Evening all, I haven't been on for a while due to a new baby taking all my time and money, LOL. Hope you are all well.

My stilo is mainly a workhorse nowadays anyway but is need of some TLC now the warmer/drier (sort of) weather is approaching. so onto my question...... how difficult is it to replace the handbrake cable on the stilo? and does anyone have an idea of the price for the part? not sure if it is dealer only??

cheers guys/gals

Cable is supplied as 2 seperate parts (left one is a bit longer). About £25 each from Fiat.

Easy enough to fit although the left hand one is slightly more difficult because a plactic panel covers part of it under the car.

cheers Davren,
I think one side may have stretched, I had a bit of play in the handbrake lever so went to adjust it and saw the part top right in your post with 2a, 2b, 2c around wasn't straight so was pulling on one side more than the other.
I'm not sure but I suppose it's possible that when I changed rear discs and pads last i think i pumped the pedal after the first side then did the second, would this cause an imbalance on the handbrake as it has two cables??

I have read that reset the handbrake be loosening it off completely at the lever, then wind both rear callipers in together, then pumping the pedal and readjust the lever.
Does that sound about right to you?

it's the cylinder inside the brake mechanist itself that adjusts.. the movement by the cable is always the same (otherwise you'd have needed to adjust it according to pad wear) so (without looking at the diagrams) i'd say you don't need to adjust anything.. now for the reason why it might be a bit off.. the end of the cable is attached using a clip in metal socket (where the end of the cable slides in) and a plastic zip tie (because when the hand brake is not applied it is quite loose).. first thing i'd do is check that pads are a uniform distance from the disks and that, when you brake, the car doesn't pull to one side (this would imply all is ok/ish as far as brakes are concerned); then have a look at the way the cable is seated at the brakes.. and ensure you fix it in place using a zip tie.. that failing id say it is more likely that one of the transitionary holders is broken rather than a steel cable stretching (if it does, in my experience, it won't be the actual cable but the fixing at the end/s; which again you can see visually by comparing against the 'good' side)

The part 2c is a fulcrum, it's supposed to swivel so does not neccessarilly have to be straight. The same amount of force will still be exerted on both cables when you pull the handbrake lever.

If you pumped the pedal when one caliper was without pads, the piston would have come out a bit but you'd have had to wind it back in then to get the pads back in.

The adjustment proceedure you mention sounds reasonable but I've never heard of it before. Only time I've taken pads out is to replace them so would have wound both pistons back in anyway.

cheers guys,
I will get her up on the ramps and have a good looksee next week.

Hi,
i stripped out the rear brakes last week and seemed OK, i checked both handbrake cables back to where they go inside the car and nothing seemed broken, twisted or obstructed. Both ends at the caliper also seemed fine.
I loosened off the handbrake completely and wound one of the pistons back in and then pushed brake pedal to reset. I then did the other side and the fulcrum that davren mentioned was much more level as it used to be so it seemed the cables ha definitely reset in some way.
After adjusting the cable inside the car i found that the rear nearside wasn't loosening off properly. Further examination has found that the handbrake is not fully backing off at the caliper, i think the spring isn't strong enough as you can use a screwdriver to move the bracket the last 1mm or so and the wheel spins fine. i have cleaned up with WD40 & wire brush to get all the gunk off and it moves freely but won't go back to the stop on it's own. The offside works fine and the spring seems much stronger. I think when i adjusted it last time it may have over compensated on that side and been too tight damaging the spring.

So my question, any thoughts on the above and can you buy the spring separately?
I have had a look on eper and it does show the spring as a "kit" as part number 9949357.

To add to my previous post the rear pads were probably half worn maybe a touch more but I don't think fitting new ones would make any difference, would it?