Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Bixy1 on 10 February 2010, 00:21:51
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On a good note, Picked car up from local garage. New handbrake cables fitted, all adjusted and did'nt have to remove interior, he got to the seized nut with an angle grinder. ;D ;D Had to drop propshaft and heat shields (all the nuts of which sheared off) but job sorted.
£108 quid and happy to pay it. Too cold outside for me! :)
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On a good note, Picked car up from local garage. New handbrake cables fitted, all adjusted and did'nt have to remove interior, he got to the seized nut with an angle grinder. ;D ;D Had to drop propshaft and heat shields (all the nuts of which sheared off) but job sorted.
£108 quid and happy to pay it. Too cold outside for me! :)
:o
the mind boggles as to what he angle ground..
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Boggle! Boggle, Boggle! ;D
The adjustment nut on the handbrake lever rod.....! ;)
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So...did he just replace the cable or did he set the handbrake up properly?
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Replaced the cables and set the brakes properly. Handbrake lovely now. :)
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So....both rear wheels off, slack handbrake, rear shoes manualy setup and operation fully checked, the cable adjusted to be full on at aroun 6 clicks?
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Yes, thats what he said. He's an ex- VX mechanic, used to work at Menston Garage a few years ago. He knows his Vauxhalls. :y
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So....both rear wheels off, slack handbrake, rear shoes manualy setup and operation fully checked, the cable adjusted to be full on at aroun 6 clicks?
..you're not suspicious by any chance.. ::)
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Nope, not at all. I've been to him before with an Astra problem. He was spot on! :y
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So....both rear wheels off, slack handbrake, rear shoes manualy setup and operation fully checked, the cable adjusted to be full on at aroun 6 clicks?
..you're not suspicious by any chance.. ::)
As always....it appears that the general knowledge and basic understanding of many systems is now lost to mechanics as a whole.
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mines shite, bloody thing. Need to strip down the other side this weekend ( ran out of time last weekend ).
Oh joy >:(
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Possibly a stupid question, but, is a seemingly poor handbrake and typical trait of an Omega???
As I have said in another post, I really do not trust the handbrake to hold the car satisfactorally on a slope, I always leave the car in gear and wheels towards the kerb.. In the MOT before the last, the garage actually got their calculator out to see if it was passible. The last MOT after servicing the Handbrake, the garage passed it with a good level of efficiency, however, I still don't have the confidence that it will hold me on a steepish hill... (Not excessively steep, just the average level of slope in many areas).
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Possibly a stupid question, but, is a seemingly poor handbrake and typical trait of an Omega???
As I have said in another post, I really do not trust the handbrake to hold the car satisfactorally on a slope, I always leave the car in gear and wheels towards the kerb.. In the MOT before the last, the garage actually got their calculator out to see if it was passible. The last MOT after servicing the Handbrake, the garage passed it with a good level of efficiency, however, I still don't have the confidence that it will hold me on a steepish hill... (Not excessively steep, just the average level of slope in many areas).
Nope, what is typical is the majority of spanner jerkers when asked to adjust the handbrake, do just that, tighten the adjuster nut and they think it`s job done
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Rob, the only problem with that is that I am the spanner monkey who did the job and I know that I went from back to front checking the mechanism both sides... lol...
I know I am very much and amateur and in some cases bodge some things to make them do, such as a wooden spacer for a longer than necessary bolt.... When I do a job on my car, I follow any advice, I may be given in order to do it properly, especially if I am unsure as to what is entailed in a job...
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If you followed the guide (which I`m sure you did :)) the handbrake should hold on a decent gradient, but I know what you mean about being wary of it holding. Nothing wrong with adopting the "belt & braces" attitude regarding use of the handbrake :y
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Just reading about a pending trip to San Francisco and learnt that it's the law there to park in gear with your front wheels heading toward the kerb! There must be loads of Omega drivers over there :D
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..... There must be loads of Omega drivers over there :D
There's certainly loads of hills!!!! :y :y :y
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Its not just Omega's , Mrs Bixy's Astra handbrake has always been crap and we've had that for 9 years. New shoes, drums, cables nothing made any difference. :'(
New cables on the Omega have really made a difference. :y
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The stupid part about the Omega parking brake is that the actuator between the shoes is in the wrong place.
On a normal drum brake there is a fixed post between the shoes on one side and the actuator is between the shoes on the other side.
On the Omega the fixed post and the actuator are the same side (at the bottom). At the other side there is the adjusting strut.
When all is new and correctly adjusted you effectively have a 'twin leading shoe' brake that works with a fierce servo action.
When there is slack in the shoe adjustment they don't bite immediately which is why you sometimes have a fierce parking brake but other time nothing at all. >:(
The other problem is that the actuator mechanism tends to rust up but because it is floating between the two shoes it isn't readily apparent. To take the mechanism out and clean & lubricate it you have to remove the rear calipers and discs first. A nuisance but well worth doing before attempting to adjust the cable.
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Its not just Omega's , Mrs Bixy's Astra handbrake has always been crap and we've had that for 9 years. New shoes, drums, cables nothing made any difference. :'(
New cables on the Omega have really made a difference. :y
Again, crappy setup by whoever has doen the wrok.
Because yet again, the rear setup on them is good, reliable and auto adjusts well IF the person working on it, knows the basics :y
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Its not just Omega's , Mrs Bixy's Astra handbrake has always been crap and we've had that for 9 years. New shoes, drums, cables nothing made any difference. :'(
New cables on the Omega have really made a difference. :y
Again, crappy setup by whoever has doen the wrok.
Because yet again, the rear setup on them is good, reliable and auto adjusts well IF the person working on it, knows the basics :y
As someone who has a poor handbrake, and doesn't know the basics. Is following the guide to sort the hand break fairly straight forward? And how long does it take?
Thanks - Rob.
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Its easy enough and for a first timer, 2-3 hours of work.
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I'll give it a go then (although I'll wait for some warmer weather!)
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Its easy enough and for a first timer, 2-3 hours of work.
The worst bit is jacking the car up high enough to get to the handbrake adjuster. Make sure you support the car well, it will kill you if it falls off the axle stands.
Second worst bit is getting to the nut on the handbrake actuating rod. I now have a deep 10mm socket and a collection of wobble bars so I can get to it without taking the heat shields off.
Thirdly, to get at the actuating arms, to free them off if they are seized, you need to remove the rear wheels, the rear calipers (and the rear shocks to get at the bolts) and the rear disc/drums.
Be careful with the shoe retaining pins. The backplates are flimsy and the keyhole that the retaining pins engage with can get chewed up.
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Just follow the guide, you dont need to remove the rear shocks :y
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Just follow the guide, you dont need to remove the rear shocks :y
The Guide http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152564750
I had a very early Omega (1994) with different backplates and the early type of actuators that 'can seize'. Looks as though the position of the shock absorber lower mounting may have been improved on later cars too :y
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I hate the rather things. Frequent bloody maintenence, bane of my life.
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Why do we love our Omegas when there are so many horrible jobs to be done on them
and they are so low that there is a danger of death.
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Why do we love our Omegas when there are so many horrible jobs to be done on them
and they are so low that there is a danger of death.
eh?