dodgy handbrake

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amyamandaallen

Guest
Hi, new here and wanted to talk to the experts...

I have a k10 micra with 88k on the clock. All goes well bar the fact that the handbrake has been playing up for months. In dec 05 had a rubbing coming from the front brakes so went into slow-fit and they did a brake report and replaced both the front brakes and told me I had 2 leeking cylinders at the rear. In jan/feb 05 I/mate replaced both of these and the shoes. Few months later the handbrake started to be very poor/very high. A mate took the wheels off and found a seized n/s handbrake cable. Few months later a new one was fitted. Wouldnt say it was brilliant but miles better and only a few notches to apply. Its started getting useless again so took it to slow-fit again last saturday and asked if they adjusted handbrakes. Said they would. Left car with them. Hour later and call saying it would need new shoes and 2 new cylinders £153. Just let them get on with it as very strapped for time. Picked car up 5/6 hours later and handbrake only came up 2 notches. A week later were almost back to useless again.

Now a couple of things....would you expect both cylinders to go? My fluid wasnt dropping. Would just putting new shoes on tighten up the handbrake without adjusting much else? Whats the likely cause of the original issue...is a handbrake likely to have stretched that much after 88k? or is it likely a self adjuster has seized? It feels like its just pulling up on one side.

Help folks as this cars bleeding my of vital cash....

ps - now I feel like one off the gang as my headlight reley buzzes too

Thanks
 

Fordy

Ex. Club Member
2 notches! jesus chris no wonder your eating though shoes, it should be around 5 - 7 notches with a good feel to it, and you do as much adjustment on the adjuster on the shoes and not on the cable
 
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amyamandaallen

Guest
it may sound bad but it would quite happily roll down a hill until pulled on 2 notches. now its back on 5/6 but it seems really high.

btw - how easy is it to get to the adjusters, there a hole or something like on some others? Are tehy known to seize?

Many thanks
 
my shoe adjusters have been PAP since I got the car Ive even had them replaced but event he new ones seem to go slackersafter a few weeks/month or two.... If I nip it back up with the cable adjuster it just gives me a few weeks again!!


I hate them...its one thing on the car that I HATE

personnally Im a 3 to 4 notcher myself...lol
 

Burfy

Ex. Club Member
Interesting to hear... I know about 3 months ago my rear left drum was locked (I actually drove with it for 1 month cause I didn't know any better) and I got my mechanic friend to adjust my hand-brake since it was 9+ clicks haha.. When he unmounted the tire and uncovered the drums to work with the adjuster, a nice pile of brake dust fell out, about 2 inches high and 3 inches in diameter.... Needless to say I was pretty ####ed lol... It went from a one month old drum pad to less than 25% of the pad left in a month :doh: Ever since though I haven't had a problem with my hand brake... 3-4 clicks and it goes nowhere. I even beat the crap out of it drifting around in snow in a parking lot for 3 hours straight and it's still the same as before!
 

Andrew

Club Member
I made the self adjuster work once, for about 10 minutes, after carefully cleaning and adjusting one, which took about 2 hours. I think this possibly might be the only time in the last 10 years that a K10 self adjuster has worked on the entire planet, though I can't be certain.
 

K10

Ex. Club Member
when i bought my K10 i was told by the vendor it needed new rear shoes and handbrake cables.

I just bit the bullet and bought both, but when I stripped the drivers side the adjuster was waaaay back into the bearing casing type area! the shoes were fine.

In hindsight it probarly didnt need the cables as they were moving, but the new ones wont have done any harm. Once cleaned up, and assembled properly eveything has been OK so far- although I'd say I'm on about 6 clicks which isnt ideal.

Never realised this was a common fault....
 
is there a mod to fix this problem???

Hi K10,

How long ago was it since you did your cleanup?....

I'm just wondering wether I should get the hammer out too?

also just had a thought (oh dear..here we go again...lol):

...from what I recall; new shoes dont seem to have a great deal of lining thickness to begin with (may be 3mm?) Now, if I understand correctly, the adjusters are supposed to take up cable slack as the shoes ware down?....anyone?

Surely if this IS the case 3mm (ish) MAXIMUM could never equate to 60 degrees (ish) handbrake lever variation (2 through 8 clicks plus....)

Does this sugest that the drum adjusters are infact "slipping" in the opposite direction over time?


Assuming this is the case...(anyone?)...would there be an easy mod to HARD-FIX the drum adjusters once set...and just use the cable adjuster if at all necessary....surely this would improve this awefull problem massively.???

...or have I just got my knickers in a twist..again.....lol
 

Fordy

Ex. Club Member
the adjusters are meant to move the shoes out thus the gap between the drum and the shoes get smaller, the smaller the gap the less the handbrake travel is, i bet that most of the people that replied in this thread either over or under adjusted shoes thats why they are all adjusting the cables
 

simmo

Official micra geek!
the hand brake cables are crap on the K10, i have to ajust mine everynow any again. For some reason they seem to stretch, which is fine until you can't adjust it any more! My dads had alot of cars and its the only thing he ever complains about on the k10.
 
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amyamandaallen

Guest
I took the hub off this morning and lo and behold SLOWFIT ( yep you know who ) hadnt even bothered adjusting the adjuster up any. Mine now pulls on pretty solid at 6 clicks. The RH side ones always worked fine. Didnt realise that the adjusters were sold as comical optional extras when it was new. :glare:

I love the k10 very much ( this is my second ) but mine seems to be going through a rather expensive patch over the last few months. When I got a nail in a brand new tyre yesterday........well let just say my rational side went and its lucky I didnt have a stick!!!!!!!!

Otherwise it takes all the aggro I can give it and performs without complaint.
 
Heres a tip...asside from the handbrake problem....

Boycot the crap garages....I had a similar experience with SCAM-FIT a few times in a row and have since never returned...I can recommend building a good reletioniship with a smaller (local) garage
 
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