HANDBRAKE NOT HOLDING ON THE RATCHET

[AlexB]

What a popular topic! I'll try to answer some questions to the best of my ability.

Sully,
The handbrake does not fail once already engaged due to snapping of the plastic bit. Once the ratchet is locked it can be disengaged only by applying a significant force. In your case the problem was probably related either to a problem with the rear brake or, which is more likely, to the handbrake incorrectly adjusted. It is supposed to have a long travel. If it gave you only 3-5 clicks when tightened, then this was the cause. Read the manual in our Links for the correct procedure of adjustment.

Dave and the others,
I don't know how to remove leather from the handle -- use your own skill and common sense. You can always glue it back in place. Once removed, unclip the upper plastic shell by pulling up its rear side and carefully pushing the plastic sides of the lever away from the handle. Then look at the internals.

You will see the lower shell attached to the metal lever with two screws. The plastic moulds for these screws tend to brake off due to missing third point of support, which is a design fault. Fix it by drilling holes and putting additional short screws from the outside the lower shell up into the moulds. Provide additional support by strategically placing pieces of cloth soaked in epoxy resin. Do it when putting everything together, so the epoxy adhered to the metal lever.

You will also see an L-shaped metal arm pivoted on a screw in the middle and attached to the handbrake release wire with one of its ends. The middle screw goes into a plastic mould, which can be cracked (not in my case). Find a way of fixing it, probably by putting a longer screw through an by creating an additional support on the top. An option is to use the upper shell as such a support and put the additional screw through both shells, but this will spoil the looks a bit.

One more possible point of failure is yet another plastic mould supporting the end of the return spring on the above mentioned pivoted arm. The plastic breaks off, of course. This can be fixed by drilling two small holes in the lower shell and making a loop of a thin wire to hold the spring end in place.

This is it, I guess. Please feel free to ask questions if my description is insufficiently clear. Yes, it is a good example of a pretty bad design and materials chosen for the price.
NB Don't use any traditional plastic glue - it is the wrong kind of plastic!

[davelowe]

What a popular topic! I'll try to answer some questions to the best of my ability.
Dave and the others,
I don't know how to remove leather from the handle -- use your own skill and common sense. You can always glue it back in place. Once removed, unclip the upper plastic shell by pulling up its rear side and carefully pushing the plastic sides of the lever away from the handle. Then look at the internals.

Alex,
I have my old one in pieces in the garage and used my own skill and common sense to dismantle it (the leatherette is glued on and peels off - remove the fake stitching first). I haven't fixed it because I haven't had time. When I get time, I'll post a pictorial guide on the subject - this will probably be when the current one also fails and I have to repair the old one to swap it back. I will be using epoxy resin as you suggested in one of the multiple threads on this subject, and I will reinforce it with screws and other thing as deemed necessary in the same way I repaired my printer last week (which I did need urgently).
Dave

[Pieter85]

It seems ok to repair the whole handbrake thing, but what do you guys think if one could make the whole handbrake electronic, but it still work with the "throttle" lever?

The higher you pull it up, the more tension is applied to the actual cabling of the handbrakes, and when you push it down, the tension releases accordingly... And it shouldn't cost too much, with a little knowledge, and a bit of good design, I think it might just be less expensive than replacing the damn thing at the "robbers"

With this, the whole ratchet story might be a thing of the past? I don't really want to have to take out the stitches (as Dave in anyway say is fake...) and repair the mechanism inside, and then try and work it back together... Doesn't it look terrible?

I don't know, I just think that an electronic handbrake system for the Megane might be my next step.

[davelowe]

I'm sorry but I don't agree with most of what you have said. Due to the design of the handbrake and simple physics, the lever is designed to pull very hard on the cables over a short distance, whilst itself moving a short distance with minimal effort (mechanical advantage theory.) In order to get the same effect, you would need a very powerful motor coupled to a reduction gear unit, a custom manufactured steel frame, trim, switching including regulator circuitry, additional wiring and even if you got it to work properly, it would most likely need to be inspected by a suitably qualified engineer as it would otherwise fail the MOT. You might even end up on a Q plate or similar.

Don't get me wrong, good luck if you get something working and past the authorities. If I were a engineering student again, I'd make it my final year project!

BTW, as I understand things, some cars now have fully 'automatic' handbrakes. Stories of them failing or being mistrusted are legion.

[Pieter85]

Thanks for the comment, much appreciated... haha, funny you should metnion it, I'm final year now, and I am really thinking about doing this, as I have done other projects that use powerful motors that is controlled by very little movement (less than 3 degrees) and are very accurate.. And doesn't cost a lot at all... These projects are now used in an even heavier industry than pulling up a handbrake... I understand the problems faced, but I've seen it work in similar applications, that are just bigger... And it is pulling those cables much harder than a hand could ever to it.

But I do agree with you, it is not that simple to make a smaller version and then just install it into the car.

[Stirling Herbert]

Thanks Pieter!

My handbrake was not "catching" on the ratchet and thus as I pulled on the lever it simply released itself again.

Local main dealer quoted me £415 to replace the handbrake lever.

10 minutes on this site, a spring found lying around, and 10 minutes taking the handbrake facia panel off and the problem is fixed.

[Pieter85]

Thanks Pieter!

My handbrake was not "catching" on the ratchet and thus as I pulled on the lever it simply released itself again.

Local main dealer quoted me £415 to replace the handbrake lever.

10 minutes on this site, a spring found lying around, and 10 minutes taking the handbrake facia panel off and the problem is fixed.

very glad you could use the advice..

[halikuszion]

I see im yet another poor soul to have issues with the handbrake mechanism.

My problem is the button on the handbrake has stopped popping back out and thus is not releasing the ratchet so it wont click into place and hold the handbrake on.

Iv been quoted a ridiculous £300 for the parts, i say parts its the whole gawd darned assembly.

Anyone had experience withe these exact symptoms or am I better off hitting the Bay for donor parts?

[davelowe]

I see im yet another poor soul to have issues with the handbrake mechanism.

My problem is the button on the handbrake has stopped popping back out and thus is not releasing the ratchet so it wont click into place and hold the handbrake on.

Iv been quoted a ridiculous £300 for the parts, i say parts its the whole gawd darned assembly.

Anyone had experience withe these exact symptoms or am I better off hitting the Bay for donor parts?

A piece of plastic has snapped off. It is a common fault. You can either a) take it to pieces and fix it with screws and epoxy resin, or b) get a replacement from a breakers yard and replace it. I did mine for £83 (viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11194)

[halikuszion]

Just had the handbrake open and it is indeed t bit of plastic that has snapped dammit.



Seethe red circled bit of plastic, this has broken removing all tension in the spring that makes the mechanism work.

Anyone fixed this exact issue and how I just cant afford to drop £130 on a secondhand assembly on ebay for such a tiny prob...

[AlexB]

Drill two 1mm holes in the lower shell and thread a thin steel wire through them. Make a loop which holds the end of the spring in place. No one will see this on the bottom part of the handle.

[halikuszion]

Cheers for the moment of genius Alex, Im going to look at potential fix methods with our development engineers(I work for a boiler company!) and il suggest this method as it sounds like a winner to me.

[halikuszion]

Hey guys, just thought id update you all on my plight.

Well plight is over and the handbrake has been fixed and it cost me a grand total of nothing!

Iv taken some pics of what myself and one of our development engineers did to fix the issue so anyone having this problem in the future will have a place to start.




As you can see we took off the leather bound part entirely by running a stanley blade along the stitching along the back of the hand grip and then prying the unit open with a small flat head screwdriver. This then opened up like a book allowing us access to the parts, we removed the button by sliding it out. We then undid the 2 top screws which attach the grip to the lever and then slid out the hand grip entirely which allowed us to work on the part in the workshop along with not having to remove the entire assembly.

so yeah all we did was screw in a small screw for the extra spring to use a mounting plate to keep it solid and then soldered the other end to the metal plate that attaches to the ratchet rod via the hole in the end of the plate.

After cleaning up the stitching and removing some of the excess leather from the area around the ratchet rod side ( it was rubbing impeding the rods ability to move and thus stopping the ratchet from engaging positively) I installed it back into the car and not only is it working better than it ever has it also looks as if nothing has ever happened to it.

Job Done!

Pete.

[Isaac Hunt]

Anybody near Peterboro who could fix this for me?

[__spc__]

i had this problem as well
a quick fix is to
remove the plastic trims
you will see the teeth
theres a little arm looks like part of a coat hanger
bend it a little bit with a pair of pliers (small twisting motion)
this will give the affect of tigtening the adjustment !
thats how i fixed it and i have had no problems since

Works perfectly. The trim unclips easily and goes back into place nicely.

I suspect that I also have an issue with the button, as the 'travel' seems a little stiff, even after application of WD40. At present though, I'm not happy at unstitching the leather handle etc. as I'm not sure I can get it to go back together properly.

So saying, the ratchet engages with a satisfying click-click-click-click!

Thank you!