaster3 equipped car? My brakes are pretty good on the TGP...a shitload better then the ones on my 93 SE. no, i haven't. i forgot TGP's had that system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 When the brakes are working properly, a TGP can stop pretty damn quick. My dad almost hit a deer the other day because jumped out right in front of him, he mashed the brake and the car stopped...it amazed the shit out of both of us. Neither of us thought there was any way the car was gonna stop. If you really get on the brakes hard they stop. My STE on the other hand, since it needs a new accumulator and new RR caliper and some other things, doesn't stop very fast. My dad said his TGP probably has better brakes then his GTP does though. (although his GTP kind of has crappy brakes since he converted to the Grand Am brakes because they were significantly lighter, i think it saved him 7lbs. per wheel.) Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1kicker Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Yes, when the PM3 is working properly, it is a good system. Problem is it's old and complicated, and expensive. I think my car is fun to drive, it's got a lot of nice options like the HUD that other cars don't. Plus with the K&N, the turbo sound is just sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digitaloutsider Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Nitrogen actuators.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Nitrogen actuators.. Yep you got that right we actually have a nitrogen charged accumulator 8) Good to see people realizing the brakes are not that bad after all, like any part in this car and any 15 year old car, how has it been maintained? As an example I have seen many radiators nearly plugged and no water flow or cooling ability, same for other parts, they just need some care like any car, and this is not just any car at least to us owners 8) The ABS needs an accumulator about every 4 to 6 years depending on miles, $100, same with the Grand National/Regal/T-Types that also have an accumulator though when theirs goes bad you don’t have panic braking ability, that blows our problems away!!! Like flushing a radiator I seldom hear of someone flushing their brake system, this gets rid of moisture and the rusting it can cause but it also gets rid of the metal contaminants in the ABS unit mainly from the pump running (most times too often from owner not replacing a known bad accumulator having the pump cycling all the time ), this metal wears the seal in the main ABS unit and causes internal leaking. So, go ahead and don’t do any maintenance to a car but don’t come complaining here, sympathy might be hard to get 8) . Jeff M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 The ABS needs an accumulator about every 4 to 6 years depending on miles, $100, same with the Grand National/Regal/T-Types that also have an accumulator though when theirs goes bad you don’t have panic braking ability, that blows our problems away!!! The accumulator is only $100. Where can i get one for $100. With my 40% discount its still like $180 at the dealer IIRC. If I stand on the brakes in my STE the pedal goes to the floor...I think the accumulator can't give it enough fluid (it cyles every second at a stoplight) or something because there aren't any leaks that I can find in the system, and it isn't ever low on fluid. In normal driving the pedal feels like it should, and the car stops ok, but when you step on the brakes more than halfway it doesn't seem like its stopping much better, but the pedal will keep going down. I've had WAY too many close calls because of this. Its getting a new accumulator and right rear brake caliper soon, hopefully that fixes my problems. I don't have my ABS fuse in (the dash light flashes and this causes my DIC to constantly beep, so if i pull the fuse the light comes on instead of flashing and the DIC doesn't beep at me so much) and I can't even come close to locking up the tires on dry pavement. How tough is an accumulator install exactly. I know I've read about it before, but don't remember where. Any links on how to install one? Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1kicker Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 Accumulator install is not bad. I put the Prior one on, that is the $100 one. Bad thing about that is the nut is on the back, not the front. So I had to use a 1" wrench from the pass side once the accumulator was on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareGMFan Posted December 4, 2004 Report Share Posted December 4, 2004 If I stand on the brakes in my STE the pedal goes to the floor...I think the accumulator can't give it enough fluid (it cyles every second at a stoplight) or something because there aren't any leaks that I can find in the system, and it isn't ever low on fluid. In normal driving the pedal feels like it should, and the car stops ok, but when you step on the brakes more than halfway it doesn't seem like its stopping much better, but the pedal will keep going down. I've had WAY too many close calls because of this. Its getting a new accumulator and right rear brake caliper soon, hopefully that fixes my problems. I don't have my ABS fuse in (the dash light flashes and this causes my DIC to constantly beep, so if i pull the fuse the light comes on instead of flashing and the DIC doesn't beep at me so much) and I can't even come close to locking up the tires on dry pavement. That is EXACTLY what my TSTE is doing. As I've driven it on and off for a year, the intervals that the pump goes off has grown closer and closer, to the point now that it's almost every half second. Sometimes, the pressure just goes out all together, and the brake light comes on, and the pedal gets extremely stiff (no power brakes). It scared the crap out of me the first time, but I can still bring the car to a stop fairly well (working out DOES pay off!!), but the part that has causes a close call a few times is when the brakes work, then go out in the middle of one braking sequence (so that I'm not preparred for how hard I need to press the pedal), or the other way around. The brake light is on, the power brakes are out, but I step on the pedal for a semi-panick stop, and suddenly the pressure comes back, and brings the car to a screaching hault, while my face is going for the windshield. :shock: I've gotten pretty good at reacting quickly to either situation, though. I'm going to try swapping the accumulator from the red TGP to make sure that's the sole problem. If so, hello new Prior accumulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbtk2 Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Got a link for the prior accumulator??? Also a link for accumulator install instructions??? I'm gonna need two of them because the TGP coupe is getting pretty bad too. Had that car 2 years and about 28k and I think its about time for a new one. Its about at the point my STE was when I bought it 10k ago. The brake light comes on occasionally. In my STE the light comes on every time the accumulator cycles. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Kinda went off topic but more than a good enough topic to be split, so its split, maybe will help someone a few months down the road looking/searching for the same help! As for a link to Prior, something like priorreman: http://www.priorreman.com/ They do not list the accum there but a call and a credit card will take care of that! As for replacement, since the Prior one has this nut on the back side, good idea to tilt the engine forward (and maybe check/clean/re-gap/replace the rear plugs at this opportunity!) to get better clearance on installing this new accum. Make sure to push the brake pedal down 10 or 30 times or more until you get a hard brake pedal feel. Back in the engine bay, pop off the brake lid cover by lifting up on 2 tabs of one side, then 2 tabs from the other side, make sure the brake fluid level is full and if you don't know where the "Full" mark is just look at the inside of the reservoir that faces the passenger side of the engine bay, there is a horizontal fat "L" shaped piece of that plastic that sticks out. Now you need to remove the ABS Heat Shield, two 10 mm screws and then slide the shield out the front. Next just loosen the old accumulator, it has an O-Ring that will keep it from leaking until you take it off, just don’t take it off yet. Get the proper wrench and new accumulator in the area where you are going to be working, have the new accumulator ready in your other hand or within quick reach, unscrew with one hand the old accumulator and when it gets near the end of its threads, yank on it to get it out (O-Ring will be holding it on last), then as soon as the old one is off get the new one on right away. What we are trying to do here is limit the amount of brake fluid that will leak out when the accumulators are off! Once you have the new accumulator threads fully seated by hand, tighten with your wrench and remember, you have an O-Ring that will seal, no need to wrench the shit out of it! Now, hop in the car and sit down, hit the brake pedal with your foot hard 5 times, turn the ignition key to on and let the pump motor run until it shuts off (this will take a while the first time). Once the pump motor shuts off turn off the ignition key, then hit the brake pedal hard 5 times, turn on the ignition and wait for the pump motor to stop running (will be much faster this time in shutting off), repeat this 5 times. What this does is dislodge the air bubbles that were introduced when the accumulators were swapped, and guess what, that is all there is to bleeding after an accumulator swap out!! 8) (don't forget to put the ABS Shield back on). Jeff M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareGMFan Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 You don't need to let the air out somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 You don't need to let the air out somehow? That is done where I said the bashing of the brake pedal dislodges the air bubbles, that just float to the top of the reservoir 8) . Jeff M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RareGMFan Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 You don't need to let the air out somehow? That is done where I said the bashing of the brake pedal dislodges the air bubbles, that just float to the top of the reservoir 8) . Jeff M Ahhh, gotcha'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff M Posted December 5, 2004 Report Share Posted December 5, 2004 Now, you all know I keep making the point that if the previous owners of your cars were to have done some maintenance such as rad flush, fixed some leaking vacuum lines, replaced a few spark plugs once in a while, even a brake fluid flush and such things you current owners would not be having as many problems, but when you guys have accumulators that are so bad the pump motor is almost running constant/no brakes at times, you're not much better than the previous owner and are as well the cause of many of the problems you hate happens to your cars :? . Ok I am done whacking you , but I will commend you on admitting the situations 8) I just hope you do get these problems fixed for your sake! And when it comes time to sell some day, at least you won’t have to list on eBay “brakes need work†. Jeff M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
god910 Posted December 6, 2004 Report Share Posted December 6, 2004 Vacuum brakes here, and I love them. But I've never driven a TGP w/ a PROPERLY functioning ABS system. Sunshine's brakes are fine, but the accumulator is on it's way out. But I LOVE the vacuum brakes in Testbed. My cutty (w/ new rear calipers) has a hard time locking up the brakes in the rain , so it does get worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.