Rear brakes including hand brake don't work

I have seen several issues about the rear brakes in other threads which I read but decided to start a new one.
My still beautiful P6 didn't pass the periodic vehicle inspection recently because the rear brakes didn't work at all including the hand brake.
I decided to first start changing the rear brake pads (because worn out) which on the left side I managed,to do by removing the drive shaft and the disc and than replaced the pads. I couldn't hear the rattling mechanism when i turned the piston cw but managed to get it back as far as possible, put the tag upwards and put the pads in, disc and refitted the drive shaft and so on.
Next day I started on the right hand side and then I had bad luck. The tag of the piston broke off and the piston is leaking a little bit.
Everything like on the other side very rusty, hardly moving and couldn't even get the inner pad out (only with a kind of brute force which very likely damaged the tag and probably also the piston).

What do I have to do to get this fixed and back working in a smart way? I think replacing the pads just isn't enough also on the left side it isn't
 
The calipers have to come off and need rebuilding.

The piston that the tag became separated from is not a hydraulic one, so if it's leaking you have some major problems inside.

Sorry to be so blunt :)

Richard
 
I expected something like this.
To remove the calipers, does the final drive need to be removed completely? Or what's the easiest way?
 
Remove the driveshafts and discs, then remove the calipers from their mountings on the diff. You don't even need to separate the calipers, with the hose still joining them one will come over the top of the diff while you lift the other one off.
 
I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I got them off with the diff and driveshafts in situ.

You will need to disconnect the hand brake cable, remove the linkage from the diff.

If it's that rusty back there, clean the area around the brake pipe connection up near the rear crossmember. Drain the brake fluid or just let it drip into a container when undone. Douse it with release oil then undo the pipe and then remove the nut holding the flexible hose to the bracket.

Then undo the large nuts on the swivel pins (I tapped a large socket onto these). Inside here are the pins, which have an allen key head. Undo these, holding the nut on the other end. I think you have to remove the nut, which is quite long with rubber seals, so might be a little difficult to move.

With these removed, you can lift the calipers upwards and wiggle them free. Note they will be joined together with a flexible hose.

It was a while ago, but I think that's how I did it.

Best of luck :)

Edit, just looked back at some pictures and it seems I did remove the driveshafts and the discs.
 
Last edited:
I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I got them off with the diff and driveshafts in situ.

You will need to disconnect the hand brake cable, remove the linkage from the diff.

If it's that rusty back there, clean the area around the brake pipe connection up near the rear crossmember. Drain the brake fluid or just let it drip into a container when undone. Douse it with release oil then undo the pipe and then remove the nut holding the flexible hose to the bracket.

Then undo the large nuts on the swivel pins (I tapped a large socket onto these). Inside here are the pins, which have an allen key head. Undo these, holding the nut on the other end. I think you have to remove the nut, which is quite long with rubber seals, so might be a little difficult to move.

With these removed, you can lift the calipers upwards and wiggle them free. Note they will be joined together with a flexible hose.

It was a while ago, but I think that's how I did it.

Best of luck :)

Edit, just looked back at some pictures and it seems I did remove the driveshafts and the discs.
Thanks for the description. All not very easy to do to my opinion, but don't have much choice I guess. Will not start right away due to lack of time. Will let you know how It goes
 
All not very easy to do to my opinion, but don't have much choice I guess.

They aren't very easy to do, as seen by the number of people that try to do them and make a mess of the whole job, but there's a lot of info on here, and apart from normal hand tools and a little bit of knowledge there's nothing else required.
 
The donkey work is easy enough, removing the actual components under the car but the calipers themselves are a dark art which l've left for Harvey's cauldron in the past, though these days sending off for rebuilt & stainless-lined calipers is the order of the day. And just to keep him happy, l now let Harvey take care of component removal too.
 
The donkey work is easy enough, removing the actual components under the car but the calipers themselves are a dark art which l've left for Harvey's cauldron in the past, though these days sending off for rebuilt & stainless-lined calipers is the order of the day. And just to keep him happy, l now let Harvey take care of component removal too.

That's all very fine and dandy, but has a Cafe been opened up on your workshop site yet? No? Well, all bets are off then.....:D
 
That's the one failing of the premises. That & the fact it won't hold six cars.

Someone I knew had a unit in E17, with an empty unit next door, so he punched a hole through the wall big enough to get cars through, and doubled the size of his workshop, gratis.

He had it like that for years and years, he built a rolling storage unit to cover the hole in case anyone came in. He actually did it because he built a mezzanine and the council came in and said they were going to increase the business rates because of it, so he removed the mezzanine, and moved into next door instead. Eventually the site was redeveloped and when it was demolished nobody was any the wiser.

I've never seen anyone in those units next to you......:D
 
Kitchen man on the right & Dave the electrician on the left. :(
We did build the mezzanine with no increase in rent of course. It needs tidying though, l was looking for the rims l bought off Clive at the weekend & l had to give up in the end. No doubt they're somewhere 'safe'. :rolleyes:
 
Almost 3/4 of a year later i pickep up the work on my rover p6 again. I ordered revised brake calipers at Mark Gray’s and brake hoses and have new brake pads and managed to put everything in place. And yes it is a dark art, but thought i did a great job on it.
Everything seems to work fine. No leakage in the system, both rear brakes work properly, so it seemed.
But stiil I have a problem. The rear right brake works fine, the left reaR brake also works fine but has a brake power difference of almost 65% between left and right. (As tested for the generic periodic inspection). Left brake has apparently seriously less power.
When I push the brake pedal it has enough pressure so it seems. I tried several things, bleeding again to get the air out, sanding the brake pads to make sure they have good equal contact to the disk. No impovement yet.
Can there stiil be air in the left brake caliper althougn the pedal pressure seems fine? Also when pulling the handbrake the left brake has less power than right. Right brake is fine.
Any advise would be very welcome....
 
I would say that the left caliper hasn't been ratcheted up as far as the right hand one. If you have air in the system, I'd say that air will compress and affect both brakes equally, and that air won't affect the efficiency of the handbrake.
 
Thanks Harveyp6. I will try if more braking improves the situation, otherwise I might have to sand the inner left hand brakepad a bit more to see if that improves it.
 
I removed the brake pads and tested the ratcheting mechanism of the left hand caliper. I tried to see if the piston builds up pressure to the inner brakepad. What happens is the following:
When the brake pedal is pushed the inner brakepad moves but doesn’t move further towards the disc. I hear the ratcheting sound but the brakepad stays where it is while i would expect that the piston would come out further. That’s why there is no pressure on the brake. Instead of the piston coming further out it stays where it is. Even if i completely remove the brakepad the piston won’t come out, when pushing the brake pedal. Is that a fault in the caliper?
What can i do about it? Is there another way to help the piston come out further?
 
Back
Top