Harry93 Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 Was driving on Sunday, and noticed a burning smell. At first I thought it was someone's diesel car until I looked in the side mirror, smoke coming from rear alloy. Pulled over to see, a seized caliper 😑.The past couple of days I have noticed the handbrake has been unusually light on one side, so I thought maybe it's the hand brake cable or failing that seized caliper pin. Had a look today at work, looks like the coil spring attached to the handbrake cable on the caliper is stiff and doesn't want to uncompress when the handbrake is down unless manually pryed. Have tried adjusting and lubricating but no luck. Rear calipers are new and only a few years old, so wouldn't make sense for them to seize unless the car was standing still for a long time or had been getting abused. Could be a worser start to the year but a bit inconvenient seeing as winter is here. Maybe an early excuse to spend some more money on parts for the car 😁😁😅 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jang Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 20 minutes ago, Harry93 said: Was driving on Sunday, and noticed a burning smell. At first I thought it was someone's diesel car until I looked in the side mirror, smoke coming from rear alloy. Pulled over to see, a seized caliper 😑.The past couple of days I have noticed the handbrake has been unusually light on one side, so I thought maybe it's the hand brake cable or failing that seized caliper pin. Had a look today at work, looks like the coil spring attached to the handbrake cable on the caliper is stiff and doesn't want to uncompress when the handbrake is down unless manually pryed. Have tried adjusting and lubricating but no luck. Rear calipers are new and only a few years old, so wouldn't make sense for them to seize unless the car was standing still for a long time or had been getting abused. Could be a worser start to the year but a bit inconvenient seeing as winter is here. Maybe an early excuse to spend some more money on parts for the car 😁😁😅 I had the same problem on my car. There is a needle bearing which is responsible for hand brake and if it's bad then hand brake gets stuck in on position. You can buy new bearing but changing it it's not worth the the time spent. You will be better off to buy new caliper. Just make sure you buy quality one. If you want to override the problem temporarily, just don't apply hand brake. Hope it helps 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Laird_Scooby Posted January 15 Moderators Report Share Posted January 15 32 minutes ago, Harry93 said: Was driving on Sunday, and noticed a burning smell. At first I thought it was someone's diesel car until I looked in the side mirror, smoke coming from rear alloy. Pulled over to see, a seized caliper It may be savable - how many clicks was it (before the problem) to get the handbrake on full? I've got an idea what may have happened and that's the first question........ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry93 Posted January 16 Author Report Share Posted January 16 6 hours ago, Laird_Scooby said: how many clicks was it (before the problem) to get the handbrake on full? The handbrake cables were replaced when I got the brakes done few years ago, although not genuine ones. Have always tried not to fully pull the brake excessively, but it was usually 3-4 clicks. But more recently it has moved further without clicking but very stiff. Might just replace them again but with genuine ones this time, just to be on the safe side. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry93 Posted January 16 Author Report Share Posted January 16 6 hours ago, jang said: You will be better off to buy new caliper. Just make sure you buy quality one. Thanks, most likely what I am going to have to do. Any suggestions on good aftermarket brands, without going all out on OEM? My current ones are A.B.S., from AutoDoc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Laird_Scooby Posted January 16 Moderators Report Share Posted January 16 1 hour ago, Harry93 said: but it was usually 3-4 clicks. That's your problem! Whoever fitted the handbrake cables did it wrong! Possibly if they fitted new rear pads at the same time that was done worng too. The procedure is to first slacken the handbrake adjuster inside the car, usually accessed through the back end of the centre console. Working one caliper at a time, remove the rear pads and wind the piston all the way back in. Now free off the handbrake mech on the caliper and lube. Refit the pads. Move to the other rear caliper, repeat. Now operate the footbrake several times, you will hear the autoadjusters operate (series of clicks from the calipers, make sure both autoadjusters work!!!). Once you are satisfied both autoadjusters have operated, adjust the handbrake cable inside the car to be on at 5-8 clicks, NO LESS!!!!!! The handbrake is designed to do this so the autoadjusters ALWAYS have clearance to operate. With the handbrake off, there should be a clearance between the lever the handbrake cable attaches to and the cam it pushes against on the caliper. If memory serves (it's a long time since i've done this so i'm sure Stu will correct me if i'm wrong with this or anything else in this procedure) the clearance should be between 0.5-2.0mm, again this is the clearance needed so the autoadjusters can operate (which takes care of both service brakes and handbrakes on each caliper) but 5-8 clicks at the handbrake lever to be fully on is the spec. Any less and the autoadjusters will fail to operate resulting in a siezed caliper and non-functioning handbrake. If you're lucky, following this procedure will give you your handbrake back and unsieze your caliper. I've done this many times on Rover 800s, a 600 (5th gen Accord with different badges) or two, 5th gen Accord Coupe and several other models that use similar designs of caliper. Too many "mechanics" have been to the "Ford School of Handbrake Adjustment" where the handbrake should be on at 2-3 clicks. They think Hondas should be the same! Do not be tempted to skip any of the above steps, particularly slackening the handbrake cable to start with and definitely don't alter the procedure - the handbrake cable should be slackened first and adjusted last. Failing to observe that will give problems. The same procedure applies to changing rear pads and must be followed or this will happen. Hope you can save the caliper! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jang Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 2 hours ago, Harry93 said: Thanks, most likely what I am going to have to do. Any suggestions on good aftermarket brands, without going all out on OEM? My current ones are A.B.S., from AutoDoc. I've had few A.B.S parts and they were all extremely crap. AKR performance ( Dutch shop) have good selection of parts. It's easy to find out if it's caliper or cable gets stuck. When it gets seized again just release hand brake, take the wheel off and and have a look. If it's bad caliper you will see that handbrake it's still applied and you will be able just detach the cable as it's going to be loose. The try if you are able to pull manually that handbrake spring on the caliper. If you are able to release it that means it's caliper 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Site Subscriber’s Chrismas Posted January 16 Site Subscriber’s Report Share Posted January 16 Mine makes a grating noise from the rear, when reversing. Bearings are fine and passed 2 MOTs, I'm thinking it could be a similar issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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