Frozen handbrake

gary the great

Anyone else get that this morning?

Think the only way of sorting it out is blowing a hairdryer up onto the mechanism behind the wheel. But my car is parked about 40metres from my apartment so thats not an option.

Its also parked on a hill, so wouldnt like to leave it in gear with the handrake off....need to be able to get to work 2mrw so dont want this to happen again. Any ideas?

antodeco

If you cant get a hairdryer to it, would a bowl or pot of boiling water be of benefit? Leave it under it and let the steam rise?

Gary ITR

Your brake drums/calipers should have sufficient grease to stave off freezing. I'd be having them looked at

Barname

• leave the handbrake off

• park tight to the kerb, lock your steering so as car turns to kerb downhill

• leave in R or 5th depending on direction of car in relation to hill

• if you have a small wooden block, place under one of the outer wheels for good measure

to release hand brake from frozen F R F R

good luck

v300

Onkle wrote: »

Your brake drums/calipers should have sufficient grease to stave off freezing. I'd be having them looked at

Maybe not...

Moisture in the friction material is the problem.
The friction material freezes to the drum.

It does not happen so often in cars with disc only handbrake mechanisims,
but more with brake shoe type mechanisms.

Leave the handbrake off and park her in gear with a stone under the back wheel
to prevent movement until the temps get back to normal.

v300

Barname wrote: »

• leave in R or 5th depending on direction of car in relation to hill

R or first or second, nothing higher.

In 3rd 4th or 5th the car may run away on a slope !

v300

Barname wrote: »

cars can shunt in lower gears, save your erroneus advice.

Cars shunt in higher gears.
Gearbox multiplication effectively increases engine friction in the low gears
IE first or reverse.

Your advice is incorrect in this regard.

Muckie

v300 wrote: »

Maybe not...

Moisture in the friction material is the problem.
The friction material freezes to the drum.

It does not happen so often in cars with disc only handbrake mechanisims,
but more with brake shoe type mechanisms.

Leave the handbrake off and park her in gear with a stone under the back wheel
to prevent movement until the temps get back to normal.

Thats very true, the rear pads split inside the drums on the wifes Clio
last year, hell of a job getting them off, so leave in gear and handbrake off folks.

Savman

Having same problem on a Mondeo and it's a PITA to say the least. Do we leave it in 1st / 2nd / 5th or wha? Confusing advice so far, just want to be sure the car don't go walkies :eek:


/runs out to car to check

tuxy

Savman wrote: »

Having same problem on a Mondeo and it's a PITA to say the least. Do we leave it in 1st / 2nd / 5th or wha? Confusing advice so far, just want to be sure the car don't go walkies :eek:


/runs out to car to check

If you left it in 1st gear it would be very unlikely that the car would move at all.

Savman

tuxy wrote: »

If you left it in 1st gear it would be very unlikely that the car would move at all.

Er, still a bit vague tbh.

Barname wrote:

leave in R or 5th

v300 wrote:

R or first or second, nothing higher.

Which is true folks?

Waaaayyy!!

Leave it in first, it's a lower gear and therefore much more difficult to turn the engine. Also, spray WD-40 on the handbrake cables to drive away the moisture although this is not guranteed to work.

Mycroft H

And if all that failed a large concrete block behind the wheel would do the job

ninty9er

Not ideal, but I had this issue Christmas week and resolved it with anti-freeze directly applied to the affected wheel. Happened again last week and a kettle of boiling water did the job, same wheel again. Have been parking in first with the handbrake off in cold areas since.

JHMEG

Onkle wrote: »

Your brake drums/calipers should have sufficient grease to stave off freezing. I'd be having them looked at

The shoes/pads get frozen to the drum/disc. There should be no grease between these two surfaces!

OP, you don't need grease or an inspection. Just pour hot water over your drums or calipers.

Alun

Might not be the pads/shoes themselves. I had a Mondeo once where the same thing happened, but in this case water had somehow got inside the cable (possibly a boot or something had come loose) and frozen.

niceirishfella

JHMEG wrote: »

The shoes/pads get frozen to the drum/disc. There should be no grease between these two surfaces!

OP, you don't need grease or an inspection. Just pour hot water over your drums or calipers.

+1

gary the great

No luck.

Got the wheel on one side free after one basin of hot water...but after 3 basins on the other side it still wotn budge. Sat in the car an hour to with the engine running hoping the hear from the exhaust would free it (its the wheel on the exhaust side) but no luck.

Bus for me it seems until the freeze is over

The handbrake is off now anyway, its in first and i have a brick behind the back wheel just incase.

Waaaayyy!!

It might not be the parts of the drum itself that are sticking, possibly the cable is frozen. Try splashing hot water on the cable . . .

niceirishfella

gary the great wrote: »

No luck.

Got the wheel on one side free after one basin of hot water...but after 3 basins on the other side it still wotn budge. Sat in the car an hour to with the engine running hoping the hear from the exhaust would free it (its the wheel on the exhaust side) but no luck.

Bus for me it seems until the freeze is over

The handbrake is off now anyway, its in first and i have a brick behind the back wheel just incase.

sounds like the handbrake cables are frozen.

CrowdedHouse

I've heard of someone sliding(on a shovel) a disposable barbecue in under the car for a short time (remember fuel tanks !!)to free a frozen handbrake cable ..don't know if I'd try myself though...

Bulmers

i was just about to post something up on boards as the wifes car, opel astra gtc is having this problem, both back wheels locking up..didn't know what it was but threw hot water on them this morning and seemed to help, although went to get petrol in it, stopped for 5 mins and they froze again..

is there something wrong with the car that this is happening, or does something need to be done to the drums to fix this..

anyway boards solves the problem again, handbrake off for tonite so hopefully all ok in the morning.

Gary ITR

JHMEG wrote: »

The shoes/pads get frozen to the drum/disc. There should be no grease between these two surfaces!

OP, you don't need grease or an inspection. Just pour hot water over your drums or calipers.

I was thinking the caliper itself was stuck, which would need greasing

v300

Onkle wrote: »

I was thinking the caliper itself was stuck, which would need greasing

Stuck calipers (95 percent of the time) happen
when the borehole for the piston rusts and
increases friction on the caliper piston.

The other percentages mainly go down to
seized sliding pins which grease will fix perfectly !

A seized or semi-sezied caliper is a lot more noticeable
in this weather, as it in effect has the brake applied on that wheel.

coco06

So if you leave your car in 1st, leave handbrake off and put blocks under wheels, this reduces the chances of it happening again is that correct?

Cheers

v300

coco06 wrote: »

So if you leave your car in 1st, leave handbrake off and put blocks under wheels, this reduces the chances of it happening again is that correct?

Cheers

Correct !!!