Hey everyone, I have a dilemma here. I'm looking at getting myself a pretty mint 90 GTA. Only has about 60k on her. problem is, the seller is a widow and the car belonged to her husband who passed away. The car has been sitting for about 4 years now so I know I'll have to work out some gremlins, but what I'm concerned about are the brakes. As far as she can tell, the brake fluid hasn't been changed in almost 7 years now since the car hasn't been driven in the 4 years its been sitting. The car starts up just fine and she seems to have some braking power, but I want to get her to my mechanic's shop which is about 20 miles away from me. Will she be able to make it to the shop or would it be advisable to just go ahead and take it to a closer shop to have the brakes bled? The reason why i want to take it to my mechanic is because he has experience in F-Bodies and I was going to have everything gone through with him. Thanks.

 

The fluid should be fine. The drums and/or rotors might be rusted though, so you might want to be careful for the first while until they get scoured clean.

 

I've been working on getting my 92 back on the road after sitting for about the same amount of time. My brakes will stop the car, but its scary. The rears are drum, and seem to be fine. Fronts are toast, rotors rusted and pitted so bad there's next to no contact area for the pads.
I'd say the fluid is probably ok, but I'd be worried about the hardware. I know I wouldn't dare make a 20 mile trip on mine in their current condition, which may be worse than yours, don't know.
If it were me, I'd have it towed or trailer it to your buddy's shop.
Dave

 

I checked out the brakes, they seem to be fine. The rotors are in amazing shape for having sat so long. No rust or pits on them at all... They're still as shiny as my 05 Maxima. The car was kept in a garage the whole time so it's pretty much in great shape physically. Well, one way to find out. I'm going to take her out for an extended test drive tomorrow.

 

hmm i bought my ta after it sat for atleast 3 years (car was maybe started once a month) and now that u mention it my brakes are kinda scary.. they stop me but they only seem to 'grab' after i depress the pedal half way..and the pedal seems kinda stiff..