I had to remove the centre storage box to reconnect the cigarette lighter and noticed that the white plastic compensator swivel that connects the handbrake to the two individual cables was at a large angle and at the limit of its travel as if a cable was broken or stretched.

 

I jacked up the rear and both wheels spun freely, one notch on the handbrake still spinning, 2 notches and both wheels locked, could not be rotated by hand pressure.

 

So the handbrake appears to be working but will not tolerate any further stretching or uneven wear and I would like to centralise the compensator.

 

I replaced the rear discs and pads 6 months ago at 122K miles, the originals were rusted, the pistons retracted without problem and the pedal and handbrake returned to normal with a few operations and pumps of the pedal, I did not notice anything untoward although I have never found the Octavia handbarkes to be particularly effective, could never do handbrake turns

 

Is there anything that I should look for and is there adjustment of the cables?

Scanned a MK1 adjustment not a MK2 🙁

Edited 19 May, 20197 yr by nige8021

Remove the centre console →Body Work; Rep. gr.68.

–Forcefully apply the brake pedal (at least 3 times).

–Pull the handbrake on and release it three times.

lPut the hand brake lever in its rest position.

–Tighten adjusting nut -arrow- so far, ...

–... that the levers -1- rise from the stop -2- on the brake calipers.

–The distance -a- to the stop -2- on the left and right brake caliper must together not be less than 1 mm or exceed 3 mm.

 

There doesn't appear to be any individual adjustment for each cable, if the limits can't be acheived then it's new cables ??

Thanks, I will have the wheels off and check the gaps between the levers and stops, may well find a cable is adrift or wrongly routed, I'm sure theres a logical explanation that hopefully will be visible, cables dont stretch that much and on one only, possibly one has been replaced.

 

I know you say it’s not the case for you. But my mk2 it was a sticky rear caliper. Maybe check for heat after a drive from each rear wheel. The lever on the caliper would not adjust as freely. 

Will do, but feeling the heat from the discs is something that I have always done regularly by routine, I also have a very sensitive nose for changes in smell, but you are right, its the logical thing to check first, with that amount of imbalance I should see uneven pad wear.

 

I have read enough on here about sticky calipers to realise that they must have got something wrong on the Octavia 2 as its a design that I have had on every vehicle I have owned since the late 80's starting with Sierras including my kit cars and race cars and to me they never ever give trouble, until probably now that is!

 

Must have taken some doing by Skoda 🙄

When I had this problem a new hand brake cable was required it had rusted up. 

Rust is a serious contender, it was a seaside car for many years, I have had to replace all the brake backplates and the rear subframe is very rusty.

 

Update, just jacked it up and had a gander, RH caliper lever is moved a lot further from the stop in both the handbrake on and off positions, I suspect its a frozen self adjusting mechanism on the RH caliper assuming that it has one.

 

Footbrake does not have a long pedal.

 

Have left it up in the air and will set to it tomorrow.

Looks like its the shaft of the lever mechanism that is partially seized and preventing the actuating lever from returning to the stop position, with luck it will free off without removal of the caliper.

 

Something that I should have noticed when I changed the pads, that piston was a devil to retract, I will keep an eye on them in future, never having had problems in close to 30 years its not something I have ever looked out for, that said I have never been happy with the handbrake on this car.

 

Removing the centre console was a b***er of a job but a blessing in disguise.

8 hours ago, J.R. said:

Looks like its the shaft of the lever mechanism that is partially seized and preventing the actuating lever from returning to the stop position, with luck it will free off without removal of the caliper.

 

Something that I should have noticed when I changed the pads, that piston was a devil to retract, I will keep an eye on them in future, never having had problems in close to 30 years its not something I have ever looked out for, that said I have never been happy with the handbrake on this car.

 

Removing the centre console was a b***er of a job but a blessing in disguise.

I believe it was my handbrake lever on the OSR caliper when it had to be done a year after the NSR. Thinking back I think it was the handbrake adjuster being angled that originally showed it plus the handbrake was not that brill. 

They should both have been done last June in all honesty. Two calipers later all is good. On a 240k plus motor. First set so has to be expected at this age as the rust is setting in all over, expectally underneath 

My MK1 had 325000 miles and was 17 years old, had no rust anywhere and the brake calipers and handbrake had never demanded any attention in all that time and worked as new.

 

Given the rear brake calipers are such an old and reliable design they must have diminished the specification to save a few pennies multiplied across all the parts on the MK2, with regards to the calipers its probably a different plating process.

The compensator is rarely balance by look due to the cable run not being symmetrical. If you were getting uneven force applied at the caliper then I would suspect rust in the cable

15 hours ago, J.R. said:

that piston was a devil to retract

To my mind that says 'new caliper(s) time'.

Just for the record, you were lucky with your Mk1; I had to replace both my rear calipers at different times. Sticking calipers was the cause of poor handbrake efficiency. Just got the start of the problem again on my Mk 2. I would theorise that if one caliper was stuck then when you push the brake pedal and then pull on the handbrake, the cable adjuster would only work on one side so giving you the slanting compensator you observed. Just a theory.

 

Stripped the caliper, cleaned up piston and bore, still a little stiff but its the seal, it may have swollen, managed to tear the dust cover, no way could I get it to fit back with the piston in the bore or without the piston, it seems to have increased in diameter, even when I cut 6mm out of the circumference (remember I had already destroyed it) it did not want to go back in the groove and I could not fit the piston afterwards.

 

The lever freed off and was working correctly on the bench or so I thought, maybe 10 or 15° of movement rasing the threaded rod, however back on the car the same problem, swings through a 45° arc without clamping the pads.

 

It has been broken a long time and someone had taken up all the handbrake adjustment to get any braking on the RH wheel, I will have another strip down tomorrow but its looking like a new caliper might be needed as Wino said.

 

And I was going to retort that only someone with money but not time would consider it needed replacement, I much prefer to rebuild but looks doubtfull this time.

 

Did lots of searching to try and see how the actuator works, (its a cam mech on the wet side) and found this very good video on how to rebuild one:

 

 

 

The guy makes it look east to refit the dust cover but that was not my experience, anyone have any tips?

Can you not get a replacement seal kit?  Having gone as far as you have it would be a shame to bin it?

 

biggred.co.uk probably would be able to sort a seal kit for you

Edited 20 May, 20197 yr by nige8021

Will do but the problem is the non functioning handbrake cam, might have done the re-assembly wrong, maybe I needed to wind the piston back out with the handbrake lever and not with hydraulic pressure, will have another play tomorrow, just watching the video through properly, I only skipped through it before

Can't help I'm afraid, I only just recently got brave enough to refurb a front caliper, and haven't even tried that on a car yet.

By comparison there's a whole lot more going on inside a rear one.

The video has given me a few ideas of what might be wrong, whatever it is it precedes my ownership and a meccano had taken up all the adjustment to get it to brake on the right wheel with the compensator at a crazy angle.

 

It might simply be the lever fitted in the wrong position, the one on the video looks splined.

 

Its a very simple mechanism overall and has been pretty much universally adopted by all the car makers.

Parts are cheap, repair kit €8.50, new calipers €49, some have a €19 deposit on the old unit but others are outright purchase for that figure.

 

Dependant on what i find tomorrow i might replace both and then rebuild the old ones with the repair kits and keep them in stock, my UK neighbour has the same vehicle so odds on that one of us will need a replacement soon.

 

I dont really like doing repairs like this when I have to have the car back on the road the same day, I nearly ended up driving without one caliper this evening mush better to refurbish at leisure and have a spare for next time.

Stripped and re-asssembled the caliper for a second time today; the handbrake lever was pushing out the piston but it was retracting fully again, it was missing a sort of ratchet action, turned out a garage had already fitted a seal kit and put the main seal in backwards, to be fair it looked correct, if it were a seal located in the piston like the wheel cylinder the larger diameter face of the taper would indeed have faced inwards towards the hydraulic pressure but in this case it serves a different purpose, that of allowing the piston to move outwards relatively freely but with more force to return.

 

The 2 retrun springs on the cam lever mechanism try to pull the piston back and if the seal is correctly fitted it will rotate along the helix rather than be dragged back, mine was returning leaving too much free play between the pads and discs, they had compounded the bodge by adjusting the handbrake cable up tight and doing it again every year or so when the owner complained of a long brake pedal.

 

I now have a firm brake pedal as it always should have been.

 

Still need to fit a repair kit because I have torn apart the gaiter, unless someone is going to tell me that they really are impossible to fit in which case its a new caliper.

Found that the calipers for mine were more expensive than I thought, most had a consignment charge for return of the old unit (sending a parcel costs loads in France) or the price was higher for outright purchase, came in at around €90 each delivered.

 

Then did an Ebay.fr search and found a pair from (allegedly) the UK for €72 free delivery, mmm now where have I heard that before, oh yes my aircon compressor that came from an area of Southampton called Zhenzing China

 

Sure enough it was same seller, supposedly Southampton but it does now say Zhenzing China, the aircon pump was good quality, great value and arrived in days as do all the large tracked parcels from China so I am filling my boots with a pair of new calipers for €72 = €63 delivered, happy days!

 

Editted, I see that they are available from ebay in the UK for that price with free delivery you lucky people, its cheaper for me to buy them from China than pay the carriage UK to France.

Edited 21 May, 20197 yr by J.R.

The handbrake cabling is symmetrical and an unbalanced looking adjuster may just indicate a single cable was previously replaced which will have a slightly different length than the other worn one.

 

The caliper dust boots are easy enough to fit.  Fit on piston and offer up to caliper ensuring the seal and piston are lubricated with brake fluid, wiggle the piston into the caliper while ensuring it pushes the dust boot into place.  If you've cleaned everything properly the piston should be a snug hand tighten job to set it home, no need to wrench on a special tool.  Ensure the bleed nipple or master cylinder reservoir cap is open to allow the piston to screw home.

 

If you're the lazy type, reconditioned calipers are a cheap alternative. They bolt straight on, ready to go and usually have an exchange policy for your old one.

I am definitely not the lazy type but the price of the calipers was irresistable and means I can rebuild the old ones as spares.

 

Had you posted the tip for fitting the gaiter I would not have bought them but the spares will probably be a godsend one day for someone else if not myself.