Emergency brake help

tk123 · 22-03-2011 9:47pm #1

I have an auto 2001 RX300 that failed the NCT on the emergency brake (it's a pedal rather than a handbrake) - it was 12% and needs to be 16% to pass. We knew it would prob fail but decided to do the NCT, get the list of what to fix and go back... My dad knows his way around a car and does all his own work/repairs - he has a 20 year old volvo 940 so he's had lots of practice lol :pac::pac: so he took a look. He tightened the cable as much as possible and this brought us up to 14% - still too low. Before he tightened it the car would move in drive or neutral with the brake on. In park it'd move say a foot but park would hold it in place after that.. After he tightened it it doesn't roll forward anymore but still rolls backwards with the brake on.
Any ideas guys? The disks, pads and shoes all look ok with plenty of wear left on them?

Atlantic Dawn · 22-03-2011 9:57pm

Post No. 6, there's a pdf to download, you need to join the site and you can download it, seems to be useful from the other posters...

http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=54404

mickdw · 22-03-2011 11:13pm

Most likely adjustment at the wheel. Continuously tightening the cable is not the way to adjust I would think

tk123 · 28-03-2011 7:43am

GAH! Still no joy with it he's adjusted at the wheel and yesterday adjusted it again and put in new pads and it's still the same. It holds going downhill but not uphill. I was trying to save a few quid by getting him to sort it and also not have to be without the car if I left it in somewhere but now i'm not so sure. Advance Pitstop do a free brake test and claim to be able to sort most brake problems while you wait but I'm not sure if they're cowboys?

Mr Benevolent · 28-03-2011 7:52am

You're wasting euros to save cents. Get it to a garage and have them fix it properly.

mullingar · 28-03-2011 8:11am

If you dont know what you are doing, leave it to somebody who does.

IF the E-brake in the RX is similar to a GS of the same era, its a very simple cable/spring system with the shoes inside the brake disc (Yes, each rear wheel has 4 pads!).

Did you Dad take the disc off and look at the condition of the Brake shoes? If the cable was were over tightened, the pads could have worn away too much. They only have around 3mm friction material from new as they are designed to stop the car FROM moving, not to slow it down!

tk123 · 28-03-2011 8:29am

mullingar wrote: »

If you dont know what you are doing, leave it to somebody who does.

IF the E-brake in the RX is similar to a GS of the same era, its a very simple cable/spring system with the shoes inside the brake disc (Yes, each rear wheel has 4 pads!).

Did you Dad take the disc off and look at the condition of the Brake shoes? If the cable was were over tightened, the pads could have worn away too much. They only have around 3mm friction material from new as they are designed to stop the car FROM moving, not to slow it down!

In fairness he does not what he's doing...to an extent :pac: He's always done his own repairs and services vans where he works but as confab says he's trying to save a few cents/euros by replacing the parts as a last resort :rolleyes: I think I'll have to pay mickgarage.ie a visit and just buy everything lol

28-03-2011 10:35am

mullingar wrote: »

If you dont know what you are doing, leave it to somebody who does.

IF the E-brake in the RX is similar to a GS of the same era, its a very simple cable/spring system with the shoes inside the brake disc (Yes, each rear wheel has 4 pads!)

4 pads per wheel as well as the handbrake shoes?

tk123 · 28-03-2011 11:15am

There's 2 pads and 2 shoes

28-03-2011 11:19am

Yeah, that's what I'd expect

I had similar trouble with an old Merc, bastad foot applied parking brake was a pain to get right, got there eventually for the NCT.

mullingar · 28-03-2011 11:22am

I should have been a little clearer, 4 friction plates per rear wheel (2x pads, 2 x shoes)

DublinDilbert · 28-03-2011 11:29am

RoverJames wrote: »

Yeah, that's what I'd expect
I had similar trouble with an old Merc, bastad foot applied parking brake was a pain to get right, got there eventually for the NCT.

Handbrakes in general can be a pain to get right, especially getting the left / right balance correct. I've asked on here a few times and never really got a good suggestion.

What exactly did it fail the NCT on? over all imbalance? or over all efficiency?

I'm not sure of the set-up on the mazada whether they use separate parking brake shoes or the main pads. But I would inspect the shoes / pads and ratchet type adjusters to make sure they are ok.

If it has shoes, with the back raised and the park brake off, i would adjust the shoes out till the start to bind then bring them back in slightly. Apply/release the park brake a few times, then see if they bind.

The way I normally try to test the effectiveness is on a small hill / incline. Let the car roll back and apply the park brake, if one side of the rear end rises up more than the other that side is braking too much, so adjust accordingly.

mullingar · 28-03-2011 11:31am

This may help but its for a GS:

The rear shoes adjustment is first set by tightening the adjuster wheel (between the 2x arrows on the picture) through the small hole that's on the rear disc until the shoes "bites" into the disc where you cannot turn the disc.
Then undo by 3 clicks and make sure the disc spins freely.
Repeat the other side.
Then inside the car adjust the tension on the foot pedals cable so it clicks home in about 6 clicks to fully on, usually a small nut just over the pedal.

28-03-2011 11:51am

DublinDilbert wrote: »

What exactly did it fail the NCT on? over all imbalance? or over all efficiency?

Failed first on the efficiency, then it failed the retest on imbalance, in fairness they did the 2nd retest an hour after ther first for me after I went home and adjusted it again.

-Chris- · 28-03-2011 12:06pm

Thread moved to DIY/Tech Help forum

Slidey · 28-03-2011 1:31pm

handbrake shoes that operate inside the discs have a tendency to go hard.

If all the adjusters are free in their movements and cables are free and the drum part of the discs is in good condition it is very likely to be the shoes.

Spurious shoes are not a great idea, they sometimes give very poor readings.

A good tip is to try and drive away with the handbrake pulled. On manuals on tickover you should not be Able to drive off with the handbrake pulled

28-03-2011 1:48pm

mullingar wrote: »

This may help but its for a GS:

The rear shoes adjustment is first set by tightening the adjuster wheel (between the 2x arrows on the picture) through the small hole that's on the rear disc until the shoes "bites" into the disc where you cannot turn the disc.
Then undo by 3 clicks and make sure the disc spins freely.
Repeat the other side. .

Same as on the W124

tk123 · 19-05-2011 10:13am

Right so just to update in case anyone come across this thread this is what happened

Pedal tightened up (what the NCT guy said to do) - FAIL
Cables tightened and tightened some more - FAIL
Shoes replaced with replacements from motor factors- FAIL

- I won't name and shame - lets just say they're on the southside

Each time work was done on it the car seemed fine - was holding on hills but then it'd gradually get worse..

Shoes replaced with shoes from Tadgh Riordans - PASS...on the brake

... but they failed the back light as a bit of plastic has been missing since the day I got the car never failed before - they "have to be stricter now cos of the tv show"

Regarding the brake shoes - he went to the motor factors and asked for shoes for a 2001 RX300 he didn't bring the old ones with him or anything - they were the same shoes as what was on it - listed as Camry shoes. The set we got from Riordans are the same as Avensis shoes - he said they see a lot of RX300s with these wrong shoes.

Emergency brake help

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