Brake Repair and a couple other questions

[gottabike]

I have a 92 PA Ultra, got a great deal on it and its in great shape. I need to repair the brakes on it but cant seem to find a service manual anywhere for the car. My uncle recently did some body work on it for us after someone blew a red light and totalled it. The brakes have worked fine since but I think they are just worn, I've done work on disc brakes before but not cars with ABS, is the replacement process just the same as any other car for replacing the pads? Also any word on anyone hearing of a 92 with 4 wheel disc brakes? according to my uncle the car has them but having a back injury I dont risk looking under cars to much lol. Any information you can offer on this would be helpful.

The other issue i'm having is with the a/c system, its seemed to slowly work all the freon out of the system and down here TX freon is 60 bucks a pound and R-134 is 5 bucks a pound. I know the system is completely drained, can i just put R-134 in there or is there a special convertor adapter i have to get? I'm fairly new with a/c equipment.

The last problem i'm having is what seems to be a pinhole leak in the top of the radiator. I noticed its dripping pretty good but that there is no major hole. Being on a budget I cant get radiator right now, would some JB Weld work or epoxy to patch the whole temporarily?.

[yogi_123rd]

Brakes: Nothing fancy to replace the pads. You will need a torx bit - T50 to remove the pins holding the caliper on. The ABS system is a motor that controls the amount of braking force going thru the brake line to a wheel. The brakes themselves in the wheel are just a pad system.

AC: You must not mix R12 with R134.
The parts stores make a conversion kit for R12 systems to use R134. Some members of this board will warn you of the dangers of improperly doing this conversion. Basically, the conversion kit consists of a valve to be swapped on the compressor, a charge of oil, and the R134. The lines need to be flushed of all the R12 left.

Pin Hole Radiator leaks: If you see a leak, there are probably more that you don't see, because the water evaporates quickly from a pin hole leak. There is no need to replace the radiator unless all the cooling fins are rusted out.
The parts stores sell two types of radiator leak sealant. I have had cause to use these products over the years. One type has metal filings and the other type has black balls of gunk that disolve in hot water. The black balls are the best and is what I would recremend. Never had a problem with them. The metal filing type is extremely powerful stuff. Not only did it seal my leaks, it sealed off the regular water passages in the radiator, engine, and heater too.

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by gottabike

I have a 92 PA Ultra, got a great deal on it and its in great shape. I need to repair the brakes on it but cant seem to find a service manual anywhere for the car. My uncle recently did some body work on it for us after someone blew a red light and totalled it. The brakes have worked fine since but I think they are just worn, I've done work on disc brakes before but not cars with ABS, is the replacement process just the same as any other car for replacing the pads? Also any word on anyone hearing of a 92 with 4 wheel disc brakes? according to my uncle the car has them but having a back injury I dont risk looking under cars to much lol. Any information you can offer on this would be helpful.

The other issue i'm having is with the a/c system, its seemed to slowly work all the freon out of the system and down here TX freon is 60 bucks a pound and R-134 is 5 bucks a pound. I know the system is completely drained, can i just put R-134 in there or is there a special convertor adapter i have to get? I'm fairly new with a/c equipment.

The last problem i'm having is what seems to be a pinhole leak in the top of the radiator. I noticed its dripping pretty good but that there is no major hole. Being on a budget I cant get radiator right now, would some JB Weld work or epoxy to patch the whole temporarily?.

As to the manuals, ebay had a lot of factory manuals listed recently, believe they still have.
As to the A/C, I have 91 Park, I converted to R134a myself. The kit, is a waste of money. What you need to get is a new dryer, if you do not get the dryer your a/c will not work long, including your compressor, here is the cheapest way to do it: You need to get 2 R134a connectors that srew on the old schrader type valves. R134a uses different connectors than the old R12. Get a new dryer and replace the old one. Replace all old o-rings in the system with the ones compatible for R134a, by unscrewing all connections and replacing old for new, take off the a/c compressor replace old o-rings with new ones, and fill in some new oil compatible with R134a into the compressor from the back, keep turning the compressor by hand when filling in oil, this will prevent the compressor from eventually seizing up. After you are done with all this, have a shop charge your system and you are done. Mine is running now for a whole year without a problem, oh, and another word of caution, in order to fill a completely dry system with one of those do it yourself kits you will encounter that the compressor will not kick in, therefore you won't be able to charge the system yourself, i tried jumping the pressure switch and all other tricks, it just won't work on the park, so you are better off to do all the hard work yourself and have the shop do the eassy job, charge the system.I bought all my stuff from Dale at acparthouse.com from the net, he is very friendly and helpful, and he's got extremely good prices!

[gottabike]

OK I've got everything setup to do the brakes now. the front end wont be a problem, but the back on the hand i havent done in a while. the hub assembly is built in now do i have to repair that damn thing around the hub assembly or does it come out? The other thing is I'm changing the oil on this one finally and with me being a big guy can someone give me a idea as to where the oil pan and filter are the engine so i can determine if i can reach them or not with the car on jack stands


Thanks for the info on the prior questions as well guys...

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by gottabike

OK I've got everything setup to do the brakes now. the front end wont be a problem, but the back on the hand i havent done in a while. the hub assembly is built in now do i have to repair that damn thing around the hub assembly or does it come out? The other thing is I'm changing the oil on this one finally and with me being a big guy can someone give me a idea as to where the oil pan and filter are the engine so i can determine if i can reach them or not with the car on jack stands


Thanks for the info on the prior questions as well guys...

you should be able to change the oil filter from the top, that's how I did it, it sits on the passenger side behind the block, you should see it right away. The screw to change the oil sits almost below the filter, you would have to get under the car to take that one out.

[gottabike]

ok guys hopefully this will be my last need of help here on this one. I have gotten the back brakes done finally and going great there other than the fact of almost loosing a finger cause someone i was working with let go of the pliers before i got things in place.

There is a different issue now, I bought the T50 torx bit its to small to get the pins out of the front caliper. even the guy at autozone thought it would be that bit too. So what bit do i need to get then guys???

[Hansnet]

I could have sworn 86-99 were T-55......

[pirho451]

It's not a Torx bit, that's the problem. I ran into the same thing with my '93 PA. It's a hex head, but I can't remember what size it is. I'll have to check my toolbox when I get home.