Hi,

My cinquecento failed its mot on one thing yesterday which was the offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort. I have a boyfriend who is fairly competent with cars (if he knows whats wrong and what needs changing - actually diagnosing it is probably the awkward part!) and so obviously I would like to have him repair the fault rather than pay someone else. One suggestion made by the man carrying out the mot was that there was a possibility of a cylinder being seized and that it might just need a good clean up and grease. Has anyone else failed on this and what did you do if so? I'm looking for the cheapest possible way of fixing this. Any help would be amazing, thanks

Laura.

The hand brakes on cinqs and seis are crap! A good strip down and a bit of grease will probably do the trick, thats all we did to my sisters when that failed the mot, just dont expect your new found handbrake to last very long lol!

The parking brake (hand brake) is cable operated. The cylinder (slave cylinder/wheel cylinder) brakes the rear wheel when you put the footbrake down. So the chances of it being the cylinder are very remote.

First, find out which side isn't working. It will either be the cable sticking on one side or, more likely, the actuator elbow which connects to the brake cable at the drumand has a pivot inside the drum, has seized. Free of the pivit, put some coppaslip inside the pivot itself (or replace the lot) and that's it. Unfortunately you have to strip the whole brake drum to do this.

the mot person, said that there is nothing on foot brake or hand brake.

How did u get to the MOT center then ??????

I mean surely u would come to a junction then get hit by another car due to having no brakes.

Ming

sorry! it is only the drivers side rear which is not working, all the others are fine.

What does it shown on the sheet?

The handbrake and footbrake are almost completely independent systems. If the footbrake fails on the rear, it's the wheelcylinder (or shoes). If the handbrake, actuators, cable or shoes.

1 offside rear brake recording little or no effort

2 offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort

3 parking brake efficency below requirements

OK, as above, then. You have faults on both systems on the same wheel. Could be two unrelated problems, but the only part they share in common is the shoes. Ifr one side is below wear limits, replace the other side as well.

Needs checked, but if the cylinder has burst its seals, then the shoes will be covered. How is the fluid level?

Cheers

D

Could also be a snapped spring in the shoes mechanism. That would cause both systems to fail on that wheel.

how do i take off the brake drum, do i undo the two bolts on the hub, as these bolts are rounded?

Mole grips or a grinder will remove them.

Cheers

D

As it is both hand & foot brake on the same side, look for shared bits.
Could also be the self-adjusters which are the bits the brake shoes pivot on.
You can lever the shoe in/out so that it has an even gap around the edge.

Could also be a badly contaminated brake drum if the brake slave cylinder has leaked (you would notice the brake fluid dropping too)

Both easy to check (and no cost).

Hi thanks, I looked in the drum and saw no fluid around, when pulling the handbrake I saw very little movement of the shoes and when pressing the foot brake the cylinder did not move at all. So I have bought new shoes, cylinders and copper grease. I am going to try fitting it now with a torch outside, any tips of how to replace the shoes and what bits I should clean?

Leave re-assembly till it gets light. Main bit to take inside is the actuator elbow thing. It's at the same level as the cylinder and part sticks out the back of the drum, so to speak, with a clevis pin one end.

Anyway, pull that out, take it inside and work away at it till a flick of the wrist opens it up. Then work coppaslip into the pivot.

For the rest, sounds like the cylinder has seized up. Just replace and bleed.

A tiny bit of coppaslip on the moving bits does no harm, but don't over do it.

i think you can see it here

I can't!

Here



4 is the actuating elbow. It may not have the rubber sleeve.

OK! Thanks everyone for your help, however messed up a bit… I have rounded off the wheel locator bolt and the other one next to it, also while trying to take the brake bolt bit behind the cylinder, rounded that completely and cant get it off. What im asking is can I get a new one from fiat as this is connected to the brake piping.

You are better carefully removing the brake pipe from the flexi on the trailing arm, and then getting anew pipe made up. You local factor will do that while you wait if you take the wreakage of the old one in.

Cheers

D