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While returning from a pleasant day at car show on State Hwy. at intersection with a cross street and red light, guess what? Without ANY warning my #%*!:( BTV went into total hibernation, not a hint of any stopping power. Made it through intersection against red light and on wrong side of road to miss cars stopped for light. Finished trip on trailer. WILL NOT DRIVE THIS CAR AGAIN UNTIL I FABRICATE A MODERN SYSTEM. All you diehards, IF you drive your cars, your time will come!

A couple of questions if I may - without getting sworn at.
When did you have the unit rebuilt?
Who did the rebuild?
What component actually failed?
Do you ever check the brake fluid reservoir?
If so, how long between checks?
Why doesn't any other make have these problems with the same basic unit?
Thanks for answering these questions.
And now we will let "the sky is falling crowd" jump in.

Thank you RB for requesting the critical information needed to address this long standing controversy. I too am waiting for the answers from Rowdy.

Here are your answers

1-Rebuilt 2 yrs ago
2-Ed Strain
3-Don't know, total loss of any pedal pressure, no signs of any leakage
4-Yes
5-First of year
6-You tell me!

It would be very interesting if you could access or remove the BTV more or less intact and in same orientation. Unscrew the compensator valve assy and see if there looks to be anything wrong with the spring or poppet and are any chunks of solidified brake fluid floating around at top of actual MC part around that area that could lodge under the valve.

That would go a long way toward seeing if a theory that heat and moisture in that location is causing problems that seem mostly reported on the V8s..

I had planned on doing that but it probably will be a while getting to it. Had planned to take it to Cruisin The Coast next week but will be taking "MODIFIED" Studebaker which has upgraded safety features. When I do pull it off to apply Eric's design then I will post what I find. Eric, I searched web for the F-series recall but was unable to find specific recall for booster reinforcement, any suggestions?
Thanks
Bill

randy berger wrote: Quote:

I personally know of at least 12 different V-8 Packard owners that have experienced TOTAL BTV failure. This is NOT claiming that "the sky is falling". This failure problem is life & limb threateningly REAL. 12 failures in my little survey out of the few thousands(?) of V-8 Packards remaining is statistically significant, particularly given that many V-8 Packards are not driven very far very often.

Add to this the phenomenon that catastrophic failure occurs without warning on recently professionally rebuilt BTVs and there is undeniably a deadly serious problem with it.

Since there are multiple replacement solutions available (mine, Eric, Keith and Jerry to name four different ones), there is NO EXCUSE for keeping the BTV.

Craig

The only question that hasn't been answered is "what component failed" and that only because Rowdy has not had the time to remove and examine the unit. I believe he wants to find out what failed more than the rest of us and either he or his local mechanic can determine that as time permits. The rest of us are interested, but it is Rowdy's car and he will be the final voice in this particular discussion.
We'll be waiting to hear what you find Rowdy.

randy berger wrote: Quote:

I guess some of you guys are waiting for the discovery of a previously unknown failure mode and the subsequent development of a miracle fix for same. The fix is simple: replace it with a modern dual-MC unit.

Quote:

That's ridiculous. The discussion is about yet another BTV failure. These BTV failures endanger everyone's V-8 Packard which is still so equipped, not just Rowdy's.

Craig

Quote:


Download this .pdf: TSB-90167

I believe the one you want is E3TZ-7K509-B, about $70 at the local dealer. The .pdf shows installation instructions as well as pictures to show you what you get. All you really need is a plate to reinforce the firewall, preferably on the engine compartment side of the firewall. If you need help in designing or figuring out things, send me a pm and I'll give you my phone number and can walk you through it. It's pretty easy and a lot safer than the Bendix DeathVac.

As for the "anti-the sky is falling crowd", all I can say is this: It's a trivial thing until it happens to you. As someone who's experienced the loss of brakes in a single line master cylinder system, I always err on the side of caution and replace the whole thing, power or not. Read the first part of my signature to know how I feel about people wanting to stick to the BTV.