2005 Ford Focus has been parked up for last 4 days, just went out to start it

OnlyWayIsUp

and the handbrake won't come off. I can physically move the handbrake lever up and down but the actual brake won't come off, anyone know how to sort this?

dgt

Assuming you have drums whack them with a hammer

OnlyWayIsUp

dgt wrote: »

Assuming you have drums whack them with a hammer

Thanks for your response but i don't have the first clue about cars and have no idea what drums are.

Plug

Remove the back wheels then look at the brakes. Are they shiny round things with a caliper or rusted round things? If there rusted round thing(drums) hit them a few slaps of a hammer.

tossy

Did you try driving off and see if that frees them ?

OnlyWayIsUp

dgt wrote: »

Assuming you have drums whack them with a hammer

I have no idea what a drum or a disk is! I got brake pads changed at end of last year, would that give a clue as to whether it's a disk or drum?

Tried freeing brakes by driving off but just got smell.of burning rubber so stopped.

listermint

Have you tried driving it ?

Forward or back first to free it up

Capri86

That would be the front wheels only. You have drums on the back. As said they sometimes stick on. The handbrake works on the back wheels only. As said. Give them a tap with a hammer or try driving a small bit and seeing if they free up. My old focus did that sometimes and I just had to get moving and they would free

MrDerp

I had such a car, you more than likely have drums at the back.

Do you park on a slope in neutral? This used to cause a similar seizure in an old car of my mother's.

OnlyWayIsUp

Just freed them there. Stuck her in reverse and gave it welly ignoring the smell of burning! Back left popped and freed and back right followed a few seconds later. Thank all for saving me a few quid!

tin79

Happened a lot on the old Focus I had. Even overnight sometimes during cold and wet weather but anything more than a day or two and it always happened.

I had to get the cable replaced and after that I tried to park it in gear without the handbrake on when possible.

ardmacha

maybe its the weather, the handbrake was stuck on my 05 Focus today also, although when I reversed it freed up.

biko

And it's not even cold outside.

It's probably fine but I'd suggest chatting to a mech just in case there is another issue at work that cause the seize. They can sand the pads and drum to remove rust.

bazz26

It's more than likely the rain and the car parked up for 4 days that caused the rear drum brakes to lock up. Happend me before on a Focus that I returned to at Dublin Airport after 2 weeks away. Had to do a bit of gentle forward and reverse to free them up. Never had the same problem with any car fitted with discs alround.