Hi all,

 

Does anyone know what I should check if my Fabia's handbrake is no more after being parked up for a couple months?

 

There's just absolutely no effect when it's on, despite there being resistance in the lever.

 

The handbrake cable is correctly adjusted, where is it most likely to have stuck/what bits should I hit/lube to free them?

 

Thanks

Drums or discs?

 

3 minutes ago, Wino said:

Drums or discs?

 

It's a PD100 estate with discs

Stuck caliper levers, get back there with a wire brush and some WD40 and get 'em working.

You can probably free them without jacking the car or removing the wheels. (My Fabia did the same and took a minute to fix).

You will need a pair of pliers and some WD40.

 

Chock the wheels or put in gear if the car is not on a level surface.

 

Release the handbrake

Get down on the floor and look to the rear of the wheel calliper from the back and you will see the lever the handbrake cable attaches to.
See REF 2 in the picture

 

Spray a little WD40 around the point it enters the calliper (don't go mad you don't want it soaking the pads!)

Then wiggle the arm until it frees up.

 

Do the same to the other side and the handbrake should free up. 

 

Edited 17 December, 20178 yr by vRSNick

3 hours ago, vRSNick said:

You can probably free them without jacking the car or removing the wheels. (My Fabia did the same and took a minute to fix).

You will need a pair of pliers and some WD40.

 

Chock the wheels or put in gear if the car is not on a level surface.

 

Release the handbrake

Get down on the floor and look to the rear of the wheel calliper from the back and you will see the lever the handbrake cable attaches to.
See REF 2 in the picture

 

Spray a little WD40 around the point it enters the calliper (don't go mad you don't want it soaking the pads!)

Then wiggle the arm until it frees up.

 

Do the same to the other side and the handbrake should free up. 

 

Thanks,

 

A bit of percussive maintenance and shock freeze seems to have done the trick.

It had seized on and wasn't releasing/auto-adjusting. I'll check it again tomorrow and possibly give it a splash more of WD40

Further to this, does anyone know where I can get the calliper return springs for sensible money?

 

There's no dealer near me anymore unfortunately. 

If you know the part numbers you're after, just email them to Mike at [email protected] and ask him to quote.

See

 

Update to this:

 

Emailed Mike, got a reply within a few hours to sort me out an invoice for about £6 inc. VAT

 

Finally got round to fitting the springs today and the difference is night and day. They're a pain to wiggle into place but once they're in, the handbrake is an entirely different feeling thing.

It is also a really good idea to take the callipers off their mounting bracket, remove the pads, clean everything up and lub as need be, once a year, that along with keeping the external handbrake linkage clean and fitting external springs, worked for me - maybe even do a quick rewind of the pistons while you are at it . You do tend to find that some people think that fitting return springs to manky rear callipers is the cheap/quick way to sort out all possible future issues.

20 hours ago, FollowingGhosts said:

Update to this:

 

Emailed Mike, got a reply within a few hours to sort me out an invoice for about £6 inc. VAT

 

Finally got round to fitting the springs today and the difference is night and day. They're a pain to wiggle into place but once they're in, the handbrake is an entirely different feeling thing.

 

I seem to remember cursing mine when I fitted them.... Also at a colder time of year. Many a bad word was bitten off when the little b*ggers flicked back into my fingers.... Until I spotted the zip-tie trick in a Youtube vid.

6 hours ago, rum4mo said:

It is also a really good idea to take the callipers off their mounting bracket, remove the pads, clean everything up and lub as need be, once a year, that along with keeping the external handbrake linkage clean and fitting external springs, worked for me - maybe even do a quick rewind of the pistons while you are at it . You do tend to find that some people think that fitting return springs to manky rear callipers is the cheap/quick way to sort out all possible future issues.

I fitted the springs after cleaning and freeing off the calliper arms. It's more as a preventative thing than a cure. 

 

1 hour ago, vindaloo said:

 

I seem to remember cursing mine when I fitted them.... Also at a colder time of year. Many a bad word was bitten off when the little b*ggers flicked back into my fingers.... Until I spotted the zip-tie trick in a Youtube vid.

The zip ties were an absolute god-send. It took two pairs of hands to make it do-able though as it meant you could gently tap the hook into place so it moved up the L-shaped cut-out properly.