After an MOT failure a couple of days ago for excessively worn rear brake pads, I decided to follow this guide. Given that the guide had been originally written around a previous model I was a bit cautious, however it seems that Volvo have carried over that same rear braking system with no changes that were obvious to me! Rather than remove the motor from the caliper I decided to use a PP3 battery applied to the EPB assembly terminals to unwind the mechanism. I would suggest that using anything 'beefier' than this would be a mistake, as the PP3 limited power delivery avoids damaging the motor when it hits it's limit.
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Originally Posted by green van man
Thinking on this, if one were to obtain an epb plug with a pair of wires, fit a pair of crocodile clips to said wires and use this to connect from the slave battery to the motor...
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That's a good suggestion, however instead I fixed the battery connector flying leads to a pair of 30mm long M4 screws which I then attached to either side of a lolly stick using hot melt glue, setting the screws to then project outwards at roughly the same spacing as the motor connector pins. I then cable-tied the battery lower down on the stick... Making this 'tool' is obviously not strictly necessary, but it did make it easier to operate the motor by simply prodding it into the connector, rather than having carefully hold and then line up the loose wires to make a reliable connection (and all the components were things I had laying around in the shed) and it saved me having to obtain a connector. And it's easy to reverse the polarity by turning it round (I would post pictures but whenever I've posted on the forum I always insert a giant picture that dwarfs the page).
To unwind the calipers requires the positive connection to be applied to the upper connection of the motor on the driver side (UK RHD car) and the lower connection on the passenger side... I wound until they stopped (took about 15 seconds). Then obviously vice versa to apply the brakes afterwards, which I did to save the car having to do this and possibly getting confused (plus it also made it far easier to tighten the disc retaining screws, as I also had to replace both rear discs).
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheaton
The worst part is releasing the plug from the EPB. It is probably woth repeating that bit (I broke the first connector before realising this).
The part of the connector which is fixed to the motor body has a small projection (like a ski ramp) on the back. The free part of the connector which is on the cable has a clip which rides up the ramp when the connector is pushed home, until clip reaches the end of the ramp and drops drops off the end, so clipping it in place securely.
To release it, you need to insert the screwdrive upwards (running it close to the body of the fixed part of the connector). As you do this, it will lift the clip away from the end of the ramp, and so allow you to pull the connector off.
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Amen to that! Great advice and using a mirror and torch made this part of the job fairly easy.
The caliper bolts were incredibly tight - probably due to the thread/stud lock used - and the 13mm AF heads had an unusually low profile, resulting in the standard 12-point socket initially slipping off as soon as I applied some serious torque. I was quite worried about this but then discovered that an old 1/2" socket I found was actually a much nicer fit (and was also a 6-point type as an added bonus).
A massive thanks to everyone who has contributed to this really useful thread.