Hi all. My sister is having an issue with her 2007 Ford Focus Zetec (manual) it doesn't reverse at all. Her husband said that whilst she was trying to reverse out of drive the rear tyre wasn't rotating??? There was also smoke.

They tried moving it forward and although it did a little they said there was smell of burning rubber.

Wondering what this could be. She hardly drives the car but doubt this would be causing it? Wondering if it could be as simple as transmission fluid or throttle cable?

If the rear tyre(s) aren't rotating then that's your problem!!  Seized brake drum or disk, very likely if the car isn't used often.

26 minutes ago, jmurray01 said:

If the rear tyre(s) aren't rotating then that's your problem!!  Seized brake drum or disk, very likely if the car isn't used often.

Would it be worth WD40 and gently tapping the disk?

4 minutes ago, Mani Singh said:

Would it be worth WD40 and gently tapping the disk?

Absolutely not!! Never put anything like WD40 or other oil based products on the brakes.  You'd be asking for an accident and a hard time from the police if you did have one.

Sounds like you have tried freeing the brakes and got a load of smoke. Was this from the clutch?

You may need to rock the vehicle back and forth by shifting from 1st, to reverse, to first, and so on.  The brakes will hopefully release with a bit of a crack.  If this doesn't work, you may need to get the relevant wheels off and give the calipers a tap with a hammer.  But a breakdown company will probably be able to assist in a safer, more effective way...

After releasing the brakes, you should take a drive and step heavily on the brakes a few times to clear some of the corrosion off.  Only do so on a quiet street with nothing behind you.  You may also need the discs/drums looking at as they could be rather pitted if the car's been left standing for a while.

On 05/09/2016 at 9:17 PM, GaryPL said:

Absolutely not!! Never put anything like WD40 or other oil based products on the brakes.  You'd be asking for an accident and a hard time from the police if you did have one.

Sounds like you have tried freeing the brakes and got a load of smoke. Was this from the clutch?

You may need to rock the vehicle back and forth by shifting from 1st, to reverse, to first, and so on.  The brakes will hopefully release with a bit of a crack.  If this doesn't work, you may need to get the relevant wheels off and give the calipers a tap with a hammer.  But a breakdown company will probably be able to assist in a safer, more effective way...

After releasing the brakes, you should take a drive and step heavily on the brakes a few times to clear some of the corrosion off.  Only do so on a quiet street with nothing behind you.  You may also need the discs/drums looking at as they could be rather pitted if the car's been left standing for a while.

Cheers GaryPL. Got the wheels free. Tried going back and forth with the first and reverse gears but smoke started coming from the engine?!

Tapped the callipers and rocked it back and forth using body weight and it freed the tyre. Took a drive could hear the noise when braking but few heavy footed brakes and that cleared up.

Have booked service and will get the disks/drums checked then. Hopefully nothing serious.

And yet Ford still insists on putting this prehistoric drum-brake crap on the new Focus. 

is it a marmite moment, i love drum brakes. lol

1 hour ago, iantt said:

is it a marmite moment, i love drum brakes. lol

Me too, there is no need for discs on the rear in my opinion!  Properly serviced and adjusted drums on the rear are just fine.

16 hours ago, jmurray01 said:

Me too, there is no need for discs on the rear in my opinion!  Properly serviced and adjusted drums on the rear are just fine.

I get the feeling that the reason Ian likes drums so much, is that all the servicing and adjusting means lot of good, easy money for his garage!

My cars get irregular use. With most of the drum brake cars I used to have to reverse quite hard sometimes to break free after sitting a few days. And as for those self adjusters where you have to poke about blindly through a tiny hole, to release them!

No problem if you do it often, but I had to re-learn it each time.

The Vauxhall Vectra was the worst: Nasty little drums for the handbrake, auto-adjusters & rusting on. Hydraulic disks & calipers, where you had to disconnect a rigid brake pipe to remove the disk or caliper. Yuk.

But then it serves me right for buying a V*****l, I suppose.

Your so wrong there peter.  Lol 50x more work gained out of rear discs, pads calipers than ever drum brakes. And im not exaggerating.  

1 hour ago, iantt said:

50x more work gained out of rear discs, pads calipers than ever drum brakes

That surprises me a bit! I have learnt something there.

My (extremely limited) experience is that the Focus rear disk brake is easier to work on than all the previous drum brakes I have had. And the V*****l Vectra combined drum/disk was the pits.

But I expect many people leave them until they are an MoT fail, then corrosion & dirt have done the damage. Especially at the back, in the spray from the front wheels.