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Who said you can't fix modern cars yourself
BenB - 23/5/16 at 05:55 PM

The electric handbrake on my Grand Scenic started playing up- it wouldn't release automatically when I drove away- I had to manually take off the handbrake. A quick look on the net told me that the clutch pedal has no less than three separate switches! One for cruise control, one for in-gear starting and one for the braking.

I had a look and couldn't see any obvious loose wires or broken bits. It did strike me that the nice metal bar out of the side of the clutch pedal wasn't actuating anything and it certainly looked like it was put there for that purpose. I did spot a yellow bar that sat clipped out of the way behind the metal bar- even with the pedal fully depressed the bar didn't hit the yellow bit.

Out of desperation I gave the yellow bit a wiggle- it rotated forward until it nicely rested on the metal bar. Turns out it's lever arm on the potentiometer than controls the braking control. For some reason they allowed it to be clipped out of harms way (perhaps for someone who doesn't want the auto release- no idea why they would though).

I wonder how much Renault would have charged me to "repair" it....

I can imagine at some point on a recent drive I had rested my big old left foot "under" the clutch pedal and accidentally clipped it into the up position!


Adamirish - 23/5/16 at 07:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Renault



Ah, there's your problem!

Well done on the fix, no doubt the main stealer would have had your trousers down for a new pedal box assembly.


LBMEFM - 23/5/16 at 07:43 PM

Well done, it's great when you fix something you've not experienced before isn't it.


hearbear - 23/5/16 at 10:51 PM

I would be tempted to put it back out the way and take it to the garage and ask them to look at and see what they come back with as a fault it could be interesting.


Luego.2.0 - 24/5/16 at 10:38 AM

quote:
Originally posted by hearbear
I would be tempted to put it back out the way and take it to the garage and ask them to look at and see what they come back with as a fault it could be interesting.

Ill 2nd that. be intresting to see what they say though

[Edited on 24/5/16 by Luego.2.0]


nick205 - 24/5/16 at 04:05 PM

Good work - the web can be a good source of help!

My Passat had an electric handbrake and I have to say getting in a car now with a manual lever seems somewhat vintage to me.