308 Emergency brake won't work

You might as well give up now before spending more time on it. It is not the best hand brake design. Having said that, there are things you can do to make it better:

1. Make sure the rotors are flat by having them turned.
2. Adjust both the inner and outter pad-to-rotor clearance to just a hair with the handbrake at rest
3. Make sure the pulleys and cables are tight, free of obstruction.

That is the best you can do. It is not going to be much better.

 

hey greeck have some OUZO frist relax before you go under your girlfriend.

 

My 328 has the same problem. Obviously they did not improve the design. And that location stinks as well!

 

I know it's in the archives, but I couldn't find it either, so here it is again... Ric Rainbolt's instructions which DO WORK!!

==========================

OK, the 308 handbrake should hold an incline. That much is certain. If your
parking brake is ineffective, it can be corrected, but it may take a little
work to get there.


If starting from an unknown state, I would do the following:


1) Jack the car up and place it on jack stands.


2) Remove both rear wheels and release the parking brake.


3) On US-spec cars and some others, you have to remove a flat metal
underpanel to gain complete access to the parking brake cable. This panel
is held on by four 10mm bolts.


4) Find the cable that runs between the calipers. We'll call this cable
"A". It should route through low friction "eyes" (or cable guides on early
308's), mounted on each side of the car, on it's way to the calipers. The
eyes are either nylon or brass, depending on production at the time (or in
some cars, a simple metal tube). Refer to the parts book if uncertain.


5) Note that in the middle of the undercarriage, cable A runs through a
two-wheeled lever mechanism. It's quite common for the cable to jump off a
wheel and/or become severely frayed at this point. Clean this assembly
VERY thoroughly and lubricate with a cable lube or synthetic grease. I
usually remove the assembly so I can check the operation of the wheels.


6) Locate the buckle on cable A. It should be between the two-wheeled
lever and the right side caliper. Two open end wrenches are required to
operate the buckle (10mm?? I forget). Loosen the stop nut and the cable
adjustment is made by turning the long part of the buckle.


7) At this point, loosen the buckle until it begins to "slack up". That
is, until the caliper levers quit pulling, but not so much that the cable
falls off the calipers!


8) Inspect the condition of all four rear brake pads. If necessary, remove
the pads from the calipers. You'll get the best parking brake effect from a
new set of pads. Also, make sure the rotors are not warped.


9) With the pads installed in the calipers, it is necessary to set the
take-up adjustment within the caliper. This is accomplished by removing the
two covers over the adjusting ports. On the outside of the caliper,
normally, there is a plastic cap covering an adjuster. On the inside,
there is a cap head plug, just under the parking brake lever along with a
copper gasket. If it's the original ATE plug, it can be a ***** to get
out. What I've done to get the inner cap off is actually use a punch to
"drift" the cap in the counterclockwise direction. I use a stainless steel
cap to replace it when done. If a significant amount of fluid is released
when the inner cap is removed, the calipers need to be rebuilt.


10) The outer adjustment is kind of tricky. You must loosen the locking nut
(12 or 13mm, I think) to turn the adjustment (4mm hex wrench). Place a
.004 inch (0.1mm) feeler gauge between the pad and the rotor and adjust the
take-up until the feeler just slips out. It should not drag significantly.
Check that the feeler feels about the same at the top and bottom of the
pad area. If its drastically different, either the pads are tapered, the
rotor is warped, or the caliper is not true.


11) Once the outer pad spacing is set, tighten the locking nut. The problem
here, however, is that tightening the locking nut has the effect of
altering the adjustment. You have to play with it a little bit to figure
out what's going on. After a bit you'll develop a feel for it and you
should be able to lock it right at the right point (.004 inch clearance).
After everything is tight, double check with the feeler.


12) The inner adjustment is easier because there is only an allen head
adjuster (up inside the hole that the cap plug covered, 4mm I think).
Using this adjuster, set the inner pad to the same spacing as the outer
(again, .004 inch). If the adjuster feels "crusty", shoot some WD40 up in
there and turn it back and forth to break loose any corrosion or dried
lubricant.


13) After setting the adjustment, replace the inner cap and copper gasket.


14) Tighten the buckle on Cable A until the levers on the caliper *just
begin to move*. Any more than this can cause the brake pads to drag,
causing premature pad and/or rotor failure (not to mention stinky smoke!).
If in doubt, check the pad clearance afterwards and re-adjust.


15) Check the lever "feel" in the car. It should only click 3-4 times
before becoming fully firm. If not, have someone help you while you
observe the 2-wheeled lever under the car. The 2-wheeled lever should
begin to pivot just as the parking brake handle is pulled. If not, there's
excess slack in the cable that runs from the handle to the lever. The
slack can be adjusted in the cockpit by opening the zipper on the leather
shroud. Looking in with a flashlight, to the right side (passenger side on
US cars) of the lever there's a nut that can be turned to adjust cable
slack.


16) Reassemble the car (underpanel, wheels, etc.).


Whew. That's all. I know it sounds like a lot, but once you figure it out,
it's all fairly easy work.

Regards,
Ric Rainbolt

 

I just got done working on mine 10 minutes ago...part of a pad change. Everything Mike said plus...

On inspection, I found that the reason the lever only moved 2 clicks on mine was that at some point in it's life, the main cable/pulley assembly had been setup what appears quite wrong. The main should be about 90 degrees to the arm on the pulley assembly, mine was about 45. I loosened the nut that retains the main cable and gave the clamp bolt a tap to free the cable. The I adjusted the turn-buckle on the secondary cables until I had my 90 degrees...the main cable slid out 1.5". Then I retightened the cable clamp. It went from 2 clicks to 6...until I let it off the jack, now it's grabbing a bit....I need to loosen the turn-buck a bit tomorrow....I'm going to try to hit the dyno Saturday, I sure don't want the brake grabbing.

 

Miracle of miracles the parking brake CAN work and follow the steps above. Mine was totally useless until i had my service folks "fix" it. It now holds on an incline and does well.

Now i am working on changing the front brakes to Brembo... but that is another story

 

I'd say the parking brake in you profile picture is working just fine...both of them!

Jimpern.........328 system is completely different and works very well indeed...if you have problems it will be through bad/lack of servicing.

The internal shoes may be no good, adjustment may be out or linkages can even come dis-connected inside the disc if neglected badly enough.

 

giasou george calo kalokari. phill.

 

The rule of thumb is, 'They don't work even when they're working'