The dreaded parking brake.....Cables.

[Si902]

Evening all

I'm having an absolute nightmare with replacement of the 2 rear cables.

Did the shoes discs and pads a week or so ago ready for MOT, all relatively simple and straightforward, but (and I knew it wasn't up to scratch) failed on the parking brake, it was basically doing nothing.
When adjusting up after the job I could tell they were stretched beyond belief as there was a good couple of inches of cable visible where they hook up to the adjuster section, and I couldn't get any more adjustment.

So, I bought two rear cables from ECP (Pagid), set up to do the job, Disassembled rear brakes, unhooked from adjuster section and tied what i thought was strong enough string to the eyelet before pulling back through and removing.
Removed, hooked up the new replacement to pull through and got snagged, the string wasn't up to the job and snapped....Ooops!

I then tried a wire coat hanger, managed to hook on but still getting snagged. I eventually got it through a couple of times, however comes out at the side of the console, between the carpet and the tunnel it should be inside.

Ended up removing rear seats and prised up what I can of the carpets, It seems the route it needs to take only has a very narrow gap to route inside the centre "tunnel" so it pops out in the correct place and alignment.

Am I missing something? Does anyone have any hints, tips or tricks?
Pictures would be amazing.

I've tried searching but found nothing which explains the routing inside the car.

Thanks in advance.

[owenfackrell]

Doesn’t it come up somewhere where the centre console fits?

[Si902]

Originally Posted by owenfackrell

Doesn’t it come up somewhere where the centre console fits?

That's the end point, yes. It actually comes in through the cabin floor under the second (just at the front of) row of seats, but under the floor, it then routes along the hump which is there to house the drive shaft etc under the car. There's a metal structure around the hump creating in effect a tunnel which is part of the structure the cable eventually clips into when hooking up to the adjuster, this is the only place the cable can possibly run, but no matter what I do don't seem to be able to tease it in as its so tight. It's started to damage the plastic sheith of the cable on the metal edges.

The lights dropped too much for pictures now unfortunately, but I'll get some tomorrow which might help explain.

[Si902]

Update......I've managed to get the cables in, after much faffing about.

The nearside one simply just routes along the outside of the central tunnel to its locating point, nice and easy.

The offside one runs initially along the outside of the tunnel, however, after peeling back more carpet could see that there is a strategically placed hole into which it routes to its final destination.

I've attached some pics to try and illustrate, not the best angles but may better describe and help someone else out who struggles the way I did.

What's the saying, "If it isn't easy you're probably not doing it right".

Anyway, after all that still can adjust up to get any grip, I know the adjuster cable needs replacing now as its started to come apart and unwind just above the adjuster, I'm wondering whether to just put the manual adjusters in?

[currymunster]

Originally Posted by Si902

Update......I've managed to get the cables in, after much faffing about.

The nearside one simply just routes along the outside of the central tunnel to its locating point, nice and easy.

The offside one runs initially along the outside of the tunnel, however, after peeling back more carpet could see that there is a strategically placed hole into which it routes to its final destination.

I've attached some pics to try and illustrate, not the best angles but may better describe and help someone else out who struggles the way I did.

What's the saying, "If it isn't easy you're probably not doing it right".

Anyway, after all that still can adjust up to get any grip, I know the adjuster cable needs replacing now as its started to come apart and unwind just above the adjuster, I'm wondering whether to just put the manual adjusters in?

Manual adjusters are definitely the way forward.
Hope the cables actually needed doing.....,🙄

[Si902]

Further update.......and yet more issues!

So, the manual adjusters came and I set about fitting them this morning, one side done without issue, then came to do the other side and when loosening the bottom calliper carrier bolt it snapped. A few choice words were more than uttered; I'd obviously over torqued and stretched it when refitting last time.

Anyone else had this issue? A search didn't reveal anything.
Can anyone advise the correct torque values for the rear carrier bolts? I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of VCX and Vida from Cheshired5 which I'm sure will have the values in the program.

Ordered a new bolt from Volvo (£4.80 inc VAT) but not arriving until Monday.

I'm thinking of letting the garage sort this one as I've no idea how to get calliper off for better access.

[currymunster]

Originally Posted by Si902

Further update.......and yet more issues!

So, the manual adjusters came and I set about fitting them this morning, one side done without issue, then came to do the other side and when loosening the bottom calliper carrier bolt it snapped. A few choice words were more than uttered; I'd obviously over torqued and stretched it when refitting last time.

Anyone else had this issue? A search didn't reveal anything.
Can anyone advise the correct torque values for the rear carrier bolts? I'm eagerly awaiting delivery of VCX and Vida from Cheshired5 which I'm sure will have the values in the program.

Ordered a new bolt from Volvo (£4.80 inc VAT) but not arriving until Monday.

I'm thinking of letting the garage sort this one as I've no idea how to get calliper off for better access.

Remove the other good bolt and remove the caliper.
Hopefully you now have done of the bolt protruding.
Try vice grips, angle grind flats to get a spanner on.
Weld a nut to the bolt then remove.
Try heating with a blow torch but be very careful of the brake and abs lines.
Good luck 🤞

[tonygreen1966]

Is there not a separate bracket holding the caliper on? If so remove the bracket and caliper together- it'll be easier to remove the caliper and broken screw with the caliper and bracket off the car. If as you say the screw had been recently removed and had been over-torqued then hopefully it won't be seized and you'll be able to use a centre punch and hammer to remove the remainder of the screw by knocking it round till you can get some mole grips on it as per Currymusters suggestion.

[Si902]

Originally Posted by currymunster

Remove the other good bolt and remove the caliper.
Hopefully you now have done of the bolt protruding.
Try vice grips, angle grind flats to get a spanner on.
Weld a nut to the bolt then remove.
Try heating with a blow torch but be very careful of the brake and abs lines.
Good luck 🤞

Sorry for late reply, work got in the way....

Thanks currymunster, I tried that but unfortunately there's too much thread left screwed in on the snapped bolt to get the hangar bracket off with the caliper, which is how I normally remove it as there's no space to get a ratchet on the sliding bolts due to the spring being in the way. I'm going to have a go at undoing the sliding bolts with an allen key, hopefully they'll come out, when I replaced the shoes, discs and pads around a month ago I gave it an overhaul and cleaned them up and added copper grease. Fingers crossed.
If that fails I have it booked in at the local garage tomorrow morning anyway.

[Si902]

Originally Posted by tonygreen1966

Is there not a separate bracket holding the caliper on? If so remove the bracket and caliper together- it'll be easier to remove the caliper and broken screw with the caliper and bracket off the car. If as you say the screw had been recently removed and had been over-torqued then hopefully it won't be seized and you'll be able to use a centre punch and hammer to remove the remainder of the screw by knocking it round till you can get some mole grips on it as per Currymusters suggestion.

Thanks tonygreen1966

It's actually the lower bolt which has snapped which holds the carrier bracket onto the strut.....As i replied to currymunter above going to have a go at removing the sliding bolts, that way i may be able to get mole grips on etc, hopefully there'll be some bolt protruding... i do have some bolt extractors so could give them a go too, not sure if there'll be room to get the drill in though?