Electronic handbrake failure 08 VW Passat

miss.piggy

Hi all. I went to start my car the other morning and handbrake (button) would not release. Had to get it towed and driver said the calliper is stuck on back passenger side. Car in garage but they won't be looking at it tomorrow.
Can anyone advise what exactly is wrong? How it can be fixed? How long will repair take? And what cost I should expect?

Thanks in advance

mickdw

miss.piggy wrote: »

Hi all. I went to start my car the other morning and handbrake (button) would not release. Had to get it towed and driver said the calliper is stuck on back passenger side. Car in garage but they won't be looking at it tomorrow.
Can anyone advise what exactly is wrong? How it can be fixed? How long will repair take? And what cost I should expect?

Thanks in advance

Common enough. The handbrakes had a few issues but seeing as you say one side is stuck, it's likely the electrics at the actual caliper at that wheel.
If it needs replacing it will be a few hundred.

Magown3

Easy to sort out. Disconnect battery for a minute and connect again.

It will reoccur, and the fix is annoying, but it will get you moving again.

Have your radio code handy

miss.piggy

Thanks for the replies.

The guy who had a look at it did disconnect and reconnect the battery but no luck. He also plugged in the computer to try release that wheel but no luck with that either - so it had to be towed.

OldmanMondeo

The motor on those Passats is attached to the caliper. Every other make and Model I can think of has the motor hiden away so dirt and water can not cause damage. New/ Recon caliper is needed. Approx 300 plus VAT and labour. Car can be fixed in a day.

miss.piggy

Thanks for the reply.

Oh god! Hoped it wouldn't be that much, that's all I need now!!!

miss.piggy

Garage just rang and although they have to confirm in a few minutes they said it looks like a ceased caliper on that side.
Is a ceased caliper different from an issue with the caliper motor? (excuse my ignorance!) And if so how much should a ceased caliper cost to repair?

Thanks

George Dalton

It's the same thing. Either way you need a new caliper, as another poster already said, you are looking at approx €340.

miss.piggy

Just got quote.
€705 total! :(:(
€460 for replacement caliper back passenger side
€245 for new brake pads and discs both sides (worn on side caliper is ceased on and he said both sides need to be replaced)
I have to ring back shortly.
Any advice/opinions?

miss.piggy

miss.piggy wrote: »

Just got quote.
€705 total! :(:(
€460 for replacement caliper back passenger side
€245 for new brake pads and discs both sides (worn on side caliper is ceased on and he said both sides need to be replaced)
I have to ring back shortly.
Any advice/opinions?

Pm. George Dalton I'd say.

George Dalton

Is that a main dealer price?

mickdw

samih wrote: »

Pm. George Dalton I'd say.

Yep. He should be able to give you what a reasonable quote would be.
now given that it's the parking brake that stuck on, there is no reason to believe that the caliper was sticking in normal operation to the point of wearing pads or discs.
still sounds pricey even if discs are needed.

miss.piggy

George Dalton wrote: »

Is that a main dealer price?

No. It's the garage in Dublin car was towed to as it was one of few opened on Saturday. I queried the pads and disks replacement as there was no indication of these been worn but they've confirmed and offered to show me them worn

StereoSound

miss.piggy wrote: »

Just got quote.
€705 total! :(:(
€460 for replacement caliper back passenger side
€245 for new brake pads and discs both sides (worn on side caliper is ceased on and he said both sides need to be replaced)
I have to ring back shortly.
Any advice/opinions?

Get more quotes...

miss.piggy

They also said front pads are worn to 25% so will need them replaced shortly too.....

mickdw

Volkswagen will do rear discs and pads for fixed price of 219 so this crowd are far too expensive. Chances are you won't get genuine parts either from this crowd.
I'd take the car away if possible as they seem pricey with the caliper too.

It's on vw website. Car 2009 or older up to 2.0 €219

StereoSound

miss.piggy wrote: »

They also said front pads are worn to 25% so will need them replaced shortly too.....

Focus on getting done what's wrong with it. 25% pads on front is not an emergency. My Skoda Octavia has about 20% left at the minute.
I wouldn't feel compelled to get that garage to fix it because your car had been towed there. Get a few more quotes from garages near that one so towing it to another place won't break the bank if tou get a better estimate. That's what I would do.

George Dalton

mickdw wrote: »

Yep. He should be able to give you what a reasonable quote would be.

Rear discs and pads €180 (decent quality OEM eg Brembo, Jurid)
Caliper €340 (OEM TRW)

Those prices would be fair IMO. You may even get a bit of discount on the discs and pads price as some of the labour should be already included in the caliper quote.

miss.piggy

Hi all. Just an update on this. After I got the calliper (and back pads and disks) done an abs light appeared on the dash and I noticed a scraping noise when braking sometimes.

Anyway I recently brought it to a garage who said it needs a new abs unit (and also new front pads and disks - which I expected as garage who did calliper told me they were getting worn).

My question is - would the abs unit failing be related to the calliper being replaced?

Also how much should one be for a 08 Passat? The garage suggested using a second hand one - how much would this be roughly?

And how much should the front brake pads and discs be?

Thanks in advance