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Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 10:25:35 -0700
From: Bryan Hansen <brdavhansennopsamero.net>
Subject: HELP!  confused on brakes, 88 9KS


OK...man, don't ya hate it when ya try and fix something and end up making it worse? LOL a little knowledge can be dangerous! Hopefully somebody can help straighten me out! last weekend, I thought I would swap out the pads on the front of my 88 9KS, they weren't real bad but the car is new to me and I was anxious to tear into it and see what else I could find, doing repairs always seems to turn up something else that needs to be done. Also, something I forgot to mention in my earlier post, and this could be important; the anti lock light has been on since I took possession of the car (4 mos. ago), initially I figured I would get it taken care of right away, but the brakes worked great the whole time, nice hard pedal, stopped great, so I put it off. Since it was a weekend, all I could find was Bendix brake pads, normally wouldn't be my first choice, but I figured, eh, give it a whirl. The pad was a little different in shape but slid right in. I was pleased with how well everything came apart, and when I was in there I think I deduced why the ABS light was/is on. Both ABS sensor wires have cut insulation, showing a braided metal line inside. OK, so, I button the car back up, hop in for a test drive, and immediately notice a very soft, soggy pedal. That's weird, I'm thinking, I didn't crack any lines. You'll see the post below on how I tried various methods of bleeding the brakes, the usual grab your neighbors foot technique, gravity. I got Jerry Coleman's procedure too late to try it on the weekend, and I had already arranged to take it to the dealer. Figured, well, have them look at some other things too. Now, here's where it gets confusing. I don't pretend to know everything on cars, far from it, but I didn't just fall off a tomato truck either. The dealer mechanic kept insisting that that without the ABS being fixed, there is no way to get the pedal the way it was before. I already ordered the sensor wires, that needs to be fixed anyway. Mechanic kept insisting the accumulator couldn't work with the ABS light on. I pointed out that if that were true, I shouldn't have been able to drive the car the 7,000 miles I had up to that point with a nice hard pedal, and if the accumulator wasn't working, I'd have about 5-15 stops before I ate glass. THEN he said that the soft pedal was caused by not using SAAB pads. I told him, well, Bendix wouldn't be my first choice, but the composition I actually liked, and would you care to explain to me how in the heck a different pad is going to create a soft pedal?!?!? I can see it increasing /decreasing stopping distances, but unless you can explain HOW that happens, I'm not buying. I offered to have them put on saab pads if he was sure that was it, but if it wasn't, I ain't payin'. Basically, they used a pressure bleeder and just went around and bled the brakes that way, and they felt identical to what they did when I drove in. OK, when I get a few minutes and my neighbor gets back into town (have other transpo), I'm going to try Jerry Colemans technique for bleeding. My questions are...Could just pushing the piston back cause a valve to change position in the accumulator? Are the sensor wires bad when the braided metal is exposed (bout 1/8 split in the insulation)? I would guess they are, since they work off resistance, correct? And do the work off resistance or impedence? Just curious on that one... I liked the service manager at Saab of San Diego...Think the mechanic there was just wantin' to get rid of me though. HELP!! TIA, Bryan

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