Hi all, I just purchased my first 1986 Fiero GT recently, and am totally stoked to begin this new adventure! (Hopefully I'm posting in the right section?)
I became interested in these cars some time ago after reading about the unique design and history, and have already learned quite a bit about them from this forum. This is a great resource!

So far, I've encountered several of the more notorious issues in this car:
-The left headlight motor runs while the car is off, which I'm fairly sure is what has caused my battery to completely drain a few times now. I unplugged the connector for now.
-The rear brake calipers were seized up and have now been replaced (after bleeding and re-bleeding the system).
-The clutch hydraulic system has sprung a leak somewhere and has prevented shifting into gear until topping off the reservoir. I think it's the master cylinder but could be the slave also, haven't pinpointed all the leaks but I have spotted fluid coming from behind the clutch pedal into the floorboard so far.
- The oil gauge dances around like crazy, and oil light comes on at idle after engine warms up (even though oil dipstick shows that it is quite full and clean).
- And, the one that I've read that is very common, the E-brake does not work at all... good thing the car is a 4-speed manual so it can be put in gear. How is this remedied?

I've also found that most of the gauge lights and courtesy lights weren't working correctly, but was able to fix them by cleaning the corroded circuit board connectors in the gauge cluster and replacing fuses.

I have found answers to several of these questions so far already, though I'm not sure about the emergency brake yet. Is there a way to find out if the cable has broken, or do they generally just need to be adjusted?

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My Fiero: 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT, V6, 4-speed manual

quote Originally posted by FieroCat: The oil gauge dances around like crazy, and oil light comes on at idle after engine warms up (even though oil dipstick shows that it is quite full and clean).

Try hooking up a mechanical gage to make sure your pressure is ok, it can be full of clean oil and still dangerously low pressure.

Rodney Dickman has clutch slave cylinders and parts. His dual seal slave rebuild parts are great.
http://rodneydickman.com/ca...h=61&products_id=288
A speed bleeer can be used on the slave cylinder for easier one man bleeding.

This was posted previously here on the forum. https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...120111-1-082539.html Click on archives to view.

"I also modified my csc bleed screw by taking some material off of the top and bottom, drilling and tapping the old bleed screw with a M7x1.0 thread, I then got a Dorman speed bleeder pn 12708 that has the M7x1.0 thread, and now when I bleed my clutch I simply push the csc push rod into the slave, the way Archie recommends and can now use both hands to do it, the speed bleeder is a one way valve, it only lets the air/fluid out, a tru one man operation, what really amazed me about this set up is that when I pushed the csc piston all the way in and released the rod, the hydraulic fluid was sucked all the way from the master cylinder, that means all I had to do was "pump" the slave until no more air came out, and I knew when that was because I was standing right there, as opposed to pumping the peddle, which only moves the csc piston less than an inch. On the www.partsamerica.com web site the have a picture of the 1986 Toyota mr2 csc rebuild kit, if You want to see what that looks like, they also have a pic of the Dorman speed bleeder pn 12708."
This should work for a speed bleeder but check the threads you have.
http://www.racerpartswholes.../3854/Speed_Bleeders

The ebrake can be any number of things and one of the hardest to fix, and I wouldn't depend on putting it in gear on a hill to keep it from moving.

The calipers are notorious for not working as they have a rotating ebrake piston cylinder type system. that can be messed up,
the cables can stretch,
the cables can seize,
the cables are out of adjustment.

if the brake is hard to pull it can be the cables are stiff.
if they are stretched you can pull the cable at the attaching point at the caliper and if there is any slack when the brake lever is released then you will need to replace them, although ones I did put a lead split shot fishing sinker in one time to make sure that was the problem and not the caliper. before I replaced the cable for no reason.
if the cables are sagging at the back of the frame they are most likely just lose, if you feel no resistance after applying the brake.

Then the calipers can be out of adjustment. They turn when you set the ebrake.

this will save you a lot of pain and typing on my part.

http://home.comcast.net/~fierocave/brakerear.htm

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by 84fiero123: http://home.comcast.net/~fierocave/brakerear.htm

Read that and all of brake section in my cave.

Many Rear Rebuilt calipers can be bad when new. If new ones won't self adjust then they are bad and need to return it/them.

Sometime Lever has problem but Likely Ebrake cables are bad. Has 3, 2 wheels and the main. On most cars Wheel cables are bad.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top and bottom of every forum page...)

Thanks guys! Well, on the parking brake, I removed the plastic covers over the hand lever inside, and noticed that the cable wasn't even connected to the lever mechanism! It looked like the previous owner had detached it purposely for some reason...

quote Originally posted by FieroCat: It looks like the cables are seized up. I managed to get the cable connected to the lever mechanism (with some difficulty) and while it enabled the eBrake to engage the brakes again, it doesn't want to spring back. The cable has to be wiggled and pulled to undo the brakes. New cables needed?

new cables, do all 3, sounds like the last owner didn't want to bother, it can be a pain

Steve