Manual Handbrake not fully returning - chiming

[stevenboot]

Hi all,

So my hand brake still tensions fine but it doesn't fully sit back down when it's not engaged. It's slightly raised and sometimes causes the handbrake warning chime and warning light on the dash until I push it back down.
I've had a look at the link below but unsure what I need to tighten/replace.
Thank you in advance for any help.

http://www.oemepc.com/seat/part_sin...711/subcategory/711050/part_id/1399652/lang/e

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[RUM4MO]

I've always considered it to be desirable to have "some" slack in a cable handbrake system - but never ended up in some situation where I needed to push/force the handbrake handle down to get it beyond the warning switch "on" point.

Just how far can you raise the handbrake handle from the fully "down" position until you feel that it is actually starting to move the levers on the rear wheels.

Back to your original question "which parts of how do I adjust this to shorten the cables?" - item "6" is called the adjusting nut, so you just rotate it to pull the equaliser link further "up" the handbrake handle actuating threaded rod - but, before doing this, make sure that the rear brakes are clean and free to move, as any wear at the rear brakes should be getting taken up automatically and so you should never need to adjust a handbrake cable over the life of a car.
In the past where Bowden cables might not have been manufactured as well as they should have been, cables, in time would stretch slightly, so they needed shortening by adjusting, but I've never found that to be the case over the past 40 years of owning cars with fully working, and regularly serviced braking systems.

One thing, how old is your car and what mileage, also when did it last get a brake service, brakes tend to be excluded from normal servicing so doing that work will always be an extra cost task if you can't do this yourself?

Edit:- ah, probably 2014 car from your linked parts listing - did any Leon MK3 end up with rear drum brakes, if so, I'd think that the rear brakes need sorting out, ie serviced before touching that cable adjuster.

 

[BigJase88]

you can fit rear caliper return helper springs to the rear brakes which will help and is a popular mod

 

[RUM4MO]

you can fit rear caliper return helper springs to the rear brakes which will help and is a popular mod

I'm not too sure if that "fix" is still relevant, I did that to my wife's 2002 Polo back in 2003 when this sort of "not returning" handbrake levers on cars with rear disc brakes first kicked off, due to that experience, I bought and fitted them to my wife's 2015 Polo when it was bought new, but I reckon that the internal return spring in these later cars is a bit stronger and that 2015 Polo would probably have lived without for its entire life as long as it got regular brake servicing carried out.
Initially this general market segment of VW Group cars did have different rear callipers and they came complete with external return springs as these cars Golfs etc have a longer body and so longer handbrake cable rums - which was thought with the Polos etc with their shorter cable runs to be okay without any external spring.

Have you checked your 1.5TSI Leon to see if there is or is not an external spring on the handbrake lever?

 

[Mr Pig]

It's slightly raised and sometimes causes the handbrake warning chime and warning light on the dash until I push it back down.

We have a 2014 Leon and the handbrake has always sat up slightly, maybe about a centimeter. As if a piece of rubber or something was jamming it. If you push it down it just springs back up. It has never caused any problems and never caused the light to come on.

Not long bought a 2016 Leon and the lever goes all the way down.

I would look at adjusting the switch, as long as the brakes are fully off with the lever where it is.

What would be really nice is a kit to move the handbrake lever over to the right where it should be! Damn those contemptuous, nazi, not-give-a-feck about us Brits, Germans!

 

[BigJase88]

I'm not too sure if that "fix" is still relevant, I did that to my wife's 2002 Polo back in 2003 when this sort of "not returning" handbrake levers on cars with rear disc brakes first kicked off, due to that experience, I bought and fitted them to my wife's 2015 Polo when it was bought new, but I reckon that the internal return spring in these later cars is a bit stronger and that 2015 Polo would probably have lived without for its entire life as long as it got regular brake servicing carried out.
Initially this general market segment of VW Group cars did have different rear callipers and they came complete with external return springs as these cars Golfs etc have a longer body and so longer handbrake cable rums - which was thought with the Polos etc with their shorter cable runs to be okay without any external spring.

Have you checked your 1.5TSI Leon to see if there is or is not an external spring on the handbrake lever?

the 1.5tsi uses the electronic handbrake so a motor winds the caliper in and out

 

[stevenboot]

We have a 2014 Leon and the handbrake has always sat up slightly, maybe about a centimeter. As if a piece of rubber or something was jamming it. If you push it down it just springs back up. It has never caused any problems and never caused the light to come on.

This is the issue, it's just a couple of bumps causes it to sit up slightly and trigger the sensor.



Car is a FR with discs all round.

Handbrake returns fine, I would say bite is at about 3-4 inches although I always push the foot brake first to do the brunt of the work.
A few years back the handbrake was tightened by a Seat Dealer as to put it on it needed to hit the roof!

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[Mr Pig]

... just a couple of bumps causes it to sit up slightly and trigger the sensor.

If it's working ok other than that I'd either move the switch or take the trim off and see what's holding up the lever. It could be something really simple like the boot on the lever.

 

[RUM4MO]

Ah, I checked action of the handbrake handle when I was out in my wife's 2015 Polo yesterday and kind of thought that this must be down to some thing physically stopping the handle from wanting to drop fully down as when I operated the Polo handbrake the way I use it, it always ends up fully down.

Even if the handbrake cable, on cable operated systems, is slack, the handbrake handle should always end up fully down when "off", conversely if the handbrake cable, on cable operated systems is too tight, the handbrake handle will always end up fully down when "off".

 

[Mr Pig]

I actually assumed the hand brake was supposed to sit up slightly, maybe to stop it rattling or something. It wasn't until I bought that 2016 car that I realised maybe not.

I had a look at ours again this morning. At the end of the lever it's sitting up maybe 10mm. To get the light to ping on you have to pull it up about another 10mm. Guessing but there abouts.

 

[stevenboot]

Thanks all, finally got some time to have a look at it yesterday. There's nothing catching/making the lever to sit up, just the spring from the switch so don't think there is anything I can do about it.
Will just have to leave it...

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[arizla]

Hi, just to tell you an issue I had earlier this year regarding my handbrake,
car is 2014 2.0 FR 184,
as said earlier my handbrake was lifting and warning light would occasionally pop up,
found my D/S handbrake lever was sticking and not returning causing brake to stick on as well,
cable was fine,
managed to remove the lever and give it a good clean and grease as shown in link below,
had to replace the rear brake pads as they had worn down due to sticking lever,
all's well now.
I did not have to take the caliper completely off, managed it while still on the car.

 

[Rooster]

As above, sticking caliper or handbrake cable will cause the lever to do that.