Re: Cold weather annoyances...

[John Van Vuren <veedublu@wirural.net>]

I'd venture a guess that there is water in the E brake cable
someplace...   freezes up, preventing the cable from moving.  You most
likely have a hole in it, possibly from rubbing against the tire
sometime in it's life?  

Anyways, that's my best guess as to why the warm brakes didn't make a
difference, but putting the whole car in the warm greenhouse helped.

Good luck

John

'87 16v Scirocco
and lots of other stuff
website - http://www.prod.net/jvanvuren/vw.htm


> Greg Baxter wrote:
> 
>       Hi!Long time, no post for me, but I'm sure glad that you
>      guys are here when I need you...I'm having some problems
>      with the rear disc/e-brake system on my 'roc. It is
>      transplanted from an 88 16v to my 82. I did not install the
>      prop valves, nor did I upgrade the MC. (Not that any of that
>      seems relevant, but I like to paint a complete picture...)
>      The temps have dropped to -8 C (Dunno, high teens F?) and
>      yesterday, I had two bad experiences. First, the e-brake on
>      my Passenger side locked on. I was dragging the wheel while
>      driving on the gravel at work, and thought that if I took it
>      out for a run, it would warm up and unseize. It didn't help,
>      but I did get to enjoy the smell of burning brakes. I
>      thought I was hooped for the inght, and drove the car into
>      one of our greenhouses (where it was warm) to park it
>      overnight. I was prepared to take one of the work vehicles
>      home, when I decided to check the roc just one more time. In
>      the greenhouse, the brake released, and the car was once
>      again drivable. By the time I got home (1 hour drive) the
>      brake was frozen open, and the ebrake would not engage.Is
>      this because of the cold, or is there something more
>      sinister (and expensive) going on here? Any/all suggestions
>      are welcome.Also, not wanting to start an oil debate here,
>      but the car has seemed more reluctant to start in the
>      mornings. The voltmeter springs to +/-12.5V when I flip the
>      key, and once the car has warmed up, it starts really
>      easily, but when its cold, I get the
>      rrr.....rrrr..........rrrr....rrrvrooom! thing... It sounds
>      like the car is dying... I'm using Castrol 20W50, and I
>      guess I'm wondering if in this cold weather it's thickened
>      up to the point that it makes cranking difficult for my
>      starter... (BTW, I realize that I'm nowhere near the coldest
>      person on the list, so please spare the 'You call that
>      cold?! You don't know from cold!' responses...)Thanks in
>      advance...Greg

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