Hi all,

I've searched the forum (and Google), and only found the opposite problem to mine...

Driving into work today, my handbrake ratchet stopped holding. I just tried using it at a junction, and it didn't hold. The handbrake itself works, and so at work I've parked it in gear, and put a few CD's under the handle to stop it dropping back down again.

I've seen plenty of issues where handbrakes are stuck on, but not like mine.

Anyone else had this, and found a solution? Or anyone who knows the handbrake mechanism well enough to hazard a guess as to how it might be fixed?

thanks

Leon

 

What exactly is happening?

You pull the handbrake on and the lever drops again rather than locking in the ratchet?  Or the lever stays in the right place but there's very little resistance and the car rolls off?

New handbrake mechanism required ,

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

What exactly is happening?

You pull the handbrake on and the lever drops again rather than locking in the ratchet?  Or the lever stays in the right place but there's very little resistance and the car rolls off?

pull the handbrake up, and the lever drops again. Putting something under the lever (3 cd boxes right now!) stops the lever dropping, and so the car is not moving (I gave it a push to check!)

2 minutes ago, iantt said:

New handbrake mechanism required ,

why? It's got to be something related to the ratchet, surely that doesn't require an entirely new handbrake?

He means a new handbrake lever, that's where the ratchet mech is, no idea how much they are on these but they're only a fiver second hand on the old Peugeots, I fit quite a few, seems unusual on a fairly 'young' car though.

Edit - Oh I see the S Max has an over complicated lever system and there aren't any used on ebay.  You've probably worn the teeth off the ratchet so I can't see how it'd be fixable.

strange that it went so suddenly. You'd think if the teeth were wearing, you'd feel it getting worse. The car's only done 51k.

My (uneducated!) guess is that it's something like the spring gone in the ratchet, so it's not springing back and biting the teeth, but without taking it apart, no way to know. 

The handbrake mechanism is a big lump, and seems to cost a lot, so I really hope I don't need to replace it.

They usually randomly won't hold every few times before completely failing when the teeth get worn, it's due to people not pressing the button when lifting it, pet hate of mine is that clickclickclickclickclick when anyone parks haha!  

If it's just suddenly failed completely then you could be right about a spring failure though.  If you've got the tools and time, might be worth accessing it yourself and seeing if it could be fixed?  You seem to have a good idea about how it works anyway!

just guessing really. I've never been a "car" person, but I used to be a cycle mechanic, and in general am quite handy. I will take it apart tonight and have a look, fingers crossed!

I really don't believe the ratchet could have worn in such a short time - if it has I'm going to bet it's snapped, not worn.

 

Interestingly, a bit of googling suggests that Ford recommend the button is only for releasing the brake, not applying it, and I read somewhere that it puts more pressure on the cable that goes to the button if you press the button as you apply the brake, which can cause that to fail sooner (the cause of the "brake won't release" problem that seems more common).

 

Well, found the problem. It's a tiny spring that pushes the ratchet in (see attached pic. There should be another spring end pushing that lever back). The e d had snapped off. Unfortunately, it doesn't look replaceable, and since it's partly responsible for making sure the handbrake stays on, I might have to replace the whole brake :-(

 

I'd I can get the handbrake assemy out, I might see if there's a creative solution to be had. If so, I'll post here.

Hi there. My handbrake has done exactly the same and lookes like your picture.. Please help. What did you do? 

Regards. Andy. 

 

Hi its the spring that pulls the tooth back to the ratchet teeth it will have either broken or just needs wd40 on it

Hello David, I think you're wasting your time replying to a post that's over 3 years old. Also Andy3339 is what we call a "One Post Wonder" he joined 18th November 2018 made one post and has yet to return.

The posts may be old but the problem persists. It’s happened to my 1982 Granada whilst it’s  been laid-up. I’m hoping that the WD40 solution works!