Got an electric parking brake?

[earthman]

This maybe of interest to you.

A guy across the road from me had to have the electric motors replaced on his car, £150 a pop they were,......crazy, nothing wrong with using a wire cable for such a thing in my book.

https://pmmonline.co.uk/technical/h...ter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05-feb-2019

 

[Ashley Burton]

EPB technology is a joke, Whoever designed it needs shooting!

Some of the complete control units with cables are over £1000

So glad my current company car has a normal handbrake!

 

[Fazerruss]

It's a solution to problem that never existed.
Another issue with these I believe, you need a plug in diagnostic tool to disengage the pads/shoes when servicing.
Completely daft idea.

 

[Parm]

It's a solution to problem that never existed.
Another issue with these I believe, you need a plug in diagnostic tool to disengage the pads/shoes when servicing.
Completely daft idea.

Yep, know all about that one

 

[taxi ray]

I had to have the rear pads done on my Hyundai i40, had to use the main dealer as they use a computer to wind the pistons back.
I think it was over £200.00. A job that I would normally do myself, at the cost of a set of pads.

Just had the cars second service, when did they start replacing the brake fluid at every service? Now on its third lot of brake fluid in 14 months.

 

[Fazerruss]

I had to have the rear pads done on my Hyundai i40, had to use the main dealer as they use a computer to wind the pistons back.
I think it was over £200.00. A job that I would normally do myself, at the cost of a set of pads.

Just had the cars second service, when did they start replacing the brake fluid at every service? Now on its third lot of brake fluid in 14 months.

I heard of someone changing their pads without the nessecary plug in tool. Instead he started the engine, released the parking brake and fitted the new pads while then engine was still running!

 

[anto44]

The way most of these systems work is when you release the handbrake the mechanism will back off slightly, just enough to take the pressure off the piston to allow the wheel to turn. In order to change the pads you need to wind the mechanism completely back so the piston can be shoved completely back into the caliper body. There are ways to do it without the diagnostic computer but its quite a complicated process. You need to disconnect the caliper, power the motor to completely retract it and change your pads. The tricky bit is resetting the mechanism afterwards, get this bit wrong and this is where the problem occurs. It can be done safely though you just need to be able to accurately measure the current draw when the caliper locks the disc and preset both calipers with the same current so they're clamping evenly, if not the tighter caliper will destroy itself after a short time.

Brake fluid changes are normally recommended to be done when the car is 3 years old and then every 2 years after that. 3 changes in 14 months is taking the mick in my opinion

 

[Chillitt]

My Sister had a Jag S type that needed the motor changing. The garage (jag specialist,but not main dealer) wanted a thousand quid to fix it. The job is less than 2 hours work. I nearly bought it off her for a 'special brother price' of a grand, but then she sold it to a friend for 500...

 

[clen666]

I changed the rear pads on my qashqai and just removed the motor then used a torx bit and a clamp to wind the pistons back in.

The motors whirred away a bit when I restarted the car to reset themselves then they just functioned as normal after that

 

[earthman]

The way most of these systems work is when you release the handbrake the mechanism will back off slightly, just enough to take the pressure off the piston to allow the wheel to turn. In order to change the pads you need to wind the mechanism completely back so the piston can be shoved completely back into the caliper body. There are ways to do it without the diagnostic computer but its quite a complicated process. You need to disconnect the caliper, power the motor to completely retract it and change your pads. The tricky bit is resetting the mechanism afterwards, get this bit wrong and this is where the problem occurs. It can be done safely though you just need to be able to accurately measure the current draw when the caliper locks the disc and preset both calipers with the same current so they're clamping evenly, if not the tighter caliper will destroy itself after a short time.

Brake fluid changes are normally recommended to be done when the car is 3 years old and then every 2 years after that. 3 changes in 14 months is taking the mick in my opinion

Thanks for giving an insight in how they work,.....current draw, I didn't expect that.

 

[anto44]

Thanks for giving an insight in how they work,.....current draw, I didn't expect that.

The next time I'm doing a set I'll try and take some pics of the live data showing the amp draw of the motors when they clamp. The ecu will stop the motors within 0.1 amps of each other

 

[TechnicAl]

Ive had an electronic brake on all my last 3 cars and never any problems

 

[Turbo]

I was chatting to a guy tonight about experiences driving home using just the handbrake after the hydraulic system failed - that would be impossible with an ehb!

 

[R-D-R]

Got them on all our cars and hate them especially on the LRs. Worse when they start sticking and making that god awful squealing noise requiring a trip to the dealers to have them adjusted or stripped and cleaned. Reinvention of a wheel that did not need reinventing.

 

[Migmac]

We have one on the Golf, been ok so far.

 

[RonA]

You are hard put to find a new car without EPB. Still think my 1934 car has the best solution you can adjust any slack in the handbrake cable by a giant wing nut next to the drivers seat.
RonA

 

[HughF]

Just gonna say, the one on my GM electric car has been perfectly reliable in the 70k miles of current ownership... And they have demonstrated themselves to be completely reliable on all the Volt's rolling around the US...

 

[Kayos]

I've only heard of issues when people try replacing the pads, rewind gears made of plastic stripping or the pistons winding themselves all the way out once it's been stripped down

 

[slim_boy_fat]

RIP D-I-Y

 

[rtcosic]

EPBs exist for several reasons:

• Small women are not strong enough to apply a mechanical handbrake. My wife let a previous S-Type roll into a Smart car because she sits so far forwards she couldn't get enough leverage on the handbrake to hold it on a slope. On more than one occasion she had to ask me to release the handbrake for her after I had last used the car and heaved on it.
  
• Fat 200kg plus whales - of whom there is a disturbingly large number - cannot reach a mechanical handbrake.
• It is easier to package the cabin without a gert lever to accommodate.
• The little electronic imps can automatically apply the parking brake when the dozy driver switches the ignition off and forgets to apply it. Sister in law I'm looking at you.
  
• The same little electronic imps can automatically release the parking brake when the dozy driver engages drive and depresses the throttle without forethought. Wife and her sister are masters at this and have so little mechanical sympathy they ignore the accompanying noises.

The complexity of brakes pad changes varies somewhat. On my current XJ it is a simple matter to apply 12v to the motor to drive it fully off. Do the deed to the pads. Switch on the ignition and a message is displayed telling you to recalibrate. From memory it's press and hold the footbrake 'firmly' for a count of 3, operate the EPB switch on, pause for the motor to stop, off, pause for the motor to stop, release footbrake. Done.

Pretty much the same as recalibrating the electric windows and sunroof after disconnecting the battery.

Yes it has failed 'on' and I had to use the same technique to release it.