High Handbrake - Just a Simple Fix?
Discussion
paintman said:
Brake shoes/pads out of adjustment.
Stretched handbrake cables(s).
If there are two cables - one to each of the wheel mechanisms - then one has broken.
As to the degree of difficulty I suppose it depends on your spannering abilities.
You think it's worth removing the console cover and tightening it handbrake-side first?Stretched handbrake cables(s).
If there are two cables - one to each of the wheel mechanisms - then one has broken.
As to the degree of difficulty I suppose it depends on your spannering abilities.
Cheers
I thought self-adjusting parking brakes (not a handbrake) were pretty much standard nowadays. Once cars had dual circuit systems, the required efficiency of the parking brake dropped from (if I recall correctly) 25% to 16%.
Does the car have rear drum brakes as service (i.e. main brakes) or drum in hat (disc brake with a drum for parking brake shoes)?
When you say does not work very well, is that when parking or when using it to bring to a stop (a recommended now-and-again procedure at low speeds to keep the shoe linings in condition)? No parking brake can stop a moving car very well at all.
Does the car have rear drum brakes as service (i.e. main brakes) or drum in hat (disc brake with a drum for parking brake shoes)?
When you say does not work very well, is that when parking or when using it to bring to a stop (a recommended now-and-again procedure at low speeds to keep the shoe linings in condition)? No parking brake can stop a moving car very well at all.
Always start at the business end when a handbrake is high, simply adusting the cable up without checking all is well at the business could prevent any automatic adjusters there from working properly.
Not sure on Celica but some Toyotas have the excellent drum inside disc design for park brake, in such designs the shoes only operate as a park brake.
Anyway, whatever the system is make the sure the shoes or pads are free moving, if its the drum inside disc design then almost certainly there will be manual adjusters for that type of brake shoe, but to check all is well with the shoes and drum friction area you will need to remove the disc/drum completely to inspect, clean everything up and make sure all pivot points and the handbrake cable itself is lubed if you can access it...you can also feed oil down the cable from the handbrake lever end.
So with either the shoes adjusted up or you've made sure the rear pads can self adjust (if pads operate park brake too) then partly adjust the cable up to give you a park brake of sorts, then a quick run out in the car using the park brake gently to bed everything in nicely, after that you might need to readjust the park brake shoes, last thing you do is tighten the cable at the handbrake lever end.
If the vehicle has drum brakes only at the rear, then its a similar operation to the drum inside disc, but the shoes will have automatic adjusters, you can check that mechanism is working properly.
Not sure on Celica but some Toyotas have the excellent drum inside disc design for park brake, in such designs the shoes only operate as a park brake.
Anyway, whatever the system is make the sure the shoes or pads are free moving, if its the drum inside disc design then almost certainly there will be manual adjusters for that type of brake shoe, but to check all is well with the shoes and drum friction area you will need to remove the disc/drum completely to inspect, clean everything up and make sure all pivot points and the handbrake cable itself is lubed if you can access it...you can also feed oil down the cable from the handbrake lever end.
So with either the shoes adjusted up or you've made sure the rear pads can self adjust (if pads operate park brake too) then partly adjust the cable up to give you a park brake of sorts, then a quick run out in the car using the park brake gently to bed everything in nicely, after that you might need to readjust the park brake shoes, last thing you do is tighten the cable at the handbrake lever end.
If the vehicle has drum brakes only at the rear, then its a similar operation to the drum inside disc, but the shoes will have automatic adjusters, you can check that mechanism is working properly.
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