Volvo 480 Club Europe

How difficult is it to adjust the handbrake?

I had my car serviced yesterdayand did make a point of telling the garage the Handbrake was slack...they said it was part of the sevice to adjust...today I noticed the handbrake was still the same~!!!

Called the garage who said "well, it is not straightforward on the 480, you have to lift the carpets and stuff!!".."hmm" I replied, "but I even asked you to do it and you didn't!!" I exclaimed. "You can book it in with us and we will do it for you" offered the garage.."I already tried that and you didn't do as i asked...I'll find another garage to use" I told the man!!

I had a quick look at the haynes manual, seems ok to do..anyone here done it, any tips??

Much appreciated!!

Yhe old handbrake adjustment,

There’s 2 little hex bolts in the rear calipers, unscrew theme and stick a hex key in ( I think 6mm ) and you can adjust theme with turning-in or out ,
After that you can adjust the slack out off the cables under the car on the junction off the hand brake cables.

Gr,B

cheers

Yep... that's pretty much all you need to do. The first hex screw is more of a cap, to protect the second hex screw which is the one which actually makes the adjustment to the calipers. Also, they're not both the same size... The adjusment one is smaller than the cap one.

You will probably find that the cap is rusted on too (well, I did anyway). I'd recomend that once you free it (I think I heated it up a bit, and then hit it with a hammer whilst trying to turn the hex screw), make sure you put a bit of copper grease on the cap before you replace it so that it's easier to get it off next time. (... and if it's anything like mine where I think the handbrake cables have stretched and probably need replacing, next time will be every two months!).

What the garage said shows that he is incompetent on the 480

The handbrake adjustment consists of two parts.
1st the simple part adjusting the calipres as described in the forgoing
answer
2nd adjusting the cables. Here it is simple on the newer cars. inder the
car in front of the fueltank there is the point where the two cables
from the calipers meet the cable from the handbrakelever.
Here you can adjust the slack in the cables.
On older cars you have to remove the headshield in front of the
fueltank before you can get at the adjusters from the cables.

Good luck
gerrsvolvo

That is correct though gerrsvolvo..
I've never had to remove a heatshield and believe this on on older models also.

pol

Hi Pol
The heatschield is on older models. Mine has one and is from 1987.
If yours is gone maybe this is done by the foregoing owner or the garage had it destroyed when taking off and did not bother to place it back again or order and place a new one. That costs money and customers do not live under the car they sometimes believe.

Further information.
On the forum from ronaldbeherens.de there is in the WIKI under "handbremse" a pictured descibtion in German on how to adjust the handbrake.
Good luck
Gerrsvolvo

Cheers everyone,

You are right about the garage, bit of a shame there as the Manager was a mate from years ago, and a damn good mechanic, (who did good deals for cash, just don't book the car in!!)...alas he has gone to Scotland and went there before I could get the car to him.

Ben, what Garage do you use?..what are they priced like?

I haven't actaully taken my 480 to the garage yet, other than for the MOT, which was just done at a local one. My dad on the other hand, has got a V70, and he's been recomended by several people to go to Kings of Witcham. They used to be a Volvo main dealer/service center, but aren't any more. The do, however specialise in Volvo's, and know a great deal about the history of them (I believe they still sold and maintained them when 480's were manufactured). He's been to them several times and had various things done, and been very happy with them. I'm not sure exactly how much they charge, but I seem to remember him saying that they were considerably cheaper than an official Volvo dealer.

I've not had to go there yet myself, but it's where I'd take mine if I needed anything serious that I couldn't do myself doing.

Morning all,

I understand the handbrake adjustment procedure well, I have never MOT'd a 480 without having to make some adjustment.

I do have a question about the adjustment screw though - is it possible to replace without stripping the caliper? Has anyone done this and do you know anywhere it is possible to order one?

Local dealer cannot help, they can supply the dust cover (which I have orderred).

The reason I ask - replacing the rear drop links yesterday I noticed that the dust cover and the adjustment screw are missing from my OSR caliper. It looks like the screw turns a small sprocket within the caliper, which makes me wonder how easy it would be to just screw in the adjuster and have it mate with the sprocket.

All the calipers were replaced for the MOT last year so if I can get away without having to order a new one I would be very happy. I was considering a cheap scrap caliper to borrow the adjustment screw from (or at a push from my NSR caliper - if it goes back in easy enough)

Anyone have experience?

Many Thanks,
Mark

adjustment screw just slips in .

will check my spares stock as I am certain I have a good replacement.

will pm later today.

I have found the spare and you have a pm