Not VW but my BMW but a generic question. Having had all my brakes refurbed I have been having problems getting them to work properly. I found today that there is no braking on the rear offside drum. When bleeding the fluid comes through fine. I took the drum off and it looks looks OK. All I can think is that it is a seized wheel cylinder. What does the collective think?
I'd suspect the cylinder, have had it when car been stood for a while on a couple. If it's not too much hassle, can you pop drum off and turn the piston in the cylinder and then press it back in? Or could it be a seized mechanism, handbrake levers internal to the drum? I'm unfamiliar with the bmw set up, but the polo had all the bits inside of the drum shot with being stood around for best part of a year. Is it original rear axle or 3 series upgrade? Cylinder seems to be 20 to 30 quid each, or possibly a rear disc swap?
Yes, handbrake wasn’t working either but I think I got that done. Drum came off quite easily actually which was a surprise. I think it will be just as easy to remove the cylinder and dismantle/clean/replace. There are some big springs in there! Hopefully the retaining bolts will undo, I’ll get the wheel off tomorrow and start soaking them. If not I’ll try as you suggest and do it in situ.
Get some heat on the pivot points of the levers, obviously caution around brake fluid, rubber bits etc and lubricate them. Melt a bit of grease in while still hot even. Probably worth investigating the cylinders as if the old fluid has taken water in it may have corrosion, either steel or alloy and holding the rubbers. If everything else is new might be worth replacing for peace of mind.
If it's a standard brake drum setup, you won't need to remove any of the springs, to change the cylinder.
Well thank goodness for small mercies. The cylinder retaining bolts came undone easily and the pipe nut succumbed to a little penetrating oil. I’m going to go with seized…… Some b****ard is stealing my hair
Just glad no flash on the camera, could have blinded us Definitely past its best that cylinder, time to break the wallet out again @PhilRyder .
Ordered a pair from Autodoc. Probably a mistake but I wanted a decent make and they are the only ones who seem to do them at a sensible price. Autodoc don’t get good reviews
Autodoc can be ok, just takes AGES to deliver and the tracking site is diabolical - other than that...fine!
I needed a rear ABS sensor for my mk5 , Autodoc were less that £30 where as Euros were £80+ for the equivalent Bosch thing! Ordered from Aotodoc and they took over 2 weeks for it to arrive.
