Hand brake not working properly (V70 1998)

ms1978 · Post by **ms1978** » 28 Jun 2010, 00:18

Hello, this is my second post here tonight. I apologize and hopefully you won't kill me for that. The topic is different so I did not want to merge it with the other (more important for me) subject.

Again, Volvo V70 1998, 166k miles. Hand brake is not really working. When I got the car, it was not working at all. So I opened the rear brakes, detached the discs, the hand brake pads were gone. Ordered new ones, replaced. Adjusted the "spacers" (?) inside the disks and the screw behid the hand-brake lever in passanger cabin. Used the car for few months. Did not see a real improvement. So I thought the cables are bad and replaced those. Still no improvement.

So what would you suggest?
I admit that I might not adjust the "spacers" inside the discs properly. But when I overdid it, the wheel would make the funny noises during every turn. Could it be that my rear brake discs are worn / distorted? (I think I overheated them at least once - this Volvo is my first car with automatic transmission and on a long descent, I came to a point where the brakes stopped working and the car got into a very terrible loud vibrating state (it went away when I released the brake pedal). Replacing the rear discs is not that difficult (though not completely cheap, is it).

While on the brake topic:
I guess I need to flush the brake system and have the fluid replaced. How much shall I expect to pay (in California)? I have no space, nor equipment to do it myself, so I have to go to a shop (not to dealer, of course).

Thank you.

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 28 Jun 2010, 00:48

Here are the instructions for adjusting the shoes inside the rear rotors:

And here's the Cable Adjustment to make after setting the shoes:

Please bear in mind that you can still downshift an automatic to slow a decent.
Also, if you're gonna flush the brake fluid on a car this age, this would be a great
opporunity to replace your brake hoses. That would probably be a good idea.

ms1978 · Post by **ms1978** » 28 Jun 2010, 19:09

Thank you for help.

Roger Kellow · Post by **Roger Kellow** » 25 Sep 2013, 09:12

thanks this is a great help to me.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 25 Sep 2013, 19:35

If adjusting still doesn't make them work then you may have either a seized or broken cable. If one of the cables is either seized or broken it effectively kills both of the rear hand brakes since the bar at the base of the handle where the cables are attached skews towards the path of least resistance.

The cables need to both be free and both be of more or less equal length for the system to work properly.

...Lee

Klausc · Post by **Klausc** » 25 Sep 2013, 20:18

The parking brakes can be refered to as drum brakes. I am going to assume that you did not use brake cleaner on the drum (rotor) where the new pads will rub. That needs to be done, as well as using brake cleaner on the new shoes.
Once the rotor is back on, adjust the star wheel until the shoes touch the drum firmly. Then back off 2 clicks, the wheel should now turn easily. Of course, you need to do this on both sides and slacken the cables before you start.

The cable adjuster in the cabin needs to be tightened. Watch the bar that connects to both cables if you can. As you tighten, the bar should remain perpendicular at all times - meaning that both rear brakes are going to be treated equally.

Parking brakes are meant to hold the car when it is parked. They are NOT intended to stop a moving car, and will not do so at speed. If you are really good, you can lock up the wheels but they will overheat rapidly if used for a normal stop.

Downshift when going down hill. Rule of thumb: use the same gear going down as you used going up.

Post by **abscate** » 25 Sep 2013, 20:34

The cables really don't stretch beyond the initial use, so if they aren't right, something is wrong in the parking/emergency/hand brake or the cables are breaking.

Scrapes and noises are normal in drum brakes. If you adjust them more than 5 clicks from the no-turn condition you have gone too far.

Post by **holler1** » 26 Sep 2013, 07:21

abscate wrote:Scrapes and noises are normal in drum brakes.

After replacing cables and shoes, and many tries to adjust mine, I've come to the conclusion that we just have to live with these noises from the drum parking brakes. There appears to be something about the design that prevents them from working smoothly.