Hard Brakes; Hard stop;

[Guest jackvtte]

I have a '90 Reatta with ~130K miles that just 'lost' its brakes outside the turn to my condo. Lucky! I guess. The brakes became mechanical, at best and I was fortunate not to be in situation where I needed to stop. I understand that troubleshooting the cause is complex. I have read the discussion on 'brakes' in Reatta.net. I didn't run the standard 'test' because of a couple reasons: 1: The red brake light was always illuminated since I bought it in '02; neither lights went off; the motor ran for about a minute on the 1st and 2nd try (over 5 minutes on the 3rd try; it sounded like a rattle and weak when I tested it a third time - fact is, I had to tap it to get it going. Wondered if it was getting proper voltage? The ABS light stayed on. I expect I'll check the relays first, but I suspect the pump motor is bad. I would appreciate any discussion; I remember having problems several years ago with the accumulator on a '89. Thanks for your help.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

Don't spent any money yet, but I'm thinking that your pressure switch is bad. It would make the pump run for the 5+ minutes. It may have kept the pump running and burned it up.

You can swap the ABS relay (I forgot which it is, one of the three on the firewall) with either of the other two to test it quick. NAPA is a good place for a replacement (the ones from Advance look awful). Trying the relay won't hurt anything.

Voltage at the pump should be 12V. If you don't have one, pick one up cheap (we have a Harbor Freight tools store and I got one for $4. Been working fine for over a year).

But please don't drive these cars with any of the brake lights on.

[manikmekanik]

...Especilly if the RED brake warning light is on!!! DO NOT DRIVE ANY CAR IN THIS SITUATION!