Handbrake not working??? (97 civic SIR)


I think your in the right hole there, pretty sure that's the one I put it in on any rear disc conversions I done. Were the calipers refurbs?
 
The callipers could have been refurbs alright, had to return my old ones as part of the deal, I could be wrong however, as they looked pretty new to me. But with new seals, piston kit and a respray they will probably look new anyway.

Could I have got dud callipers? :((
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.


Then jack the car up and tighten the hand brake till the wheels or a wheel starts to just lock on the first click. Now test your hand brake.

Everything sorted?
 
:clap:
Good man tysonzane! tried this there now and has seemed to work!!! way,way better than what It was before. One wheel seems to be breaking a little bit more than the other side but not by very much. I will repeat the process again later on!

This is probably all that my handbrake needed from the very start, but it doesn't mention to do this anywhere that I have looked, even in the Haynes manual.

On the plus side I would say that I'd be able to change the rear brake pads in about 2 minutes blindfolded now :win:

Big thanks to everyone who has replied to the thread, hopefully it will be able to help out other people who have been having similar problems.

Im going to rebook my NCT test, so hopefully this time it will pass :nice: .
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.


Then jack the car up and tighten the hand brake till the wheels or a wheel starts to just lock on the first click. Now test your hand brake.

Everything sorted?

I think this should be stickied as this is areally common problem with civics and integras. Thanks Tyson for sharing the knowedge and i'm sure it will help a lot of people out!
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.


Then jack the car up and tighten the hand brake till the wheels or a wheel starts to just lock on the first click. Now test your hand brake.

Everything sorted?

:clap:
Good man tysonzane! tried this there now and has seemed to work!!! way,way better than what It was before. One wheel seems to be breaking a little bit more than the other side but not by very much. I will repeat the process again later on!

This is probably all that my handbrake needed from the very start, but it doesn't mention to do this anywhere that I have looked, even in the Haynes manual.

On the plus side I would say that I'd be able to change the rear brake pads in about 2 minutes blindfolded now :win:

Big thanks to everyone who has replied to the thread, hopefully it will be able to help out other people who have been having similar problems.

Im going to rebook my NCT test, so hopefully this time it will pass :nice: .

Damn good advice there paddy, hope this does the trick for ya!
I had this problem myself on all my civics but luckily they passed the NCT as the imbalance was within the limits.

Let us know how you get on with the NCT man, good luck....
 
yea will let yous know how I get on, fingers crossed. :nice:

This problem has been doing my head in for the past 4 months!
 
Thank you for the warm response guys. I'd just like to say i'm really sorry i didn't spot this thread sooner which could have saved you some money. I dont frequent this forum too regularly but i think i will now.

I discovered the solution after fitting new pads and the hand brake not working quite right. I use my hand brake quite often in gymkhana and autocross events which require you to do hand brake turns and the like. Because i live on a farm and a private road i will regularly do some practice if i come home from work early. I found that over time the hand brake bite point was getting higher and the hand brake wasn't working correctly, i adjusted in again and then took the car for a hard run, using the brakes really hard that the hand brake would feel different once again. This is when i figured that the hand brake has some strange sort of relationship to the normal brake system.

This is when i figured out the above system. I've found that if you take the car for a good hard drive over the next week and use the hand brake now and then to say slow down to a stop at a stop sign or traffic light that the hand brake will settle down even more. Then follow the same steps again. By the second time you follow the steps the hand brake should be perfect and reasonably even.

Just something i picked up over the years. I did it to a friends car when i installed new pads for them recently and it worked a treat.

All the best guys and feel free to share it with who ever needs to know :) .
 
I've had my civic 3 months now and have not had any problems with the handbrake. One thing I have noticed is that on steep inclines you have to pull the lever very high but Track Day Car Hire has not even looked like rolling back. I must say that I have had two cars with rear disc brakes and never had a problem with the car rolling back on a hill.
 
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Hi all, I finally passed my NCT there yesterday (there was a two month waiting list for the test). The handbrake passed no problem :woot:.

I spent the evening before the test adjusting it, and it was still braking uneven, in the end I had to balance up one side by pulling the brake cable closer to the rear trailing arm with a snap tie clip. This thighened one side up a little bit and both were pretty even.

I then proceded to tighten up both cables inside the car with the rear wheels off the ground. Its not a long term solution but it got me through the test, this leads me to believe I may have one cable routed slightly different to the other (when I get the time i will study this further).

Anyway a big thanks to everyone that helped me out! Im glad my car finally passed! :thanks:
 
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Holy thread revival.

I have the same issue with my hand brake. Gonna try this method, hopefully it comes right. Hjowever I am curious. Normally one would adjust the caliper piston manually by turning it. By the method mentioned above, does it ' turn' the piston automatically hence why it works so well?
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.


Then jack the car up and tighten the hand brake till the wheels or a wheel starts to just lock on the first click. Now test your hand brake.

Everything sorted?

This method works like a charm! Thanks- my handbrake works again!
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.


Then jack the car up and tighten the hand brake till the wheels or a wheel starts to just lock on the first click. Now test your hand brake.

Everything sorted?


Hi Buddy When you say turn on Do you start engine and leave it running throughout

Also have one cable slightly longer than other on adjuster but handbrake slipping on hills
after changing calipers and cables as well but not sure if cables are faulty
 
Hi Buddy When you say turn on Do you start engine and leave it running throughout

Also have one cable slightly longer than other on adjuster but handbrake slipping on hills
after changing calipers and cables as well but not sure if cables are faulty
Nice thread revival lol last post from 2012
 
Tried the 5 step guide today and it worked like a dream. Saved on buying 2 new callipers just to find it didn't solve the problem. I think over time the cables get struck in the sleeves and this frees them up. Can now use my handbrake on hills, before it barely worked on the flat!!
 
So the handbrake is self adjusting, what you need to do is
Let out the nut on back of handbrake all the way ,
Start your engine and press your break about 30 to 40 times
That adjusts the cable to within the next phase,
Then, lift your handbrake up one click ,
Then adjust the nut at back of handbrake till bohemian rear wheels stop , car on jack stands,
When That Is Done LET Handbrake Down To Make Sure THEY ARE NOT Still Tight.
That's by the honda manual.
 
Na na you're all alright. This should fix your problem.

1) Back your hand brake cable off all the way with the in car adjuster.
2) Turn the car on.
3) Lift the hand brake all the way to the top and then down again.
4) Do this 10 times quite quickly.
5) Pump your foot hard up and down on the brake peddle 10 times.
6) Repeat steps 3 - 5 a good 5 or 6 times.

Bringing this thread back after having this problem and the above trick seems to have helped a lot but im not sure if its still 100%

Question is why does this help and whats it doing? is it moving the piston out further, or freeing the cables if they're stuck?

Ive also found this on another site but have no idea what they're on about so does anyone else know....

you do tighten the hand brake from the calipers.. the lever adjustment is more a fine tuner. Its a bit hard to explain via internet however correct way is stated in service manual. its along the lines of loosten the 17mm nut that handbrake line plate attaches to on caliper, pump brake pedel few times, pull handbrake up few times, leave handbrake on 1st notch and then tighten the 17mm nut down.. loosten the lever adjustment down to about half way before you try this, the handbrake is annoying to do and took me about an hour of playing around to get it perfect but since then has been awesome and fully grips on 6th notch which is OEM spec for EG
 
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