Parking Brake not releasing? Not latching? Picture how-to.

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Stratman

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 15, 2003
Messages
5,794
Location
Sunbury
Car
W203 C200 CDI '04Estate
The problem. You press the pedal to engage the parking brake and it won't stay down. This may or may not have been preceded by the brake sticking on, needing a helping foot to release it, coupled with a floppy release handle.

The fault. One end of the spring has come out of the plastic lever which provides the friction to hold down the pedal. This is how it should look:-

Parking%20brake%20annotated.jpg



When you press the pedal the spring, the other end of which is fixed to the pedal, pushes up in the slot on the plastic lever which is fixed on its pivot. This winds up the spring which then wants to unwind, pushing the plastic lever against the friction drum of the pedal jamming it in position and holding the parking brake on.

Pulling the release handle pulls the cable upwards and releases the friction, letting the brake release. The small release spring returns the pull handle to its retracted position.


Pushing the pedal too hard, perhaps because the main mechanism is stiff, causes the spring to pop out of its slot in the plastic lever. This can cause the brake to fail to stay on as there's no force pressing the lever against the friction surface, or it can make the whole lot jam. The release handle goes floppy because the plastic lever sometimes gets wedged in the 'up' release position and can even cause the little return spring to become detached.

Parking%20brake%20faulty.jpg


Remove the three screws holding the lower fascia panel (T20 torx) and move it aside. You can get away with leaving the bonnet release and OBD socket attached, just be careful. Pull out the foam insulation and limber up for the next bit.
By moving the driver's seat back as far as it will go then reclining it all the way down, you can lie on your back on it and get your head in the footwell where all will be revealed. Reading glasses and an inspection lamp may be needed.

I used a large negidrive (not posidrive ;)) screwdriver to lever the spring back into position and gave it a tiny bend with pliers to hopefully prevent it jumping out again. The small return spring was put back with long nosed pliers.The top hook end goes into the plastic lever from the rear.

Springs%20location.jpg


The release cable may still be loose because it's dropped out of its slot in the pull handle. Prise off the panel at the right hand end of the dashboard and undo the T20 screw holding the fuse panel. Move it to one side bearing in mind it may be live. If you're worried just put it in a plastic bag. You can now see and access the handle quite easily. Just pop the cable back and you're nearly done.

Handle%20access.jpg



The last thing to do is lubricate the mechanism under the rear seat. I have an estate so I just lifted the base and removed the cover in the middle. A good sloshing with WD40 and 3-in-1 should keep it sweet for a few months. The nut is used to adjust the main cable. Take out the slack but don't overdo it.

Adjuster.jpg


Put it all back together and make an appointment with your osteopath :D

Note that when replacing the under dash panel, there are matching ventilation ducts which must engage. I've no idea which way round the foam insulation goes, I just jammed it in until it held.
 
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sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I don't suppose you could repost the images please?

Regards
TFB
 
Unfortunately I'm not allowed to edit the post, the best I can do is to post the pictures in the correct order.

DSCF2348.jpg


Parking_brake_faulty.jpg


Springs_location.jpg



Handle_access.jpg


Adjuster.jpg


Parking_brake_annotated.jpg
 
Thanks for trying, but still getting broken links for the pics

regards
TFB
 
Hmm...

They should be OK, they're Postimage links. Here's the direct address of the images:-

DSCF2348 — Postimage.org

Parking brake faulty — Postimage.org

Springs location — Postimage.org

Handle access — Postimage.org

Adjuster — Postimage.org

Parking brake annotated — Postimage.org



Copy and paste in the address bar of your browser, see if that works

Oh, the Forum has converted the addresses to links and I can't change them back. Sometimes technology can be too helpful ;)
 
They were hosted at postimage.org but seem to be no longer available, perhaps they time out after a while.

To be honest, your pictures show your particular problem in far more detail than mine.

I'll have a look for some pictures and try to post them in this thread.


The best I can do is to post Dropbox links:-

Dropbox - Parking brake annotated.jpg

Dropbox - Parking Brake Cable.JPG

Dropbox - Parking brake EPC.JPG

Dropbox - Parking brake faulty.jpg


They pictures were taken for a different problem to yours so are probably not relevant but are posted for the sake of completeness.
 
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Thanks for ur time and effort there. Yeah ive got all that. Just the working out how the whole mechanism works without actually having a working one handy was a head scratcher. Am on the case now. Just working out what complete assemblys are the same despite few diffirent numbers. I found this is the case with a lot of calipers aswell. Diffirent part numbers across the ranges but the actual calipers are exactly identical. Is it easy enough to remove the parking brake assembly ? Trickiest bit be unhooking and re-hooking cables ?

They were hosted at postimage.org but seem to be no longer available, perhaps they time out after a while.

To be honest, your pictures show your particular problem in far more detail than mine.

I'll have a look for some pictures and try to post them in this thread.


The best I can do is to post Dropbox links:-

Dropbox - Parking brake annotated.jpg

Dropbox - Parking Brake Cable.JPG

Dropbox - Parking brake EPC.JPG

Dropbox - Parking brake faulty.jpg


They pictures were taken for a different problem to yours so are probably not relevant but are posted for the sake of completeness.
 

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