Handbrake Ratchet

[ScoobyA4]

arriving in readin for my usual weekly trip, i pulls up at the hotel and find that my Handbrake Ratchet has died! i cant lock my handbrake. luckily its fairly flat in the places i park!

How easy is it to fix this? i know the brake and cable are fine as have lifted the lever while moving forward (slowly) and the car brakes and stops.

 

[mwarrey]

This happened to me a few months ago. Its quite common apparently. The bad news is you have to change the entire handbrake mechanism. The good news is that it only costs around £30 from the main dealers. It is quite straight forward to fit. The most difficult part is removing the trim around the lever and the obd port. It is a bit of a fiddle to get the handbrake cables out but its not too bad. Took me about an hour and can all be done from inside the car.

 

[ScoobyA4]

cheers pal

 

[ScoobyA4]

just phoned my local dealer, and he told me to go to a breakers yard!

Dont have time for that.

Does anyone know any good sites for parts? I also need a rear parcel shelf and an aerial (although i may just go and get a new one fitted) and the console cover round the stereo (in walnut).

 

[joost]

There's on-line breakers like www.breakeryard.com or www.findapart.co.uk who will search the country but you'll have to wait for them to contact you.

Why did the dealer tell you that though?

Also, I didn't think B5s had an aeral, that it was built in to the rear window glass? You learn something new every day.

 

[ScoobyA4]

when you say built in do mean attached via sticky pads one either side of glass? this is a v flimsy aerial... poor reception... i think its an after market one.

Have just taken a pic:

 

[joost]

No, as far as I remember it's part of the heater element in the back glass although I may be corrected. There's an amplified that can go tits up resulting in crap reception. That aerial looks like one for a mobile rather than the radio. There's a few posts in the ICE section IIRC about the amplifier - where, what etc. I'll see if I can find summat...

 

[joost]

This thread might help.

 

[ScoobyA4]

mucho cheerso! i'll remove that one then. cant see where the phone (if it is) used to be, so no issues there.

 

[mwarrey]

I would go back to the dealership and tell them to order you a new handbrake assembly, why buy a s\h one, most scrapyards would probably try and charge you too much and it could fail anyway (there is an internal spring that breaks).

Do you have an aftermarket stereo fitted, if so you will need an inline aerial amplifier (the factory stereo had a built in amplifier). They cost around £10, do a search on ebay etc.

 

[ScoobyA4]

found a supplier later yesterday PM for new handbrake. it arrived this morning!

it was 2nd hand for £18 delivered next day you cant argue! will get the aerial connector and try that. cheers.

 

[ScoobyA4]

received this yesterday and fitted in 25mins! cheers all