Handbrake issue.

P

Phil-E30

Active member
After stopping at a set of lights on a hill yesterday I went to apply the handbrake as usual. Only as I pulled the handbrake up in to place there was a strange, loud click/snap noise. I let the handbrake down again and pulled it back up, it seemed to work fine. However when I got home I noticed that with absolutely no effort whatsoever I can just knock the handbrake lever up and down, it just moves about easily, almost like something is loose or broken.

Drove the car again today and the handbrake seems to be working ok but I think it may be engaging more on one side than on the other. When I let it off to take off from lights today it felt like there was a noticeable drop on the driver side but nothing on the passenger side.

Any ideas what I may have done or what I should check?

Cheers fellas :thumbsup:
 
Could be the self adjuster below the lever slipped on one side. Since the other side held, perhaps the loose side cannot properly reset? Just guessing. If this is the case, a complete handbrake adjustment is in order. It's done at the wheels after releasing the self adjuster spring pressure. If you search about you should find instructions. It's possible to do with the tyres on but much easier off. For the first time it's nice to take off the rotor so you can see what you are dealing with as you need to work through a hole in the rotor.

That said, the most common problem is a worn ratchet mechanism. Confirm yours is fine before faffing about with adjusters. Could also be something else in the system like a broken cable or a failure of some part of the mechanism in the wheels. Something like that should be evident after removing the rotor.
 
Thanks pal. I will have a look at all of that then. I will need to look around and see if there are any guides or walkthroughs for handbrake work on here, not had to do any work with it yet. Sounds like a broken cable will be a real pain in the ass if that's what it turns out to be!
 
Hmmm, it all seems a bit vague. Lots of people having weird issues with no real firm answer as to what the problem is. The description in that thread sounds similar to what I am talking about. Will have to take a look see!
 
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