# MK4 Golf parking brake



## incompetentfool14 (Jul 21, 2017)

I have a completely nonfunctional parking brake, seeking adjustment advice. http://imgur.com/tonvAb4 This is a picture of my R rear assembly; the lever is pressed up against the support bracket with the cable completely slack, so clearly the lever can't move to activate the brake when the handle is pulled. http://www.agthompsonfamily.com/vw/EBrake4.jpg This picture shows the brake properly adjusted (from this:http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3055220). 

Can this be fixed by simply 
(1) loosening the 10mm nut inside the car
(2) loosening the bolt on the lever 
(3) moving the lever to its proper position near the caliper stop
(4) tightening the bolt on the lever
(5) adjusting the 10 mm nut inside the console of the car? 

Thanks for any advice. 

Hopefully this follows forum rules, this is my first post here.


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## germancarnut51 (Mar 23, 2008)

You need to determine what is defective in the parking brake system first. Simply spinning the adjustments at the parking brake handle is not going to do anything for you except for screw up the parking brake cable length adjustment.

Yes, the adjustments at the parking brake handle are for the length of the parking brake cables ONLY. The only time you should ne to adjust them is after replacing the parking brake cables.

You need to disconnect the parking brake cables from the rear brake calipers at the rear brake calipers to determine if the parking brake mechanisms built into the rear caliper/s are functional or defective. With the cables disconnected, the parking brake levers should return to their resting positions, and pulling on them should activate the parking brakes. If the levers are stuck in any position, the caliper on that side is defective and in need of replacement.

The parking brake cables need to be inspected for damage to the outer sheaths, and swelling (indicating internal rust damage). With the rear calipers disconnected, the parking brake cables should freely move with the use of the parking brake handle in both directions. A defective parking brake cable may move freely in one direction and hang in the other. If one cable is bad, both need to be replaced.


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## incompetentfool14 (Jul 21, 2017)

The lever is stuck in its position shown in the picture on both calipers. Is there any solution other than replacing the caliper? What is the mechanism that returns the lever to its original position?


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