Another Reatta brake glitch

This is a letter that I sent to Barney Eaton today. <P>Hi Barney,<BR>I flew to Salt Lake City yesterday and bought that 88 Reatta Coupe. It has the suede/leather seats. <BR>That suede part is questionable. The color is already worn through on part of the drivers seat and <BR>generally looks dull compared to the all leather seats in my wife's 90. I'm not sure what I'll do with <BR>them. I may even have them replaced with all leather seats, though I know that will be punishing to <BR>the wallet. I'm going to talk to a leather repair specialist before I decide. Any thoughts on this <BR>would be appreciated. <P>It was a 700 mile drive back and the brakes failed at about 600 miles. Hard (though not rock hard) <BR>pedal and both warning lights. Oddly the warning lights only came on during the brake pedal push <BR>and went off by the time I came off the pedal. During the braking I could feel some vibration in the <BR>pedal (probably the pump coming on) though I had the radio so loud that I couldn't hear any noise <BR>coming from under the hood. Similar to the failure in my wife's car, but hers didn't show any lights.<BR>I think it's the switch. I'm even more convinced now than the last time this happened with my wife's <BR>car. I think what happened is the brake pressure bled down to where the pump start portion of the <BR>switch should have turned on the pump, but it didn't. Pressing the pedal down caused a sudden loss <BR>of pressure which shocked the switch into making contact and kicked on the pump and lights. <BR>Then the pump built up pressure and the lights went off again. All during one pedal push. The <BR>brakes were normal again for the last hundred miles. I think I'll replace the switch, accumulator and <BR>relays though, just to be more confident. <BR>I had some wide road and little traffic so I tried a bit of a brake test myself by getting the car up to <BR>70 and stomping on the brakes. The car practically stood on it's nose, with no pull to the side or <BR>warning lights. The car has new tires and the road surface was also new and dry, so I didn't get the <BR>anti lock to kick in, but the braking ability was impressive. I'll try more tests, on a parking lot after <BR>we get some rain, to check the anti lock system. <P>Regards,<BR>John Friese<P>Car details:<P>VIN #: 1G4EC11C0JB902404 <BR>1988 Maroon/Burgundy coupe<BR>16 way seat.<BR>18205 miles <P>P.S. I'll post this letter to the BCA for their comments too.<p>[This message has been edited by jfriese (edited 12-15-2000).]

This is reply to the brakes problem. I own an 89 Reatta with a KKK supercharged 3.8 I had that problem with the brakes as well. I took it into my Father in laws Brake and Alignment shop. The only way we solved the problem it by removing about 4 ounces of brake fluid from the canaster. It reduces the level about 3/8s of an inch from the fill line. I've never had the problem again!<BR>Hope that helps

I find that my 89 never goes into anti-lock mode during regular braking. Even stomping hard on the brake pedal at speed on a dry road will produce straight, short stops just short of fantastic. <P>However, when on a gravel road, stomping on the pedal at 10 MPH produces a cycling of about 4 times a second on the brake pedal, showing the ABS is operating.<P>I feel a sane driver anticipating stops and leaving a safe following distance will never need ABS. But if some jerk cuts in front of you and stops quickly on a rainy, icy, or snow covered road, ABS could prove beneficial.

If you need to add or remove brake fluid the accumulator must be discharged first or the level will be way too high.<P>------------------<BR>Hal, btk@vbe.com

To Korricharged 3.8,<BR>These brake problems are VERY intermittant and I don't think that fluid drain really was the answer. You just haven't experienced it since then. <P>John

I just thought that I would let you know that I've owned that car for a little over two years now. I haven't had the problem for about 13-14 months.