Where do I stand legally.

[englisharcher]

2 months ago, I bought an E34 518i, shortly after one of the rear brake cylinders blew.

I took it to a garage, who replaced, the cylinder, pipe to the cylinder, and hew shoes.

Just 40 miles after the repair, the rear offside brake stuck on, the RAC towed me back, and the garage did some work, the car was returned working again.

Last week after just another 100 miles, the brake jammed again, again it was towed to the garage, who again said they had fixed it.

Today just 20 miles later, the same brake has jammed again. They now claim it is becouse my drums are worn, and they won't repair it again.

I have lost all confidence in the garage, how do I proceed now?

Do I need to go to trading standards?

[englisharcher]

The repair cost £150, the two repairs since have been free.

We live hand to mouth, and have no money to take it elsewhere.

[Caulkhead]

englisharcher said:

The repair cost £150, the two repairs since have been free.

We live hand to mouth, and have no money to take it elsewhere.

Trading standards or small claims court will take time and I assume you need to be mobile.

Best bet if you're skint is probably:

http://www.haynes.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/...

then www.eurocarparts.com, some tools a nd a few hours of your time.

[englisharcher]

doogz said:

Lay off the new I-Phones, remote control boats, and bars of silver then?

Sorry, my advice would be to take it to someone that has a clue. Getting him to look at it again isn't likely to help, and i doubt he's going to give you a refund, if he's adamant he repaired a problem, and another has presented itself.

I phone is free upgrade on contract, don't have a house phone.

Silver will be a gift from grand parents

Fair point on the boat, I may have to sell it to pay someone else to fix it

[englisharcher]

The Crack Fox said:

I'm sorry to say this, and I'm certainly no Millionnaire myself, but if you can't afford a decent garage to fix something as fundamentally important as brakes you can't afford to run the car. Either DIY it yourself (plenty of good BMW advice online for older stuff) or get a bus pass, sorry, expecting some magic cure or legal outcome is nonsense.

Fair point, and I did without the car for a few weeks until I got the money to get it repaired.

Now forgetting the money aspect, don't I have a right to a reasonable repair after paying the garage?

[englisharcher]

Would new drums actually solve the problem, or is he spinning me a line?

I appreciate that it's hard to say without seeing the car.

I just don't understand how new a new drum would stop the brake jamming on.

[honest_delboy]

I think the drum is worn so the pistons are pushing out the shoes too far(?) As the chap above says, its quite easy to remove and refit the drums. If you can change a wheel you can probably change a drum.

[PainTrain]

If the piston has been replaced it sounds more like the handbrake is siezing on?

[englisharcher]

PainTrain said:

If the piston has been replaced it sounds more like the handbrake is siezing on?

It's drum brakes! So don't they work off the same shoes?

[N Dentressangle]

£36 and you're sorted:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Drum-Rear-BMW-E34-...

Get your spanners out!

[englisharcher]

N Dentressangle said:

£36 and you're sorted:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brake-Drum-Rear-BMW-E34-...

Get your spanners out!

I've found one for £18 from GSF via eBay.

I'm game for having a go at replacing it myself.

If someone could just back up the story that it is the drum causing the problems, then I'll order it.

I can service an engine, but have never touched brakes, I'm assuming that it just

Wheel off

Drum off

Back off adjusters

Drum on

Wheel on

[N Dentressangle]

englisharcher said:

I've found one for £18 from GSF via eBay.

I'm game for having a go at replacing it myself.

If someone could just back up the story that it is the drum causing the problems, then I'll order it.

I can service an engine, but have never touched brakes, I'm assuming that it just

Wheel off

Drum off

Back off adjusters

Drum on

Wheel on

They've replaced everything else, so for £36 I'd certainly have a go at the drum.

As regards the 'how', does this help:

http://www.bawarec.ru/manuals/5er/e28/manuals-5er-...

[smartphone hater]

I'm finding it difficult to picture a scenario where a brake drum can cause a brake to stick on??

[davepoth]

smartphone hater said:

I'm finding it difficult to picture a scenario where a brake drum can cause a brake to stick on??

It's not the drum that's really causing it if that's what it is - the adjusters are winding all the way to the end of their travel because there's not enough drum, and it seems that if that happens they don't go back again.

OP, Since the drums will have been removed several times in the last month, they'll come off pretty easily - any chance you can take a photo of the inside face of one of them so we can see whether they're really worn or not?

[smartphone hater]

davepoth said:

It's not the drum that's really causing it if that's what it is - the adjusters are winding all the way to the end of their travel because there's not enough drum, and it seems that if that happens they don't go back again.

OP, Since the drums will have been removed several times in the last month, they'll come off pretty easily - any chance you can take a photo of the inside face of one of them so we can see whether they're really worn or not?

I see where you're coming from but if new shoes had been fitted then the adjusters would surely have been wound in a bit to accommodate the thicker new shoes. I'd of thought if that were the case they would have been sticking more before on the thinner shoes.

Seems a strange one to me & it would help to know if it were sticking after applying handbrake or foot pedal. Photos would definitely help as well.

[englisharcher]

It normally happens after parking with the hand brake on, and then driving 4 or 5 miles.

The handbrake now moves 4 or 5 clicks instead of the 10 it has been using.

I'll see what I can do about pictures.

[englisharcher]

Pictures

[smartphone hater]

englisharcher said:

It normally happens after parking with the hand brake on, and then driving 4 or 5 miles.

The handbrake now moves 4 or 5 clicks instead of the 10 it has been using.

I'll see what I can do about pictures.

Seeing as you're driving a few miles before the problem repeats itself unfortunately doesn't help to diagnose & seeing as the slack has been adjusted from the handbrake then davepoth & your garage could be totally correct & the problem is worn drums. The problem I have with this is, why didn't your garage notify you of badly worn drums when they first examined it? I'm not saying the cause isn't badly worn drums but & without seeing the car it's obviously impossible to say for sure but I'm not convinced that changing the drums will eliminate the problem.

I think you need to take it to someone who you trust that knows what they are talking about to diagnose it before spending money you may not need to.

Recently I was working on an old Iveco Daily van that has separate rear drums just used for the handbrake. It had a problem similar to yours & the problem was that the linkage from the rear handbrake cable to the shoes had seized in the handbrake on position. So for, I'm guessing, years someone had been adjusting the brake adjuster so it worked well enough to pass an mot & then readjusting it so it didn't stick on after driving a few miles.

I'm in no way implying that you have the same problem but I wonder how many people had attempted to fix that problem but had all overlooked something as simple as a seized pivot pin in the linkage.

[englisharcher]

Don't know if it helps, but here's a video

Edited by englisharcher on Thursday 24th May 18:10

[mikefacel]

doogz said:

Lay off the new I-Phones, remote control boats, and bars of silver then?

Busted!