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Need Power Brake Booster, or should I convert?


Guest VegasTC

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I have a 1990 V6 TC. The brakes don't work and a mechanic told me it was the power brake booster. I have not been able to find one for sale. I saw someone used an '89 booster from an '89 LeBaron to replace their TC booster.

I looked at old threads and saw references to changing the ABS system. Is that something a regular mechanic can do for me?

I hate to keep pouring money into my car, but.......

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

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I have a 1990 V6 TC. The brakes don't work and a mechanic told me it was the power brake booster. I have not been able to find one for sale. I saw someone used an '89 booster from an '89 LeBaron to replace their TC booster.

I looked at old threads and saw references to changing the ABS system. Is that something a regular mechanic can do for me?

I hate to keep pouring money into my car, but.......

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Well, since I am the one who posted that 'swap' I would say that if you plan to keep the car for some time, you may want to consider the swap. I have the car that this was done on and the link at the end of this will get you to the TC section of Allpar where it is posted. There are those who advise against such a modification for legal and insurance reasons, they say.

Since I am well older than "Politically Correct Speech" I pay no attention to this since 'This is still a free country and freedom of speech is still in vogue.'

If you live in the 'Vegas area, you might want to see the conversion yourself. I will be at the 'Vegas TC America meet in Bolder City, NV on the 4th of October.

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I have a 1990 V6 TC. The brakes don't work and a mechanic told me it was the power brake booster. I have not been able to find one for sale. I saw someone used an '89 booster from an '89 LeBaron to replace their TC booster.

I looked at old threads and saw references to changing the ABS system. Is that something a regular mechanic can do for me?

I hate to keep pouring money into my car, but.......

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Before you spend a lot of money or time converting take a look for something really simple, http://forums.aaca.org/f144/new-slant-old-brake-problem-378034.html I did a post about a month ago when I found a wire harness problem on my 90 that another member found on his 90 and finding one is worth mentioning, two in a week and it's worth considering as possible cause when troubleshooting all brake pump problems.

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I have a 1990 V6 TC. The brakes don't work and a mechanic told me it was the power brake booster. I have not been able to find one for sale. I saw someone used an '89 booster from an '89 LeBaron to replace their TC booster.

I looked at old threads and saw references to changing the ABS system. Is that something a regular mechanic can do for me?

I hate to keep pouring money into my car, but.......

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

There is one on Ebay for $500.

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Before you spend a lot of money or time converting take a look for something really simple, http://forums.aaca.org/f144/new-slant-old-brake-problem-378034.html I did a post about a month ago when I found a wire harness problem on my 90 that another member found on his 90 and finding one is worth mentioning, two in a week and it's worth considering as possible cause when troubleshooting all brake pump problems.

Thanks, Digger, I will check that out! Much appreciated!

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There is one on Ebay for $500.

I appreciate you finding that, Bob. Normally, google picks up Ebay stuff at the top of their list. My search must not have been very good.

Take care,

Jim

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Ebay is good for a lot of things, but it's not the place to buy a used TC brake pump. http://car-part.com/ Like the accumulator which is available new at a respectable price with a Delco part number, the brake booster, or pump, whichever you prefer fit multiple vehicles and though the TC price is brutal, the same part used with the Jaguar part number is quite reasonable and readily available.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I have a 1990 V6 TC. The brakes don't work and a mechanic told me it was the power brake booster. I have not been able to find one for sale. I saw someone used an '89 booster from an '89 LeBaron to replace their TC booster.

I looked at old threads and saw references to changing the ABS system. Is that something a regular mechanic can do for me?

I hate to keep pouring money into my car, but.......

Thanks, any advice is greatly appreciated.

I had the same issue with intermittent brakes. That is a bit of a scare when suddenly the pedal is hard and you have little stopping power. I took mine to several shops and they said I needed a booster. I bought one from TC Parts a while back and it works great. However, after checking a bit I found the loose relay connector and fixed it so it would not come loose. Lots of problems solved by doing so. My yellow light (ABS) is on all of the time. I just decided to live with it. However, after reading the info in the link posted I am now wondering if that is just a loose connector or bad relay. I will check that out.

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I had the same issue with intermittent brakes. That is a bit of a scare when suddenly the pedal is hard and you have little stopping power. I took mine to several shops and they said I needed a booster. I bought one from TC Parts a while back and it works great. However, after checking a bit I found the loose relay connector and fixed it so it would not come loose. Lots of problems solved by doing so. My yellow light (ABS) is on all of the time. I just decided to live with it. However, after reading the info in the link posted I am now wondering if that is just a loose connector or bad relay. I will check that out.

We don't know if VegasTC found the same loose wire connect, as we haven't heard back; but I can point you to yellow light find and fix.

First turn key to on, listen to pump motor as you watch your brake lights, if pump runs for another second after the red light goes out your pressure switch is probably good and it's time to clean all relay contacts, they are 25 years old and it's easy to do.

Relays are cheap, so it's your choice to replace if cleaning doesn't solve problem, or look deeper into most likely cause.

If that doesn't solve problem check the wheel connections, wheel sensors are the most common problem for all ABS faults. If you have a volt meter use lowest amp setting and test wheel sensors while checking connectors by attaching probes to senor side and spinning wheel by hand, if you can spin the wheels at about the same speed they should all read about the same, any reading is good, no reading is bad.

If your pump shuts off like it should and your wheel sensors test good, do the best visual check of wire harness you can before pulling passenger side trim panel and getting out the wire harness diagram, because at this point it might be a re-seat of the ABS controller plug, it could be relay, pressure switch, wire harness, or it could be the ABS control module. If you do reach this point and you want your ABS to work, best to pick up a good used module as finding the tool to test the ABS could be near impossible and will most likely cost more than replacing a controller with a good used controller to eliminate the controller as the cause of your problem.

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