1992 CAPRICE ABS replacement

[1980s LifeStyle]

anyone know where to buy a *USED* ABS proportional valve unit out of a salvage yard , being NOT IN OHIO STATE? those 90's Caprice ABS valve systems was recalled but not before so many of those Caprices was kept by the owners wanting to use them as daily drivers-mine however...is a CAPRICE STATION WAGON (rare, because lot of these wagons has been destroyed in the junkyards) =( Only the Road Master Wagons seem to survive as being the closet relative to the Caprice Station Wagon, and Ohio State sucks for not having those parts in junkyards worth decent working condition-or even as rebuildable condition, for that matter ! Got good rent rates ,but not much else trying to get vehicles to rebuild out of these Ohio junkyards. Most junkyards in Ohio wont allow anybody to take the whole car home, the state wants these vehicles from 1990 back destroyed, not rebuilt

 

[BFG-9000]

There seem to be a few on the junkyard part listing service http://www.car-part.com

 

[1980s LifeStyle]

Thank you, BFG-9000 The last time i found a complete ABS 1992 Caprice proportional valve unit on Ebay having the 5 brake line ports and that large electric motor on the bottom was for like $500.00 I'm on disability low income and very difficult to maintain an otherwise easy to repair vehicle-until something like *that Mickey Mouse engineered ABS Brake module unit* gets put out on a very ridiculous price,even for a used one ! I have found a ABS module for a 92 'Caprice for $75 and the StationWagon does stop and can hold the brakes...BUT-the pedal goes all the way to the floor, even after the master cylinder was replaced, all of the brake slave cylinders, brakes rear drum shoes and the front rotors and calipers was replaced with new ones, complete with all 4 brake lines being bled in the sequential order from the back to the front,and still that brake pedal has no pressure between the pedal to the floorboard. the only other thing i can think of is those brass pressure fitting things used to patch the bad lines when the brake lines rust out, and the pressure fitting somehow leaks past the line even when i have tightened the fitting without stripping the fitting. Other than that goofy ABS module and the very annoying brake line pressure fittings needing to be redone for the 10th time That 92 Caprice Wagon is a full sized 9 passenger Land Yacht worth keeping if i can just get those brakes to regain the pressure halfway above the floorboard where its supposed to be !

 

[CelicaGT]

Thank you, BFG-9000 The last time i found a complete ABS 1992 Caprice proportional valve unit on Ebay having the 5 brake line ports and that large electric motor on the bottom was for like $500.00 I'm on disability low income and very difficult to maintain an otherwise easy to repair vehicle-until something like *that Mickey Mouse engineered ABS Brake module unit* gets put out on a very ridiculous price,even for a used one ! I have found a ABS module for a 92 'Caprice for $75 and the StationWagon does stop and can hold the brakes...BUT-the pedal goes all the way to the floor, even after the master cylinder was replaced, all of the brake slave cylinders, brakes rear drum shoes and the front rotors and calipers was replaced with new ones, complete with all 4 brake lines being bled in the sequential order from the back to the front,and still that brake pedal has no pressure between the pedal to the floorboard. the only other thing i can think of is those brass pressure fitting things used to patch the bad lines when the brake lines rust out, and the pressure fitting somehow leaks past the line even when i have tightened the fitting without stripping the fitting. Other than that goofy ABS module and the very annoying brake line pressure fittings needing to be redone for the 10th time That 92 Caprice Wagon is a full sized 9 passenger Land Yacht worth keeping if i can just get those brakes to regain the pressure halfway above the floorboard where its supposed to be !

Double check your rear brake adjustment, did you clean and lubricate the adjusters? Also brass is a no no on power brakes. Do you get any pedal when you pump the brakes with the engine off?

 

[1980s LifeStyle]

Thank you, BFG-9000 The last time i found a complete ABS 1992 Caprice proportional valve unit on Ebay having the 5 brake line ports and that large electric motor on the bottom was for like $500.00 I'm on disability low income and very difficult to maintain an otherwise easy to repair vehicle-until something like *that Mickey Mouse engineered ABS Brake module unit* gets put out on a very ridiculous price,even for a used one ! I have found a ABS module for a 92 'Caprice for $75 and the StationWagon does stop and can hold the brakes...BUT-the pedal goes all the way to the floor, even after the master cylinder was replaced, all of the brake slave cylinders, brakes rear drum shoes and the front rotors and calipers was replaced with new ones, complete with all 4 brake lines being bled in the sequential order from the back to the front,and still that brake pedal has no pressure between the pedal to the floorboard. the only other thing i can think of is those brass pressure fitting things used to patch the bad lines when the brake lines rust out, and the pressure fitting somehow leaks past the line even when i have tightened the fitting without stripping the fitting. Other than that goofy ABS module and the very annoying brake line pressure fittings needing to be redone for the 10th time That 92 Caprice Wagon is a full sized 9 passenger Land Yacht worth keeping if i can just get those brakes to regain the pressure halfway above the floorboard where its supposed to be !

Double check your rear brake adjustment, did you clean and lubricate the adjusters? Also brass is a no no on power brakes. Do you get any pedal when you pump the brakes with the engine off?

 

[1980s LifeStyle]

CelicaGT, i replaced both rear brake adjusters at the time i had to replace both the rear brake shoes, and as so far that i seen,the brass pressure fittings to patch the brake lines is the only common type sold by Automotive stores like Auto-Zone and O'Reily's, Im pretty sure one of those fittings is leaking past the back end where the line exists the fitting, but im just by myself having to do alot of the work-but i DO get pressure (sometimes !, and lose that pressure occassionly before starting the car, sort of like a Herbie thing unable to make up its mind to behave)

 

[BFG-9000]

Those old integral ABS systems were a real pain. After bleeding the lines you have to bleed the modulator, then the boost section too.

 

[1980s LifeStyle]

Those old integral ABS systems were a real pain. After bleeding the lines you have to bleed the modulator, then the boost section too.

Can you do a YOU TUBE video showing the sequence of a 90's Caprice ABS module being bled ? if there was anything wrong with the brake booster, wouldnt that booster not working properly kill the motor, which mine dont, Ive tried getting You Tube videos on Caprice brakes and everything else and those videos dont go back to 92 or even far back to 89 , the 4 years compatible from 89 to 92 that someone might, just might, find a full sized chevy car of those 4 years NOT having one of those ABS mechanical monsters installed from the factory on it, and do some retro engineering brakes and lines replacement, to yank that ABS monster out of the vehicle and not ever have to fight with it ever again- Id rather convert the vehicle back to the way it was, before those brakes regulator valve thingies was installed by the factories. Once you convert the ABS back to the older common brakes, you would think you wouldnt have such a difficult time repairing the parts that is more common...

 

[BFG-9000]

If there's air in the modulator, it won't damage anything but things might actually only work while the pump is running. Here's a summary of the common systems and you'll note most of them can be bled without special scan tools. You'll want to scroll down to the section on the Delco Moraine III Powermaster system.

Those ABS systems were used in a LOT more than just full-sized Chevys. For example here's a pretty good explanation of how to bleed one in a Lotus with just one man and the traditional clear hose and jam jar. From the list of cars they came on, I'm sure you can find someone who's done a Youtube video as you only really need to see where the isolation valve bleeders are.

Forget about retrofitting anything to these cars, even regular non-ABS power brakes, as it's impossible to do without replacing everything (integral means it contains the power booster too) which is ridiculous considering the cash-for-clunkers value of these cars.

And thanks to the mod for moving this topic to the "cars" forum.

 

[1980s LifeStyle]

That Cash-for-Clunkers price has dropped so far down in Ohio state to where that $200 to $100 for 1 ton cars and small trucks has almost made the scrapper thieves give up grabbing whatever they can get their paws on, i have had to recover my Caprice once in the same neighborhood >=( Seeing as how ive had to replace everything brake related on this Caprice, i'll tear it down again to retro fit it out of pure spite of the government >=) Bad enough the vehicles being year 2000 something models has a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Law B.S on them preventing the actual owner who dont owe a lease on that vehicle, to be able to change the programming for a high performance chip and other parts to hot rod that Star -Trek tech wreck like the people used to do before the government got so full of itself putting technology under the hood ! what junk the government puts in vehicles, people who dont want it can yank it back out,and still make it work !

 

[CelicaGT]

Those old integral ABS systems were a real pain. After bleeding the lines you have to bleed the modulator, then the boost section too.

Can you do a YOU TUBE video showing the sequence of a 90's Caprice ABS module being bled ? if there was anything wrong with the brake booster, wouldnt that booster not working properly kill the motor, which mine dont, Ive tried getting You Tube videos on Caprice brakes and everything else and those videos dont go back to 92 or even far back to 89 , the 4 years compatible from 89 to 92 that someone might, just might, find a full sized chevy car of those 4 years NOT having one of those ABS mechanical monsters installed from the factory on it, and do some retro engineering brakes and lines replacement, to yank that ABS monster out of the vehicle and not ever have to fight with it ever again- Id rather convert the vehicle back to the way it was, before those brakes regulator valve thingies was installed by the factories. Once you convert the ABS back to the older common brakes, you would think you wouldnt have such a difficult time repairing the parts that is more common...

If there's air in the modulator, it won't damage anything but things might actually only work while the pump is running. Here's a summary of the common systems and you'll note most of them can be bled without special scan tools. You'll want to scroll down to the section on the Delco Moraine III Powermaster system.

Those ABS systems were used in a LOT more than just full-sized Chevys. For example here's a pretty good explanation of how to bleed one in a Lotus with just one man and the traditional clear hose and jam jar. From the list of cars they came on, I'm sure you can find someone who's done a Youtube video as you only really need to see where the isolation valve bleeders are.

Forget about retrofitting anything to these cars, even regular non-ABS power brakes, as it's impossible to do without replacing everything (integral means it contains the power booster too) which is ridiculous considering the cash-for-clunkers value of these cars.

And thanks to the mod for moving this topic to the "cars" forum.

It's rather trivial to convert to a non ABS system (ignoring any laws in your country that may prohibit this). All you need is a standard non ABS booster and master cylinder, the brake bias valve and the ability to bend your own brake lines. At my shop we did many of these on various GM models as the vehicles aged, the cost to do so was a fraction of the cost of that damned system. Depending on the model finding the parts may be an issue, but the Caprice was built in many configurations and the base vehicle changed very little over its lifespan. I seemed to have trouble with the front drivers from Buick and Olds that used these as they often weren't offered in a non ABS model. In addition if you have ANY leaks whatsoever you need to solve that first, confirm drum brake adjustment (they should just rub the drum, any misadjustment here and you can end up with a lot of pedal travel), then move on to bleeding procedures.