1994 850 disable rear brakes

daversm · Post by **daversm** » 29 Aug 2014, 21:24

So this car was bought second hand, my dad ( who bought the car originally) is saying that at one point the rear brakes were disabled, I didn't know that was even possible. Is there anyway to check this? I have been driving the car for 3 years now, never noticed a problem with the brakes, but this could be because I got use to the way the car brakes (improperly).

Im going to try to see if I can find a way to test the cars rear brakes. But in the case they are disabled, where would I start looking to see how they were disables. So that I can try to undo what was done to disable them.

Also there are no warning lights on the dash.

Thanks.

Post by **scot850** » 29 Aug 2014, 23:27

Never heard of this, and not even sure why any sane person would do this!

Jack one side up, spin the rear wheel and press the brake peddle. If it stops, then you have brakes. If you want the booster, put the car on axle stands, and start the car and try spinning the wheel by hand and press the brake peddle. What they may mean, is the parking brake does not work. If you have a manual trans you will probably have found that out by now! If you have an auto, you may never had a reason to check the parking brake. Again, spin the wheel and pull on the parking brake and see what happens.

Neil

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 30 Aug 2014, 00:13

What are the chances that the emergency
brakes, not the rear discs, are disabled ?
That would make a lot more sense.

Post by **timmybdaddyof3** » 30 Aug 2014, 05:05

agreed....lift the back end and have someone step on the brake pedal while you try to turn the wheel...no turns and you got brakes. as far as the parking/emergency brake you can test it without having to lift the car....set it all the way and put it in gear (or with a manual start to let out the clutch...even if they are not adjusted properly you should feel the drag.

Post by **j-dawg** » 30 Aug 2014, 12:59

scot850 wrote:Never heard of this, and not even sure why any sane person would do this!

not that i think this is what happened in this case, but i heard from a race mechanic that at one particular track his team used to tape the rear brake pads open so that all braking was at the front wheels. this let the driver ride the brakes as hard as he wanted without locking up the rears, and since it was on slicks there was plenty of grip to handle the braking load. he said it ate up pads, but the driver could be a little sloppy with his braking and not spin out.

i'm sure there are better ways of achieving that, but when it's race day and you're having stability trouble, you do what you gotta do.

daversm · Post by **daversm** » 30 Aug 2014, 16:06

Ok yea it was as BEjinFbk said, rear brakes are good. Emergency brake has been disabled.
Put it up on stands and when the brake is applied the rear wheels don't move.

Post by **timmybdaddyof3** » 30 Aug 2014, 16:52

to repair look for the cables and follow them till you find whats been disconnected or missing...
Coming off the back of the rear assemblies you will see hoses (service brakes) and cables (emergency/park brake)....when you set the brake the cable should pull taught...have someone set and release it while you watch for movement

Post by **scot850** » 30 Aug 2014, 20:34

I think I also said that it was most likely the parking brakes, but, now you know that, there have been some recent posts on overhauling parking brakes with good pictures for reference. It may also help to figure out what was removed. Good chance a cable snapped and to lazy to replace.

Neil.

Post by **abscate** » 31 Aug 2014, 04:14

It's pretty common on these cars that the parking/emergency/handbrake brakes shoes self destruct inside the combined rear brake rotor/drum and people will just haul out the pieces.especially true with an automatic trans since you can hold the car in PARK. We non- slush drive guys need our parking brake to work of course,

You will need to pull the rear rotor to evaluate what pieces are missing.

Post by **timmybdaddyof3** » 31 Aug 2014, 15:12

abscate wrote:It's pretty common on these cars that the parking/emergency/handbrake brakes shoes self destruct inside the combined rear brake rotor/drum .

Interesting you bring that up...i have yet to tear into mine (this is my first ownership of a volvo, although i have worked on many)....sitting in a drive-through line last night i set the e-brake while idling in neutral (slushbox)....smacked it into drive (without pressing the service brake) and felt that gawd-awful clunk and pull like a brake shoe was thinking about coming loose inside a drum...not a happy though