95BLKVette

Replaced my Vacuum brake booster some 16 months ago with a remanufactured A1 Cardone #54-71405 unit from Rockauto. It crapped-out 11 months later...Rockauto sent me another via product warranty. Installed the replacement unit this past April....it totally failed witout prior warning yesterday morning :U

Called Rockauto and they agreed to refund my money in full if I return the defective unit...FOR THE RECORD......I LIKE ROCKAUT0, VERY DEPENDABLE COMPANY....TOO BAD THIS REMANUFACTURER SUCKS. I did notice this is the only vacuum booster rebuild they carry, also used to cary ACDELCO, but no more.

Purchased a new GM OEM #10242104 vacuum booster from Bob McGuire Parts a GM Wholesale Parts Distributor in NJ.

Part lists at $359.54 They quoted $266.06 last night and called me to confirm it qualifies for some kind of additional GM discount and will cost $235 + $12 shipping, and I should recieve it by tomorrow :party:

http://www.bobmaguireparts.com

I'll never be so stupid as to install another remanufactured vacuum booster again, when it takes me about 2 hours to remove the old and install the new...this will be my third time :rant:



[Modified by 95BLKVette, 8:50 PM 9/24/2003]

95BLKVette

Just Realized there is a GM Part Direct listed under "PARTS" on the lower left border of this page...DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :U

And I looked on the Forum page last night but just missed it:rofl:

They sell it for $185 + shipping = $222 :skep:

Oh Well :nopity

Goody

Can you step through the process of removal and replacement? I might be faced with this issue pretty soon. I have never liked the brakes on my car. Mushy pedal for the first couple inches and then it can be "manhandled" another inch or so. If I put on a new MC I want to swap the PB too.

flyersfan1088

If it's anything like my '86 it's very straightforward. 4 nuts to remove. The problem is the two that are underneath the dash on the inside of the firewall. Took me forever to get those two.

JCAIRE2

So was it a remanufactured booster or a rebuilt booster?

Remanufactured parts are built to "like new" standards with all parts being replaced. Rebuilt parts just fix what is wrong when it fails the first time, leaving all the other parts to fail with time.

So which was it, reman or rebuild?

tjwong

Well guess who is remanufacturing our ECM and PCMs now? You guessed it A1 Cardone, and let me tell you they are crap as well. I am really disappointed at Delphi or GM that they let the all mighty dollar take precedence in choosing such a crap rebuilder!

oldace84

Thanks for the Heads Up!
tony

QuikZilver

I have never had a problem with A1 Cardone parts. They offer a lifetime warranty on all their stuff. That is really strange that you would have 2 of these go out. I used to sell their stuff when I worked at Discount Auto Parts (now Advance Auto Parts). If I had 1 unit rebuilt by them come back in a month, it was a lot! I sold around 500 parts that they rebuilt per month. I never had one bad off the shelf. The ones that came back were at least 1 year old and there was normally another problem with the car that caused the part to go. Very strange...

SunCr

Somewhat unusual to lose two of these things. Are you sure it's just not the check valve? If it's hissing or if the engine is losing power when applying the brakes, a new grommet and valve may fix it. You could also take it apart and see what failed, but I know that would muck up the warranty.