Seems my handbrake isn't releasing properly, never mind that the light comes on by itself...
Discovered it while i had the wheel off to clean around the filler neck. Tried to give the (very rusty looking at the edges) drum hub a spin, course, it didnt go very far as handbrake was on. From some kind of wierd playfulness or morbid curiosity (i'm not a cat lover
), as it was already locked in gear, i let the brake off and went back to twirl away like a crazy fool.Only it didn't... it went about a half turn then quickly stopped. Great thinks I, the shoes/drum are warped (which, they probably are anyway). The same wierd drive that made me let the brake off also leads me to jiggle with the exposed cable (reachable in front of the crossbeam when wheel off), which moves a little, retracting into the sheath. The hub now spins a lot more freely... there's still a slight scuff and clicking noise every rotation, so it stops after 5 or 6 spins, but that's a 10-12x improvement in freewheeling efficiency
I suppose it makes for far less effect when the wheel's on and the braking force is opposing the whole car's weight rather than an unencumbered hub, but still it shows that the handbrake isn't fully releasing, which will impact all of shoe life, braking effiency (from worn shoes and premature friction heating), fuel economy/speed & acceleration (slightly)/coasting ability, and also the handling. Given how it spun freely for a half turn then forcefully stopped, i think i might have found the culprit for the dodgy wet weather handling - that mysteriously isn't as bad when the brakes are actually applied. Especially if it's the same story on the other side...
So, I could do with fixing this, and it appears so far to be the cable that is to blame.
Would it be safe enough to just jack it back up and blast some WD40 onto the length of the cable and into the hollow of the sheath (if possible) both when it's slack and when pulled tight, and would this make any difference to it? I assume it works much like the throttle cable does, so all it may need is a bit of lubing - it's probably quite sticky, given the general dirtiness and slight rusting of the whole rear underbody. I wouldn't be going anywhere near the actual braking surfaces so it should be perfectly safe - I assume/hope...
Still got to adjust the handbrake proper, but not sure quite how to do that properly, given that I want it both to start having effect slightly late in the handle travel, but not go as far up to be fully applied...
And what might the odd clicking noise be?