my car is stuck. it wont move, the wheels at the back are locked. its a skoda mpi 1.4.

my car is stuck. it wont move, the wheels at the back are locked. its a skoda mpi 1.4.

has the vehicle been left for some time ?

has it got rear drums or discs ?

sounds like the rear brakes have siezed (If they are drums) ..

a way to cure it, is to jack it up take the wheels off, and smack the drums with a big hammer.....

We free a locked rear wheel on my friends astra doing this.... (after driving it down the road didn't work, and started to knacker his tyre!)

Sounds like the handbrake is jammed somehow. Just possible something holding cables at back of lever - lift out the ashtray thing at the back of the centre console and you'll see the cables. Anything stuck in there? If they are slack with the handbrake released, then the problem is the cables or within the brakes. You could jack up one wheel try to turn it to make certain both are locked. Unlikely if the cables are free at the lever end as they are separate after that. If the shoes are jammed on then sometimes you can free it a little by turning the wheel backwards. Don't force it / try to drive it free. If you can get it repaired where it is fine, but otherwise you need a rescue truck to lift it to a garage.

HTH

V

I've noticed mine stick if they get really wet and left overnight (washing the car or heavy rain) Don't know if it is the handbrake or the brake calipers though. Have to give it a few revs to unstick it with a clunk, but luckily it hasn't got worse than that... so I shouldn't be doing that then? hmmm

If it is drum brakes

No need to remove wheels or jack up the car.

chock the front wheels to stop the car roling away

let off the handbrake

poke a long bar 12" 1/2 drive socket bar will do through one of the holes in the wheel to make contact with the brake drum and give it a sharp tap with a hammer

This will usually do the trick unless the brake linings have detatched themselves from the shoes.

First few hundred metres the brakes might make a rubbing sound but this should dissapear quite quickly

If you have washed it they stick on sometimes but go with a bit of a bang when you engage 1st gear, ime talking bout discs all round if its drums on the rear may need a few taps with a rubber mallet as someone else has suggested,

If you follow Sharkrider's or Paarsko's advice:

PLEASE USE A RUBBER HAMMER OR A WOODEN MALLET, NOT A STEEL HAMMER!!!!

Brake drums are made of cast iron and you could easily crack it by hitting it with a metal hammer.

If it is drum brakes

No need to remove wheels or jack up the car.

chock the front wheels to stop the car roling away

let off the handbrake

poke a long bar 12" 1/2 drive socket bar will do through one of the holes in the wheel to make contact with the brake drum and give it a sharp tap with a hammer

This will usually do the trick unless the brake linings have detatched themselves from the shoes.

First few hundred metres the brakes might make a rubbing sound but this should dissapear quite quickly

never occured to me... we did the hard way! lol....

I get called to this fault at least once a week, used a steel hammer most of the time or sometimes a copper hammer. When you go through the hole in the wheel you always make contact with the corner of the drum which is pretty much the strongest bit. (Never broke on yet) you might brake one if you were to hit the lip but again very rare.

When the linings have detatatched from the shoes the only way to get em off is to lever one side of the drum and hammer the drum as hard as you can, busting the hold down springs.(again, never broken a drum)

can only imagine the only thing you will do with a rubber hammer is smack yerself in the Heed when it bounces off!

If you follow Sharkrider's or Paarsko's advice:

PLEASE USE A RUBBER HAMMER OR A WOODEN MALLET, NOT A STEEL HAMMER!!!!

Brake drums are made of cast iron and you could easily crack it by hitting it with a metal hammer.

If they crack when you hit them with a hammer, then they are already cracked and need replacing anyway.

If anyone has ever owned an "older" Vauxhall, the sticky drum thing is a regular occurance if the car is left for a while after driving in the rain. I used to just remove the wheel trims and apply the Welsh Spanner direct to the wheel until free (4lb club hammer). Never had a problem doing it this way for years with several Cavaliers and Astras.

Then again, I am a world renowned specialist with the Welsh spanner, so you might want to exersize caution when wielding the Mighty Mallet

Then again, I am a world renowned specialist with the Welsh spanner, so you might want to exersize caution when wielding the Mighty Mallet

Ah the lost art of percussive maintenance …………