101 Parking Brakes The brakes
Citroen XM Internet Reference Version 1.0 149
3/3/99
101 Parking Brakes
Renewing the parking brake cable
Since renewing the front discs on my XM,few items have claimed my attention, though having seen the
parking brake cables looking a bit tatty, I took the precaution of obtaining a pair for replacement
purposes when time allowed. As it happened, one day the front pedal controlling the parking brake went
down quite a few notches further than usual and parking on a steep slope was inadvisable due to the
resultant ineffciency. It turned out that the nearside cable had parted at one of the locating points and
the rear half of the cable had actually dropped out onto the road and disappeared!
Luckily I have a friend who was willing to let me use his inspection pit and this made the replacement so
much easier. The first job is the removal of the sound-absorbing plastic cover from beneath the engine/
gearbox. A previous user had found so many of the captive nuts in the chassis so corroded/seized/
missing that he had re-fitted the plastic cover with plastic cable-ties to support it. A sharp knife dealt with
these and the mucky plastic cover then dropped down and was put to one side for later attention.
Where is that compenstaing linkage?
At fi st look I just could not find the location of the compensating linkage to which the rear end of the
cables were attached! Eventually, it was located behind a cover plate beside the exhaust pipe m the
'transmission tunnel' and two bolts had to be removed to gain access.
The cables, already released from the levers on the callipers, were then carefully traced along the
tortuous paths through their guide loops before being pulled through to give space for their
replacements. When these were eventually settled in place and loosely connected to the levers in the
callipers, it was then the time to locate them in the compensator at the other end. At this stage, the
shield over the compensator was left off because it was all too easy to push the inner cable back while
adjusting it at the calliper end which, of course, released it from the compensator again. When the
adjusting nuts at the calliper end were both finger-tight, a final check of the compensator was made to
confirm its equal setting on each cable before replacing its shield. The parking brake was then applied
four 'clicks' and final adjustments made at the calliper ends (equal amounts each side) until the discs
were just free to turn. Then the lock-nuts on the cables were tightened. The final check was to ensure
that both discs were immovable when between six and 12 'clicks' were applied.
The paths of the cables must be correct; both to provide a smooth track for easy operation and to
prevent any fouling on other components underneath the engine/gearbox at all suspension heights.
The source of supply for the cables can, of course, be a Citroen dealer, but as the cable-life (even of
genuine cables) is so relatively short and a pair of cables costs about £45 from the dealer, it seems
logical to go to one of the suppliers of pattern parts (some advertise in the Citroenian) and pay less than
£30. It's your choice!
(Thanks to Brian Primmer and the CCC)
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FRONT PARKING BRAKE CABLES
Well, they are only on the front, of course! Mine were cracked and rusting, and as you may recall from
my concerns at last year's MoT, do not inspire much confidence as stoppers on the move. I found that
my parking pedal went down rather a long way, while we were away in France. The reason was very
simple —one of the cables had broken totally in half, inner and outer. With the car secured up as high as
possible, I traced the cables to a compensating device which links the two wheel cables with the single
cable which comes down from the foot application pedal. This is located inside what would be a prop
shaft tunnel on a lesser make of motor car. BUT, it is almost totally out of sight and reach unless you
remove the heat shield which surrounds the exhaust system at this point. So, remove the four (lOmm)
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