Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)
  • My bottom is very sore (car content)
  • molgrips
    Free Member

    Electronic parking brake motor failed. A little motor and some gears in a plastic casting costs £263 apparently, and they have to spend an hour configuring it.

    Do I have any other option?

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    chocks?

    jon1973
    Free Member

    Never really saw the problem with mechanical handbreaks really – it’s generally pretty failsafe. Just redesigning something for the sake of it.

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    rickmeister
    Full Member

    VW Passat electric handbrake thingy ?

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    Do I have any other option?

    Buy a car with a normal handbrake, £15 cable vs £263 motor. You didn’t service/have it derviced recently did you? The easiest way to brake them apparently is to try changeing the brake pads without plugging it into a computer and playing with the ECU first. Brother-in-out-law managed a garrage where the apprentice changed the rear pads on a VAG car, it then had to go back to audi for re-programming and ended up costing the garrage £1600!

    nickf
    Free Member

    Effectively it’s a service item. I don’t know anyone with a Passat over a certain age who hasn’t had to have this repaired, though you’ve been stung a bit more than I was. Total cost for me was about £200, I recall, though that was through an indy.

    cookeaa
    Full Member

    Make and Model? Just so we all know which car to avoid…

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Electric handbrake. What a complicated soiltion for a simple problem.
    I’ve just bought a whole car for £137 more than that repair. A whole car. Tax, mot, decent nick.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Buy a car with a normal handbrake, £15 cable vs £263 motor

    So £5k versus £263 I FAIL TO SEE THE VALUE OF UR COMMENT!

    As for the service, no, I had the pads changed once and that was the proper way after having done my research. It failed after being sat for 3 weeks whilst we were on holiday. There’s no seal between the caliper body and the motor body, which is frigging stupid. If I were fixing it myself I’d put something in to keep the water out but the garage are doing it. It takes 10 mins to change it but apparently needs an hour of configuration work 🙁

    I will call some indies, see what happens.

    On the plus side, there’s a recall out for the injectors, which could be a nice new set of injectors for free at 86k miles.

    PP, I am well aware of bangernomics, ta.

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Just leave it in gear when you park it.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    MF I would leave it in park, since it’s auto, but the continuous bing bing bing bing when you drive is a little difficult to ignore. If I’d never have touched it in the first place, the car would never have known it’d seized…

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Never mind, you’ll think the £263 was nothing compared to the day you have to need a new auto box fitted anyway 😉

    Jamie
    Free Member

    I FAIL TO SEE THE VALUE OF UR COMMENT!

    Someone should really post a pic of that woman ironing…

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    I’ve had this argument a few times and in general I’m against adding complexity but I don’t think a caliper-based EPB is adding much complexity as they simply remove a bunch of cables that need lubrication, a ratchet, a piece of internal bodywork etc. The ones that still activate a cable system are a pointless waste of time thought.

    anc
    Free Member

    Its a mot fail, so nee choice but to cough up. Vw dealer job only too :-\ When the near side went on ours i read the other would go fairly soon, so i took the aa up on there kind offer of repair cover insurance… sure enough 2 months later the other side went. AA paid up thank god so saved me 200 quid.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    As a recovery driver once observed to me “it’s mostly new cars that break down”

    The newer the cars I’ve had, the more they’ve cost me to fix…..

    Mol, I ain’t slumming it for my £400. Electric everything including seats, airbags everywhere, sunroof, good stereo, cruise, dual zone climate, heated seats, auto box with sport/snow modes. 🙂

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I’ve had this argument a few times and in general I’m against adding complexity but I don’t think a caliper-based EPB is adding much complexity

    It would be fine if they’d made it properly. It’s just a motor and gears, but it’s poorly sealed.

    PP – what I meant was, stfu. I’ve been there, done it, and decided not to continue.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    I keep thinking about buying a newer car but everyone I know with one seems to have endless super-expensive faults. Kinda glad I use the bangernomics route. My peugeot has it’s first proper fault (barring the rattly pulley I replaced for £30) in the 70k miles I’ve owned it (150K total), trailing arm bearings, which looks to be about £400 to replace the rear beam (can’t be bothered faffing changing the bearings themselves). Not bad for a car costing <2K in the beginning and being used for 5 years so far.

    bristolbiker
    Free Member

    It’s just a motor and gears, but it’s poorly sealed.

    Your ‘not sealed’ is a manufacturers ‘profit margin and ongoing revenue stream’ 😉

    randomjeremy
    Free Member

    @PP what did you get in the end?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I keep thinking about buying a newer car but everyone I know with one seems to have endless super-expensive faults.

    This is actually the only repair I’ve ever needed

    Er, never mind.. nothing..

    hora
    Free Member

    £263 is nothing on a modern VW. Seriously. They are appalling pieces of shit. Parallel with Ford reliability in real world terms.

    anc
    Free Member

    On the latest model, if the car stands for any period of time the motor releases one caliper then the other every now and then to try to combat this very issue of siezed calipers and bust plastic motor housings…. Lets hope the computer doesn’t get confused and manages to release both sides at the same time…. crunch!

    Cougar
    Full Member

    I had a Passat for a while. Great car in every way apart from the silly bloody handbrake. Once failed to release when trying to leave a ferry, that wasn’t emmbarassing at all.

    hels
    Free Member

    IMHO the trick is to buy a newish car, but the mostest basicest model you can find. No fancy eletronic gizmo anythings. No variable doohickeys, automatic sensor naught. I’d live without power steering if I could but it’s standard these days. Am always delighted to find proper wind down windows. ABS pretty much unavoidable and thankfully people still like proper gear boxes in the UK.

    My mum still drives about in a car made in 1933 btw, it’s cheap on the tax too. Parts can be a b***h mind. (with some modifications obviously for the pedants in here, it has seatbelts fitted and runs on unleaded petrol, but it’s basically the same car)

    And, I drove a car for a year that had no handbrake. Just park it in gear and don’t park it on a hill. I still had the handle part, so when the cops pulled us over whcih was often, we kind of inserted it (was a pull up job from under the dashboard, bench seats) and hoped it didn’t move.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    Er, never mind.. nothing..

    I don’t really know you molgrips, I was talking about people I have to speak to face to face, who I know well enough to know how they maintain them and whether they’re caused by user abuse etc. People who dealer service every time and still end up with issues. People who spend 15K on a second hand top of the range BMW and still end up with £Ks worth of replacements/repairs due to faulty hardware like failing looms and ECUs.

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    PP – what I meant was, stfu. I’ve been there, done it, and decided not to continue.

    No. I won’t STFU thanks. I’ll say what I like. I was just making a vague comment, but you’ve copped a strop it seems

    You wasted money on a new car, now you complain about the repair bills. Your bed. Lie in it.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Not really a strop, it was meant to be a light hearted quip.

    But I didn’t buy a new car, I bought a three year old one. And last time I checked old ones go wrong too. The reason I bought a newer one was because the older generation with simpler systems weren’t as good in terms of safety features, and the cheaper ones were petrol and uneconomical. And I like being in nice clean cars too to be honest. I could afford it, and I can afford this bill too.

    Not seriously complaining about the bills either, the real point of the thread was asking if anyone knew of alternatives to a dealer fix for this particular common problem. The sore arse thing was a joke.

    Er, never mind.. nothing..

    That was another joke.. I was pretending not to say the bit I struck through because I didn’t want to jinx myself of course. I have to say I’ve been very happy with the reliability of all the cars I’ve owned.

    And, I drove a car for a year that had no handbrake. Just park it in gear and don’t park it on a hill

    Would you have driven it for a year if it was sounding a constant alarm?

    mastiles_fanylion
    Free Member

    Would you have driven it for a year if it was sounding a constant alarm?

    Think of it as an additional safety feature to stop you falling asleep at the wheel.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    Does the alarm bell have a dedicated fuse?

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Doubt it, plus then I’d lose any other alarms that might be important.

    hels
    Free Member

    Er, 1971 Ford Falcons didn’t tend to sound constant alarms. And anyway, how hard can it be to disconnect the alarm, isolate the fuse etc. I am sure any good main dealer mechanic will only charge you £150 for the job…

    And if you can afford it then why are you moaning. Or is that a moan of pure pleasure as the hairy arsed mechanic hands you the dirty greasy bill ?

    seanoc
    Free Member

    I think this every time I consider buying a set post that does nothing other than hold a saddle and go up and down.

    richmtb
    Full Member

    I had a seatbelt warning sensor go in the drivers seat of my car.

    Dealer wanted £213 to replace it.

    I disconnected the sensor underneath the seat. Found a pound coin doing it too!

    Hopefully an independant dealer can sort in for less money than the VW main stealers are quoting

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Aren’t alarms and warning lights checked as part of the MOT now?

    Cougar
    Full Member

    then I’d lose any other alarms that might be important.

    Can’t offhand think of any that don’t also display some sort of dashboard warning. I wasn’t being entirely serious though (-:

    Thinking about it, if you’re happy never to use the handbrake, can you disable the warning chime in the menus? It’s a few years since I had mine but I vaguely remember that being an option. (I remember turning off the seatbelt warning, as it used to complain loudly that two bags of shopping on the passenger seat wasn’t wearing a seatbelt).

    molgrips
    Free Member

    Nah I’ll get it fixed. I’ve called the indies, will see if they are cheaper.

    I found instructions on how to disassemble online, but it looks hard to sort out because it’s not a serviceable part.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    Yeah your biggest issue will be non-standard, non-purchasable parts. Caliper or nothing sort of thing. Shame, but that’s the way everything is going these days.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    It apparently has standard bearings in it, which are typically the ones that seize, but to get it apart you have to remove a collar that can’t really be replaced easily.

    Unless I put a thread on the shaft.. hmm. but it’s too hard for that. Maybe a small piece of copper tube subsequently crimped around the groove..hmm..

    If you are interested, it’s as per the example in this page.

    coffeeking
    Free Member

    Difficult to tell how much force is on that collar and in what direction. If it’s actually a copper collar it should be really easy to repair and solder back together but not if it has anything too forceful applied to it. Hard to tell without seeing one in the flesh even though those images are fairly good.

    Been tempted to use these on a car I’m building but the lack of rebuildable internals worries me (on top of a few other things).

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 44 total)

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