handbrake woes

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Phil and Liz
Advanced Driver
Posts: 330
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:21 am
Location: Lanark

handbrake woes

Postby Phil and Liz » Tue Jan 01, 2019 3:29 pm

Hogmany and i arrived home and parked the Megane, pulled on the handbrake and the lever went slack and came right up. Great, handbrake cable gone ! Normally I'll order the parts without looking, as the cable is available singly I thought I'll check which side it is. Managed to remove the center console and was about to remove the handbrake lever and noted that the nearside cable was out of its 'yoke', thought that must be the broken cable and took off the wheel, pulled the cable expecting it to come completely out. It moved backwards and forwards as it should, checked the offside and that also worked as it should. Carefully pulled on the handbrake and the offside worked as it should, the nearside still showing more slack and the wheel barely holding.

What i'm thinking is the handbrake caliper mechanism on the nearside is faulty and when applied the ratchet mechanism is failing allowing the cable to go slack. Hence the excess cable showing on the yoke.

That caliper was a second hand one last year and think I might have the original, the bleed nipple was seized and i remember freeing off the caliper, dont remember if I thew it out though when it wouldnt sell.

Any thoughts before I go searching / buying another caliper

And after this i still have to fix the ABS................................................................................
Phil and Liz Jackson
Lanark

joe12
Just Passed
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:41 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane estate 1.5dci 86

Re: handbrake woes

Postby joe12 » Tue Jan 01, 2019 6:17 pm

I happen to have rebuilt a few of this type of caliper, have just done both of them on my own car.

I would bet that the caliper is starting to seize up.

The lever that the handbrake cable pulls is fixed to a shaft that comes out of the back of the caliper, this shaft has a seal on it the seal is a double seal, it seals around the shaft and it also has an extended area that fits up against the lever.
The weather gets into the seal and starts corrosion both on the shaft and the caliper itself, you get a load of that white salt like corrosion below the seal, this then holds the seal open and allows more weather in so the corrosion escalates.

It may be possible to free off the caliper but to be honest to do a half decent job you really need to remove it from the car and remove the lever any other measure will have limited results and success.

Depending on the type you can buy a re-manufactured caliper for around the £40-£50 mark (ebay) I would advise this route rather than a 2nd hand one every time because all of this type of caliper suffer from exactly the same problems.



Cheers.

Phil and Liz
Advanced Driver
Posts: 330
Joined: Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:21 am
Location: Lanark

Re: handbrake woes

Postby Phil and Liz » Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:59 pm

OK, took out centre console, that was fun - not !, n/s side cable looked to be out of yoke and further forward than O/side, took off rear wheel cable fine , pulled it off lever and able to move it back and forth. Took off o/side wheel and checked same both ok. Went inside and moved lver up slowly, both cables moved, let it off and n/side did not go all way back. Took cable off n/side lever and sprayed wd40 then dribbled 3 in 1 oil onto lever, working back and forth. For the moment all OK and handbrake holds. Just need to find a buyer.............................
Phil and Liz Jackson

Lanark

joe12
Just Passed
Posts: 131
Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2018 8:41 pm
Currently Drives:: Megane estate 1.5dci 86

Re: handbrake woes

Postby joe12 » Sun Jan 06, 2019 12:57 am

Yes your N/S caliper is starting to seize as I described above.

Oiling it as you have may free it off for a short while or it could last for years, I hope it keeps working for you :-)



Cheers.


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