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New member to the forum and new owner of a trans am
Was fortunate enough two weeks ago to be able to rescue a 87 Trans Am , pic below. Car has 36,xxx miles on it and is bone stock and not a spot of rust. Really in great shape with the exception that it has been sitting in previous owner driveway for 6 years and is beyond filthy. Even has oem gatorbacks on all (4) corners with about 50% tread. The previous owner and only owner since new neglected the car in the worst way possible the last 6 years. Car had not moved an inch in that time. prior to that she was garaged all of her life. My future plans are to keep this car bone stock. I know its not the fanciest of the models and certainly not fast . I didnt buy it as a speed burner , it will be a cruiser that keeps running.
unfortunately i do have a list of mechanical issue to address 1 by 1 but the first one is kicking my *** and was hoping to get some help from the collective wisdom here.
When i got the car it would barely move . It was clear the front brakes were locked . in order to get it into the garage i had to jack the car up where the tow truck dumped it and remove a pad from each of the front caliper. Needless to say the car barley stopped at that point but my assumption it was caused by missing pads .
This afternoon i replaced , all front rotors , calipers and pads. my hope was this would instantly fix the brakes enough to at least let me move the car around to do servicing etc. Unfortunatley it did not , something else is wrong.
Here is a list of observations and trouble shooting i did , hoping 1 of this will trigger an idea from you guys on what may need to be replaced
1. brake pedal extremely hard , will not move much more than a appx. 1/4 inch any time it is pressed . car running or not
2. when brake pedal is pressed the 1/4 inch , a whooshing sound like air release is heard by the brake pedal ( in the cabin under the dash)
3. when the calipers were removed , No fluid leaked out
4. when i tried to bleed fluid through the front calipers , no fluid would come out
5. removed brake line at new caliper after unsuccessfully bleeding and no fluid would drip or push out.
6. when cover on master cylinder reservoir is removed , and brake pedal is pressed , fluid shoots out the top like old faithfull. ( this only happened once as it was enough to make me realize not to do that again)
7. removed vac line at booster, had tons of vacuum . could have sucked my pinky in if i let it
8. removed check valve , allowed air to go one way and not the other
9, when the check valve was reinstalled to the booster and blown threw, it would not allow air in either direction
This car needs a ton of love and deserves to be rescued. being unable to move the car is really making it difficult.
I am happy to replace any part needed but with so many areas of attention i need to be carefull to not start throwing parts at it. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks,
Car
" named Lee " 1987 Trans Am 5.0 carburetor , disc up front, drums in rear .
If rubber brake HOSES don't fix it, I'd then replace the master cyl & brake booster. Often, you can get a reman assembly, containing both. The "whooshing sound" is my concern. A little is OK, too much, failed booster. I can't hear it from here.
If rubber brake HOSES don't fix it, I'd then replace the master cyl & brake booster. Often, you can get a reman assembly, containing both. The "whooshing sound" is my concern. A little is OK, too much, failed booster. I can't hear it from here.
yea the whooshing sound is loud. i have a BOV on my 2003 6.0 excursion and it is nearly as loud . seems that way anyways .
I ordered new hoses and pick them up tommorow am . This evening i am going to remove the rubber hose on (1) side. If it was a collapsed hose i would imagine the fluid would trickle out at that point. I hope it does becuase a couple hoses is far simpler than the booster
So a big thank you to 3rdgenzroc and 88ta, replaced both front rubber lines and instantly the calipers worked . I knew i was heading in the right direction when i cracked the fitting at the metal line coupler and fluid instantly started leaking out.
I will admit i had never heard of collapsed lines before and the solution seemed to good to be true,but know to trust the wisdom of the forums.
Thanks again ,made my day
Now that i can move and stop the car its on to the next task , getting six year old fuel out and down to a station to fill up with fresh fuel
THANK YOU, OP, for posting a solution! Every forum is filled w/ threads, where the OP, after receiving lot of responses, never advises the outcome. Depletes the knowledge base, for all.
Even if it's "Towed the wreck to Pick-N-Pull", please advise outcome.
Your welcome. Here’s my 88 trans am
good luck with the car. I wouldn’t be surprised if your water pump starts leaking from a the weep hole from sitting so long after you start driving around.
05-23-2019, 02:08 AM
