Vectra C parking brake imbalance

Cass

Apologies in advance for the long post ( i suffer from verbal diarrhea )

Car is 2004 Vectra C.

Anywho. She passed on most everything they could test for (lift still not working). So she passed on lights, emissions, brakes, side slip, etc. However after been told about the lifts not working and having to come back i was told she needed to be re-tested anyway because she failed on the parking brake. The tester's exact words, verbatim:

"The driver's side parking brake is not engaging at all".

I looked at the result sheet i was presented with and it shows nearside - 2.110kn, offside - 0.280kn, imbalance - 87%.

About six months back i replaced both rear calipers, brake discs, and all brake pads as the nearside caliper was stuck so i took this opportunity to replace the entire rear braking system. So i thought i'd forgotten to reattach the handbrake cable. It wouldn't be like me to forget it, but mistakes do happen.

Got home, jacked the car, took off the wheel and check the parking brake cable to make sure i did not forget to reattach the parking brake cable to the caliper. However it was already attached.

Next step was to check if the cable was broken. The car is jacked and in reverse with the handbrake off so i am able to move the parking brake lever on the caliper by hand. I apply the handbrake and the lever moves into the "on/locked" position. I cannot budge it, even with some leverage (pry bar). The brake pads are holding the disc and i cannot move the disc by hand or again with a large driver as leverage. I replace the wheel and spin in then apply the brake and the wheel stops. I give the handbrake another click and try to move the wheel, and nothing, not a budge.

Thinking this is not the same as the actual test and happy the cable is not broken or stuck i drop the jack and put the car back on all fours.

I start the car and place it into reverse (i'm against a wall hence the reverse to start with). The car moves back and i apply the handbrake. The car stops. I give the handbrake another pull and it comes up another click (about 4 in total now) and i slowly release the clutch. The handbrake holds and the car does NOT move. I give the engine a decent rev to try and make it move while still having the handbrake applied, and nothing. About 2,200 - 2,300 rpm and the car is no moving.

I then do the same test only in first gear and again the handbrake holds and the car won't budge. The nose lifts but she stays put.

According to the numbers on the fail sheet, and the guy at the centre the parking brake is not engaging at all. However at home and by my own testing (as poor as it is) she is not only working but as it should.

What am i missing? The reading for the offside is 10% of the nearside. The imbalance is 87%. I thought that it could be the nearside be doing all the work but the mechanical lever, cable, and pads are doing what they are supposed to do on the offside? IOW everything is working. I then thought the cable is stretched, but again this would explain a slight or small imbalance or fail in readings, but not the "utter" fail and large imbalance i'm being told is present.

As the foot brake and parking brake are completely separate am i better off just buying a new cable and replacing it. Can get one in my local motor factors for 40 quid or is there something else i should check? Its not the cost of the part or the fitting as i'll do it myself, its being told something is wrong when i cannot find fault with it.

dooroy

Can you jack the car so both rear wheels are off the ground ?
Apply the handbrake ; count the number of clicks to full on.
Then , for example , use wheel brace on wheel nuts to see do both sides offer similar resistance.
Not very 'technical' but will give an indication - the sort of imbalance shown on test result should mean that with one wheel locked the other should turn easily.
Does your car have 2 handbrake cables or 1 long one that goes from wheel to wheel.
If it has 2 then one could be stretched and not doing it's job.

Cass

I know this is an old thread but this has been an ongoing issue for over a year now.

Fair warning, there follows a long post so apologies in advance.

I replaced the handbrake. So all in all i've replaced the calipers, handbrake cable, pads, discs, and new braking fluid.

The car went back in for retest last year and passed, which was job number one. However even though it passed the braking imbalance was still higher than i would like and/or expect. It's down from 87% to 44%. Anything over 50% is a fail. I did notice, before the retest, that the handbrake seemed to get better with usage over the week from doing the work to the test so i was wondering could it be a case of settling in? Turns out it wasn't that.

The handbrake rises higher than it did before the work, but holds better. Well as good as you can expect from a Vectra.

With the lockdown still in place i decided to have a root around at this handbrake again, last year around November, and i thought i had fixed the issue. I stripped out the centre console and armrest. Was playing around with some things, but mostly just looking to see what, if anything, could be done. The handbrake was coming up 7 clicks and unable to hold the car just using the clutch. With 10-11 clicks, and it being as far the handbrake would lift it held the car even under a small bit of acceleration.

So i was at this for about an hour and about to give up when i done something with the "bolt" through the centre of the handbrake unit (under the centre console), with the spring on it. I noticed the rear of the bolt, with the handbrake lifted, had a hexagonal rear end (the bit that goes under the car). I tried turning this, but it only went a little to the left or right and then nothing. When i pulled the handbrake up fully i noticed the hexagonal bolt connected to the wire that runs under the car and connects to the actual brake cable.

While messing around with this i let the handbrake off but has a pair of pliers holding the wire (coming off the hexagonal bit) and it went "in" more. So i lifted the handbrake just a taste and pulled this cable more, into the mechanism and it went.

Now instead of seeing the hexagonal bit of the bolt i see only the wire. When i tried the handbrake lever it goes up two clicks and three with a bit of a pull. This now holds the car when i try to take of with only the clutch. Under slight acceleration the car moves slowly forward. So i gave the handbrake as much of a pull as i could and it went to a max of 4 click (in total). Now it holds the car even under acceleration.

I spent about 15 minutes constantly pulling the handbrake and letting it off and the cable is holding where it is. Also the handbrake used to make a sound, heavy clunk/click, as though it missed tooth when being pulled. It never done it since the "fix". I wonder if the handbrake was not properly "set up" and this mistaken action (pulling the cable) has resolved this because i have a very good working handbrake, no noise and feeling a little better bout the whole thing.

Of course i could have just messed the whole thing up and this is its swam song before giving up completely. It turned out not to be its Swam song, but also not a proper fix so today i decided to go back at it and low and behold its sorted, at last.

In short it was the return spring on the rear brake calipers. They are the original ones so were knackered and incapable of returning the handbrake cable once pulled. Replaced them and all is good in the world again.

Longer version, never make assumptions. I assumed that because the rear calipers, brake pads, cable, brake fluid and discs were all new that it couldn't possibly be anything to do with the braking system and had to be the handbrake. After messing with the handbrake lever for a bit and adjusting the position of it i said i'd "check" that i had actually hooked up the handbrake cable to the caliper. Rookie mistake but you never know.

Took off the rear wheel (offside) and all looked good. A good bit of dirt around the caliper and hub in general (heavy rain, living near a quarry doesn't help that) but could not see anything obvious. I had my Father pull the handbrake to see what was actually happening and when i asked him to do so he said he had pulled it. I told him to let it off, and again repeated for him to let it off to which he said it was off (the handbrake).

No movement of the cable or return spring/mechanism. Gave it a couple of taps of a plastic hammer and the return lever went back into the "off" position. So i took to cleaning them caliper, thoroughly, and then spraying the lever liberally with freeing oil. I then got my Father to work the handbrake putting it on and off and noticed that it "wanted to" go back but didn't. I found another spring i had in the garage and while 10mm shorter thought i'd change them out. Once i did the handbrake engaged and the disengaged without effort.

Replaced the wheel and done the nearside in the same fashion and replaced that spring too with another i had. Refitted the wheel and gave it a test.

I can only get three to four clicks until the handbrake becomes unmoveable. The car holds in reverse and 1st gear. Even under a little acceleration the car held with only three to four clicks of the handbrake. I then took it to the car wash bay (i've one built at the back of the house) and tried the handbrake there as it has a steep enough decline and the car would always roll unless in gear (no matter how hard the handbrake was pulled). It held.

It seems with the auto adjust could not work and because the return spring would not bring the caliper/cable to the return position the handbrake was always "on". I checked the pads and the inside on both nearside/offside are slightly more worn than the outside pads so i'll replace them this week, but i now know why the handbrake was never going to work.

I'll leave the temp springs in place but will order new ones tomorrow. It never occurred to me that with everything i changed i never changed the return springs so made the assumption it couldn't be anything i'd "fixed" could be at fault.

BavarianCare

Cass wrote: »

I know this is an old thread but this has been an ongoing issue for over a year now.

Fair warning, there follows a long post so apologies in advance.

I replaced the handbrake. So all in all i've replaced the calipers, handbrake cable, pads, discs, and new braking fluid.

The car went back in for retest last year and passed, which was job number one. However even though it passed the braking imbalance was still higher than i would like and/or expect. It's down from 87% to 44%. Anything over 50% is a fail. I did notice, before the retest, that the handbrake seemed to get better with usage over the week from doing the work to the test so i was wondering could it be a case of settling in? Turns out it wasn't that.

The handbrake rises higher than it did before the work, but holds better. Well as good as you can expect from a Vectra.

With the lockdown still in place i decided to have a root around at this handbrake again, last year around November, and i thought i had fixed the issue. I stripped out the centre console and armrest. Was playing around with some things, but mostly just looking to see what, if anything, could be done. The handbrake was coming up 7 clicks and unable to hold the car just using the clutch. With 10-11 clicks, and it being as far the handbrake would lift it held the car even under a small bit of acceleration.

So i was at this for about an hour and about to give up when i done something with the "bolt" through the centre of the handbrake unit (under the centre console), with the spring on it. I noticed the rear of the bolt, with the handbrake lifted, had a hexagonal rear end (the bit that goes under the car). I tried turning this, but it only went a little to the left or right and then nothing. When i pulled the handbrake up fully i noticed the hexagonal bolt connected to the wire that runs under the car and connects to the actual brake cable.

While messing around with this i let the handbrake off but has a pair of pliers holding the wire (coming off the hexagonal bit) and it went "in" more. So i lifted the handbrake just a taste and pulled this cable more, into the mechanism and it went.

Now instead of seeing the hexagonal bit of the bolt i see only the wire. When i tried the handbrake lever it goes up two clicks and three with a bit of a pull. This now holds the car when i try to take of with only the clutch. Under slight acceleration the car moves slowly forward. So i gave the handbrake as much of a pull as i could and it went to a max of 4 click (in total). Now it holds the car even under acceleration.

I spent about 15 minutes constantly pulling the handbrake and letting it off and the cable is holding where it is. Also the handbrake used to make a sound, heavy clunk/click, as though it missed tooth when being pulled. It never done it since the "fix". I wonder if the handbrake was not properly "set up" and this mistaken action (pulling the cable) has resolved this because i have a very good working handbrake, no noise and feeling a little better bout the whole thing.

Of course i could have just messed the whole thing up and this is its swam song before giving up completely. It turned out not to be its Swam song, but also not a proper fix so today i decided to go back at it and low and behold its sorted, at last.

In short it was the return spring on the rear brake calipers. They are the original ones so were knackered and incapable of returning the handbrake cable once pulled. Replaced them and all is good in the world again.

Longer version, never make assumptions. I assumed that because the rear calipers, brake pads, cable, brake fluid and discs were all new that it couldn't possibly be anything to do with the braking system and had to be the handbrake. After messing with the handbrake lever for a bit and adjusting the position of it i said i'd "check" that i had actually hooked up the handbrake cable to the caliper. Rookie mistake but you never know.

Took off the rear wheel (offside) and all looked good. A good bit of dirt around the caliper and hub in general (heavy rain, living near a quarry doesn't help that) but could not see anything obvious. I had my Father pull the handbrake to see what was actually happening and when i asked him to do so he said he had pulled it. I told him to let it off, and again repeated for him to let it off to which he said it was off (the handbrake).

No movement of the cable or return spring/mechanism. Gave it a couple of taps of a plastic hammer and the return lever went back into the "off" position. So i took to cleaning them caliper, thoroughly, and then spraying the lever liberally with freeing oil. I then got my Father to work the handbrake putting it on and off and noticed that it "wanted to" go back but didn't. I found another spring i had in the garage and while 10mm shorter thought i'd change them out. Once i did the handbrake engaged and the disengaged without effort.

Replaced the wheel and done the nearside in the same fashion and replaced that spring too with another i had. Refitted the wheel and gave it a test.

I can only get three to four clicks until the handbrake becomes unmoveable. The car holds in reverse and 1st gear. Even under a little acceleration the car held with only three to four clicks of the handbrake. I then took it to the car wash bay (i've one built at the back of the house) and tried the handbrake there as it has a steep enough decline and the car would always roll unless in gear (no matter how hard the handbrake was pulled). It held.

It seems with the auto adjust could not work and because the return spring would not bring the caliper/cable to the return position the handbrake was always "on". I checked the pads and the inside on both nearside/offside are slightly more worn than the outside pads so i'll replace them this week, but i now know why the handbrake was never going to work.

I'll leave the temp springs in place but will order new ones tomorrow. It never occurred to me that with everything i changed i never changed the return springs so made the assumption it couldn't be anything i'd "fixed" could be at fault.

You need to renew the cables.
Or, if going cheapo DIY then free them out and grease/oil