After recently going through ABS valve assembly brake woes on my 2000 LX I decided to have a spare booster pump electric motor on hand in case one goes out on any of our other LX/LCs as they are all near or over the 200k mi mark. I purchased a whole brake MC assembly from fellow MUD member who had his replaced at the dealer with a new one after it failed. I had originally used the ABS valve body from this donor MC to get my LX back on the road. After disassembling the electric motor from the donor MC, it was clear that the commutator was badly grooved and the brushes were worn. Further testing with an ohm meter showed there to be a dead spot on the commutator. From the brake failure thread I found one of the few outfits that rebuilds the motors to be Eurton Electric in Santa Fe Springs CA. It gave me some comfort in knowing they have been in the electric motor rebuilding business since 1933 and advertise that they rebuild brake booster pump motors for many different makes of autos. I sent the motor in for a rebuild and chose their standard turn around time for the job which was priced at $265 plus shipping. It took a couple of weeks to get the rebuilt motor back. If you are in a hurry, they do have an expedited rebuild option available for a fee. To verify that the motor I received back was fully rebuilt to a high standard and provide feedback to forum I decided to take the cover off and inspect their work. Below are some pictures of inside the rebuilt motor. It had a new commutator, fresh rewind on the armature, new brushes, new bearings. and everything was spotless. It looks like they even replaced the contacts and nuts where the wires attach. I was very impressed with their rebuild and have confidence it will last as long as an OEM original. This is certainly a cost effective option to fix a fairly common brake failure mode on our 100 series LC/LX.
One thing to note is that if you ever remove the cover from one of these electric motors to inspect or diagnose, it is very tricky to ensure the wave spring on the back bearing gets reassembled properly. The magnets inside the housing are extremely strong and they will pull the steel wave spring out of position in the blink of an eye and you may never know it as you slide the cover over. The trick that I ended up using was to first place a large magnet from an old speaker on the outside of the motor housing where the back bearing seats. Then I carefully slid the wave spring down a wood dowel centered in the housing until it contacts the back of the bearing pocket in the housing where the temporary magnet can hold it in place. Then carefully slide the housing with magnet over the armature until it fully seats. The assembly magnet can then be removed from the housing and the two allen screws can be re-installed.
One thing to note is that if you ever remove the cover from one of these electric motors to inspect or diagnose, it is very tricky to ensure the wave spring on the back bearing gets reassembled properly. The magnets inside the housing are extremely strong and they will pull the steel wave spring out of position in the blink of an eye and you may never know it as you slide the cover over. The trick that I ended up using was to first place a large magnet from an old speaker on the outside of the motor housing where the back bearing seats. Then I carefully slid the wave spring down a wood dowel centered in the housing until it contacts the back of the bearing pocket in the housing where the temporary magnet can hold it in place. Then carefully slide the housing with magnet over the armature until it fully seats. The assembly magnet can then be removed from the housing and the two allen screws can be re-installed.
