Well, I installed the "82-88 GM recall kit" this weekend! Man, what a job. I can't believe how rusted up and dirty everything was back there- I put that '84 3.73/posi/disc rear axle on my Firebird about a year and a half ago; I didn't expect all that rust.

[edit] Oh, by the way- the recall kit for the 82-88 rear disc brakes is GM part # 18019028. Thanks, Apeiron!!! One thing to note- the kit does NOT come with the copper crush washers for the brake lines; make sure to pick these up before you take your brakes apart. I had to hitch a ride to a GM dealer; Pep Boys had every crush washer but the size I needed. I got it thru http://www.gmpartsdirect.com , and I think it was only $35.

The recall kit was straightforward. It came with 2 pistons, 2 new caliper return springs, 2 caliper rebuild kits, and (the shocker) 2 brake-pad-to-piston clips! I paid $8/clip a year and a half ago.. what a shame. The installation was straightforward; a basic rear caliper rebuild, except substituting the new parts for the old.

As usual, I had to remove the passenger rear lower control arm to axle bolt & nut to get the lower caliper bolt out. That was the only pain in the butt. When I put the calipers back on, I swung the parking brake lever back & forth until the pads were against the rotor. I hooked it all up...

Then, I used my brand new V12 Phoenix Injector (with Smart Pak) kit to bleed the rear brakes. Man, what a great tool that is! http://www.brakebleeder.com It comes with a "Universal Port Adapter (UPA)" that you put on the tool, and you pressurize the master cylinder directly. All I had to do was siphon out (using the tool) the old fluid from the secondary side of the master cylinder, fill it with a bit of new brake fluid, crack a bleed screw and attach a tube to a collection bottle, and used the Phoenix Injector on the master cylinder. It took a few pumps to fill up the caliper with fluid. After fluid came out of the caliper bleed screw (and the tube I attached) and into my collection bottle, I just shut the bleeder screw, and moved onto the other caliper. It was so easy! I can't believe I ever messed around with "press the brake pedal, open the bleed screw, close the bleed screw, let up on the pedal, repeat until annoyed" method. I highly recommend this tool- great buy!! It even comes with adapters to suck brake fluid out of a store-bought bottle... beautiful!

After that, I went for a test drive: Hot Damn! The car never stopped better in it's life! I don't get the soft pedal or BRAKE warning light anymore! (I had to double-pump the brakes to stop the car!) When I have more time (and it's warmer out), I'll re-bleed the master cylinder, and the whole system again.

Any questions, feel free to ask!!

 

How much did you pay for that bleeder tool?

 

not Tom, but the bleeder tool is about a hundred bux. Well worth it.

Just an FYI - I have a complete 'recall' rebuild kit for sale. Brand new in the GM packaging, including the crush washers. Drop me an email if anyone is interested.

 

how much?????????

 

I bought newly rebuilt calipers last year from a local parts store, anyone have any idea if they would have been rebuilt with the newer components?

I have the pre 88 calipers, these brakes have also been a nightmare.
Geez...what i wouldnt give for a firm pedal

 

farm kid... more than likely they have been rebuilt with the proper upgrade.

& the bleeder tool is about 100 bux

 

Actually, farmkid, when I put the axle in, I rebuilt one caliper myself, but the other one was too rusted up, so I replaced it with a newly rebuilt (as of 2000) parts store caliper.

The one I rebuilt was braking; the store-bought one wasn't. I bet the owner of the junkyard car had the recall work done, and that was why my one rebuilt caliper worked. The caliper I bought (thru Pep Boys, for $65) must've had the old pistons.

Oh- something else- the recall'd pistons did NOT have the silicone two-way check valve in the center of the piston. The piston in the old caliper and the Pep Boys one both had the two-way check valves. I wonder if that's a clue as to if recall work has been done. Even my GM shop manual shows the pistons as having that 2-way check valve. The valve is in the center of each caliper piston, and faces the brake pads. I could not find out what it's for, tho.

And yeah, the V12 ran me $125. I went from wanting the V12-DIY for $40, to the V12 with 10-pak, to the V12 with Smart-pak- and then I wound up buying the V12/Smart-Pak with Red case. I couldn't resist.

I got the chance (unluckily) to do a panic stop yesterday- wow, it was beautiful. I'm actually having more fun braking than accelerating lately!

 

alright, thanks guys
i'd hope they were rebuilt properly, as they cost me my left nut....about $200 canadian a piece


I'll have to take a look and see if they have the check valve next time i've got the wheels off

thanks for shedding some light on this

 

My bad pistons had no valves in them, so I'd say no.

 

Tom, do you have to buy two kits for the rear brakes or does one kit contain enough bits to do both calipers.

Ta.

 

One kit contains parts for both sides.

 

While we are at it can anyone recommend a parts place that has GM parts like this that will ship overseas. The one listed above (www.gmpartsdirect.com) doesn't.

 

I'm glad to see that these kits are still available, Tom!

May I make a note of it on my brake upgrade page?
I lost that kit number about nine years ago. Good call!

--Dan

 

Sure, no problem- but Apeiron's the one that actually found that; he got that GM part # for us a while ago!

I've actually kept the old pistons; just in case I need to ever replace a caliper, I can shove an old piston in there so they never get my recall-fixed ones. Hm; maybe I should order another kit?

 

Back to the top, for 87transam5.7tpi and others!

 

people don't like the '84 4wdisc brakes much..but they've always worked fine for me,after I replaced the rotors,bearings,M/C,booster vac hose,rebuilt calipers,all 4 hoses,carbon fiber* pads from autozone,and paid midas $20 to bleed the brakes..just to make sure and have legal proof that I've maintained my car. I'd like to get that phoenix bleeder though because I want to use the high-temp clear synthetic brake fluid and midas won't use that. I didn't know there was a recall on my brakes..,but I think I took care of it already .my brakes work exellent,sometimes I forget and almost hit my head on the steering wheel,well not really,but I could.....

 

Back to the Top, for anyone that's asking the same question...

 

I thought this kit was made to fix the parking brake. So, it also cures the lack of rear brakes with the pedal? I just spent $98 a piece for new "loaded" calipers, and with the car jacked up and wheels off, the brake pedal will barely keep the rotors from spinning. Do I have to rebuild these new calipers? I am trying to find a place to pressure bleed the system to make sure there is no air in the rear lines.

From the post above by TomP, it does not sound conclusive as to how to tell if rebuilds have the updated piston. TomP says the PepBoys caliper must not have had the updated pistons, but then he says it did have the two-way check valve. Puzzled here. I just hope I don't have to rebuild these new ones, when rebuilding the old ones would have worked...

I guess worst case, I can still rebuild the old ones with the GM kit and have them as spares. But still have to rebuild the new ones. Grrrr. I did see a post by ZZ28ZZ about adding washers to the proportioning valve. Maybe that is a cheaper/simpler fix for me? https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...016#post690016

Thanks,
Brent
'88 GTA

 

Back to the top, for those that need it. And to answer widetrak's question (which I never saw until now), YES, this recall kit fixes the "lack of rear brakes with the pedal". The deal is that the pistons don't self adjust with the wearing of the brake pads. So your pads actually sit away from the rotor. So when you pull up your E-brake, the pad does ratchet towards the rotor- but not enough to TOUCH the rotor.

You can verify that this happened in two ways:

1. Pull the back wheels off and look thru the top inspection hole in the caliper at your rotor's edge, between the two brake pads. The brake pads SHOULD be against the rotor. If not, you need the recall kit.

2. While you're driving, press in the brakes, release them quickly, and press the brakes in quickly again. What does this do? Well, your master cylinder feeds the rear brakes with fluid, to push the pads against the rotor. Because of the "gap", the pads can't touch the rotor. By releasing the brake pedal quickly and slamming the brake pedal down again, you don't give the pads enough time to "retract"- they stay "near" the rotor. Slamming the pedal down a second time forces more fluid to the rear calipers, which can now press the pads against the rotor.

Hope that provided more info for anyone doing a rear disc rebuild.

And the best way to pressure bleed the system is to pick up the tool I mentioned before. It saved me a Ton of headaches!! At one point when I was fighting my rear brakes, I tried making my own pressure bleeder. Woulda worked good, except the plexiglass plate I made to fit against the top of the master cylinder (to hold pressure) cracked in half- while I was at the back of the car. So I'm watching the rear bleeder screw, waiting and waiting for fluid to come out... nothing. Then I hear a drip noise over my stereo. I come to the front and find the whole liter of brake fluid has drained out onto the floor. %#(*!!!!

 

Wow, long time, no post! I am glad I had the email notification turned on!

I am pretty sure there is no gap between my new pads and new rotors (with the new calipers).

I do have a lot of runout that I think could be bent axles. The calipers slide and follow the "warp" and one bolt squeaks real bad. I tore the little rubber grommet when I installed the bolts...

Last weekend I picked up a complete (from end to end) 3.27 '89 rearend with all the PBR hardware. My buddy is begging me to just swap the entire thing. I am tempted to do that.

Swapping is not a super high priority right now, so I will likely tinker with the current brakes some more. I am not totally convinced my problem is not in the master cylinder. Like I said, I have no gap between the pads and rotors, but the rear still won't hold with the car on jack stands. At times I can almost feel the pulsation from the rear brakes and the runout, yet there is not enough pressure to hold the rotors still.

It seems like a pressure issue. I can't wait to have rear brakes again!

 

This will solve your problem, I garrantee it!
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hlight=p+v+mod

Edit:Chevyguy1969 has a great photo link of this mod.
http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...205049&page=10

 

Thanks for the links. I just saved them. When it warms up, I'll try it. I was going to do the "washer" trick several months ago, but I chickened out. I never could get the plug in with the extra spring force, and I did not want to strip out the threads in the PV!

 

I've seen this V12 phoenix bleeder mentioned here before. Maybe someone can tell me why this tool is worth $100 compared to the $25 vaccum pump bleeders at Autozone?

 

I used the vacuum bleeder from autozone to bleed my brakes...worked great for me! The only bad part is sometimes the clips from the autozone pump that clip to the bleeder screw don't make a great seal and you gotta put teflon on the bleeder screw threads, and also on the bleeder nipple so that pump doesn't suck in tiny air bubbles to confuse you that they might be air from the lines. Other wise it's top notch in my book, did wonders for a full brake flush and rebleed in a total of about an hour after I set up all the bleeders with teflon. Now my brake fluid is as clean as it is out of the bottle .

 

That's what I need one for. My fluid is completely black, and the 1LE doesn't stop so well anymore. I picked up the Hyperfirm lines from Earls and some EBC 'redstuff' pads. I should be able to get my rotors turned at the vocational school for a dollar w00t!

 

so does your emergency brake work now? I need to do this soon.. Thanks Kevin

 

The Phoenix Injector forces fluid thru the system, just like a dealer would, when they rig up the pressure bleeder to the master cylinder. The Mityvac just sucks fluid thru a bleeder screw. You can flip the Phoenix Injector around so it acts as a vacuum pump if you need to. Like I said, I bled my whole system easy as cake. The PI is shaped like a gun... on the front, you screw on an arrow-shaped piece of rubber called a port adapter. You attach a hose to the rear of the PI, and the other end of the hose goes thru a special cap, into a brand new, store-bought bottle of brake fluid.

Attach a hose to a bleeder fitting (with the usual "hose runs upward" via a clothespin, then "hose runs downward into a drain pan"- this keeps air bubbles from forming, because the "upward" run of the hose always has brake fluid in it. Crack the bleeder open.

Then you stick the phoenix injector into the master cylinder so the port adapter goes right into one of the master cylinder reservoir holes! Now, just pull the trigger on the PI... it sucks fluid out of the store-bought brake fluid bottle, and forces it thru the brake system- just like you were pumping the brake pedal, just like you were a GM mechanic with the $800 snap-on pressure bleeder.

When my 3.73/posi/disc axle, the one I labored for with the disk brakes, blew up the posi, I had to go to a junkyard axle with drums. I bled the drum axle OFF THE CAR! I put one of the cone adapters into the front of the PI, put a hose to the back, and the other end into a bottle of brake fluid. I cracked a bleeder open and put a hose on it. Then I stuck the PI (via the cone adapter) into the new body-to-axle brake hose that I connected to the axle. (I was injecting fluid thru the body end of the body-to-axle hose.) I worked the PI until clear, bubble-free fluid came out of the bleeder- then I closed the bleeder, and went to the other bleeder, and repeated.

I took the PI off, and with the brake hose pointing upward (so no fluid dripped out), I hooked the brake hose to my car's steel brake line. And voila', I had rear brakes.

I might sound like a sales rep, but I'm pretty damn thrilled with the bleeder tool. I went thru at least 6 or 8 bottles of brake fluid trying to get those rear discs to work- most of the effort was bleeding & re-bleeding and bleeding some more. To bleed a whole system as fast as I did with the Phoenix Injector was amazing.

You can even bench-bleed master cylinders with the thing. The video they included has a plexiglass GM master cylinder set up on a bench; and you can see how the air gets trapped. Cool stuff.

Widetrak, you might just need to bleed the system well. After putting the GM 82-88 rear disc recall kit in, and bleeding the system, my calipers worked like crazy. And I'm using a stock '84 prop valve.

 

i have the recall kit installed on my car, there was no difference from the hardware that was already in the caliper except that the new stuff was clean and uncoroded. the old rears were non functional, the adjusters were seized. the new kit is an improvement only because the parts are new ( work as good as the originals). your brakes work now because they are adjusted properly and the calper adjusters have the full amount of limited functionality they had when new. the e brake wil not stay adjusted, i have readjusted once in 6 or so months, and it is at the end of it's travel again. even when adjusted there is a minimal amount of friction created. if you had the brake light come on it wasn't because you had the crappy calipers its because they were out of adjustment. this will happen with any car, the exception being that most rear brake systems have some self adjusting capability. give it a few months and see how well they work. i bet your ebrake is worthless in 3-4 months, of course for me and my manual tranny the situation is exasperated.

 

Laiky, maybe there's something else wrong with yours, I've had the kit on my car for 2 years and the parking brake stays adjusted perfectly.

 

do you actually use it every day? I have never seen one of these systems work for very long. In my case its worse because not only do i have a manual tranny but a very steep driveway too.

 

Every day. I've put about 30,000 miles on it since then.

 

i am tempted to say you are very lucky. I don't under stand how it could go 2 years without adjustmant. i have never seen any rear brakes that do not need periodic adjustment. Is your car an auto of stick??

 

Automatic

 

Back to the top for those that need it...

And Laiky, sorry I didn't see your message sooner. The rear discs, when working as they should, will self-adjust. There's no need to adjust them every 6 months like you have to do. Maybe something's wrong?

The recall kit fixes the stuck actuator. The parking brake lever (on the caliper) gets pulled forward by the e-brake cable- and this presses the pad against the rotor (obviously). However, when you release the e-brake handle, and the parking brake lever (on the Caliper!) springs backward, the pads are only supposed to retract a very minimal amount- like, 1/16 of an inch.

The original actuators (pistons) will not ratchet the pads forward. When you first install the calipers, you're supposed to work the parking brake lever (again, on the caliper) back and forth until the pads touch the rotor. Then you bring the lever "back" to it's resting point. The malfunctioning actuator will not ratchet. You'll move the parking brake lever forward, and the pad will come forward. Then you'll move the lever backward, AND THE PAD WILL GO BACK!!! The pad is supposed to STAY PUT.

Your caliper mounting bolts and slide bushings might also be shot. The caliper slides along the mounting bolts to self-adjust itself, just like the front calipers do. If your caliper can't slide because the rubber bushings are gone and the caliper rusted to the bolts, you won't get any adjustment out of it- but I'd imagine that'd have to be an extreme case.

Another way to tell that you need the recall is to do what I did- start braking, then release the brake pedal quickly, and slam it down quickly again. The pad doesn't have a chance to retract that 1/4 inch away from the rotor, and your second press of the brake pedal will smash the pads against the rotor, stopping the car.

 

I understand how they work. All the hardware is new. What is aggrevating me is that the caliper parts i replaced were the same as the recall kit. i put them side by side. Granted the old parts were corroded, but i do not believe that the recall kit is any different than the original parts. Unless theres an odd chance that calipers i have were upgraded, i have changed them in the past with parts store rebuilds, but that was circa 90-92. I am planning on trying organic pads in the rear, i have VGX right now. i also want to dump the vgx in th efront for EBC's. Try to hold your car on an incline in neutral and see how well your e brake works. Even when tight mine sucks ( maybe VGX pads add to this). Next time i change pads i will try your adjusting method, i have tried it in the past but i never worked before, maybe with the newer internals it will.

 

Well, can't test my rear discs out anymore; a few months later, the posi blew out- I had swapped in an '84 rear, which used an Eaton Gov-lock locker instead of a posi.. although they were famous for blowing out, I figured I was safe because I had a v6- nope, it blew up anyway.

Did you order the pistons separately, or did you buy the recall kit? Weird... my recall kit pistons looked different than that '84's pistons, and even looked different than the piston in the Pep Boys caliper I bought (one side was too damn rusty to rebuild).

 

I got the recall kit. the 35 dollar one. i got the pn from this board. Shame that Gov lock gave out. My brothers 84 HO had one (over 100g hard miles before it let go) they worked great. i think it was the best handling limited slip i ever drove.

 

Stupid question here...is there some trick to getting the piston back in?

 

what is this gm recall all about?
and can you still do it, and more importantly, is it free?

 

I have both the Mity Vac and the V12 Phoenix and the V12 is better by far. One problem I did run into was someone replace the caliper bleeder screws with the AutoZone one way check valve bleeders. The V12 pushes fluid up to the master cylinder rather than sucking through the bleeder. With the one-way bleeders, it completely threw me. I couldn't push fluid through them until I converted back to stock ones.

 

My Earl's Solo-Bleeds cost less than $20 for all four corners.
I can't believe I am the only guy here using these! I have preached this before, I have them on every car I own.

With the car off the ground and the wheels removed already- I can bleed the entire system ALL BY MYSELF in under 10 mins/And they last! Dont buy the Russell Speedbleeders, they are crap.

 

Red, there's no trick, the spring is just very- springy. Here's how I did it. Get a c-clamp and a large socket. Drop the actuator bolt into the actuator (piston). Put the piston/bolt thru the boot. Use the c-clamp around the "front" of the piston and the "back" of the caliper. Where the hole in the caliper housing is for the actuator bolt to poke through, put the large socket over it. This allows the bolt to poke thru without it getting stopped by the c-clamp.

Now tighten the c-clamp until the piston bottoms. When the piston bottoms out, insert pieces of wood into the caliper where the brake pads would go- on either side of the c-clamp. Then remove the c-clamp. Piston installed!

N8MAN1068, the recall details should be in the thread, but, the gist of it is, the rear discs would stop working on 82-88 cars. The recall is free only if your car is 82-88 and has a manual transmission. If your car's an automatic trans, GM won't fix it for free, but they'll still fix it (and probably charge $300 or so). The recall, technically, should last forever, because it's a safety recall. It's not something like a "radio won't keep correct time" recall.

AGood, just wait until you get some air into that master cylinder! Those Earls' won't help then! I had planned on buying speed-bleeders/solo-bleeders for my new rear discs until I wound up in no-rear-brakes hell. That one-man-brake-bleed kit I have really sucks- just a section of clear tube, a little plastic bottle, and some adapters. The V12 blows it away!

 

Thanks Tom! I have rebuilt front calipers before, but the rears were throwing me. Off to work on the calipers...we got the 1LE prop valve today, and everything is painted (red of course) and ready to go!

 

Ok guys, I just picked up an 84 Trans Am with rear discs. I have almost NO pedal at all and no stopping power. I've been reading through here to see what my different options are and I have come across a problem ... I think.

I went to the Car Domain guy's website, http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...05049&page=10, and check out his pics and what he did. My problem is that on my prop vavle there is a line coming out of where his bleeder point is on his prop vavle. Do I have the wrong prop vavle in this car? The bleeder and spring/piston assembly was on the bottom of my vavle, is this going to make a difference? Will I still be ok to put the bleeder back in without the spring and piston? If not, where the hell do you find a bolt to put in there. Another post said, you need a 5/8"-18 3/4" long. I spent all day at Lowes and Home Depot with no luck on finding one. Any other suggestions to fix this problem? Thanks guys

Brian

 

No, you've got the correct '84 prop valve. Later-model prop valves were machined from a block of aluminum, with the rear brake outlet facing downward. Early model ones (like the '84) have a "rounded-edged" prop valve with the rear outlet coming out of the front. Valve part faces downward. This is why when I put the '84 axle on my '86, I took the whole front-to-rear brake line.

I'd say first to put the recall kit in before messing with the prop valve. After putting the recall kit in, I had amazing brakes (until the posi blew up) without touching the prop valve at all.

Did you do these checks that I posted up above?

 

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the info. The GM recall kit MAY come at a later date. At the time, I didnt have the time to mess with it. So, I ended up throwing a new caliper on the rear passenger side, and what do you know, I have brakes! Still not as stiff as I would like, but atleast I can stop now, which is deffinently a good thing. Again, thanks for the info.

Brian

 

I have an '85 Trans Am and the rear brakes aren't great either. Was there a recall on the rear brakes? I am the original owner and haven't done any recalls on it.

 

Once I saw the price on the recall kit, I ordered one for my car (I thought it was over $100, so I never thought it was worth the money).

Slepewesel and others,
Until you get the recall kit, follow these instructions if you start to lose your rear brakes again (or your parking brake stops working). I found/developed this procedure to adjust my rear calipers. It does work, until the pads wear and the gap to the rotors gets too big. In that case, pull the wheels and adjust them again.

Rear Disc Brake Adjustment Procedure

· Remove E brake cable and return spring.

· Remove E brake lever (11/16” wrench), rubber ring, and mylar ring.

· Use quick clamps (no rubber pads) to compress pad ears against backing plate to compress piston in caliper. Continue compressing piston until resistance is noted.

· Turn nut with 14mm or 9/16” wrench in opposite direction of normal E brake application rotation. If nut retracts into caliper, compress brake pads further.

· Remove quick clamps and reinstall E brake lever. Turn lever to apply E brake. If lever is more than 1/4” from stop, repeat.

· Reinstall mylar and rubber rings, E brake lever, and lock nut.

· Reinstall E brake lever return spring, then cable.

 

I may still have a 'kit', email me with your particular need and I'll check to see what I have.

 

Hey guy, yeah, the 82-88 rear disc brakes were recalled. The recall work is ONLY for Camaros/Firebirds with manual transmissions. Thing is, GM views it as a "parking brake" problem- they figure an automatic trans can just put it in park and the car won't roll. But manual tranny'd cars were rolling down hills.

So if you have a manual trans you can get the work and parts for free. If you have an automatic trans, a "technical service bulletin" was issued- and that means you have to pay GM for the work and parts, or, do it yourself. The 82-92 Haynes Firebird manual will show you how to rebuild your rear calipers.

The recall is a safety recall, just like the seat belt recall is, so that means GM absolutely has to honor it. You might call a dealer that says it doesn't exist-- call another dealer. Dealers don't get paid to do recall work; they'd rather charge someone $30 for an oil change then work on your car for free.

Recall information (for manual trans)-
TSB #: 86C285
Date: JUN 91
Title: Safety Recall - Reduced Parking Brake Effectiveness

The technical service bulletin issued for automatic-tranny'd cars gave a parts list that winds up being over $200 from GM. That's why the recall kit part number is the hot ticket- GM never released that. Apeiron (user on thirdgen.org) dug it up for us.