My wife and I have 2002 V70 T5. Yesterday she decided to wash it, she did a great job, after washing it she parked it in the garage, with the emergency brake engaged where the car sat until about 8:00 this evening when she went to leave to go to the grocery store. When she put the car in reverse at first the car did not move until a fairly loud pop sounded off from the rear end then the car was moving. I was standing beside the car when it happened, so I got in and drove around the neigborhood. It is driving fine and doesn't feel like it is dragging or anything. I decided to make sure the parking brake was functioning properly by making a few stops in forward and reverse using only the parking brake. The car did stop but I hear the same popping noise after using the brake to stop while driving in reverse after using the brake to stop in forward. The same thing occurs after stopping, using the e-brake, in forward, after using it to stop in reverse. Multiple stops in a row in forward don't yield the popping noise, and multiple stops in reverse do not yield the popping noise.

This previous weekend, we had some torrential rain and thunderstorms with some mild flash flooding that we had to drive through because we were traveling out of town. We also had to drive down the dirt driveway in the rain to my in-laws lake house. So I'm wondering if this could just be as simple as mild surface rust or something due to all the moisture the car has been in the past few days and then just sitting in the garage after being bathed. I would appreciate any input. If this is anything that is going to cost a fortune to address or anything of concern please let me know that also.

I've had similar things happen to my truck after being in the woods or fording creeks and then letting it sit for a couple of days, that is why I'm thinking it is related to moisture and not being driven. I'm just a little concerned because we've only owned this car about a month so I haven't had time to get intimately familiar with it as I am my truck of 6 years.

Thanks

Andrew

 

Hi stockton,

Welcome to the forum.

First of all, let me say that I'm no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll give you my two cents based on previous experience and a limited knowledge.

I didn't look it up, but I'd guess that you have drum brakes on the rear wheels of your V70. I have a Mitsubishi Eclipse that had the same problem for awhile and I have drum brakes in the rear as well. The way drum brakes work is there is a hydraulic cylinder that forces the brake shoes out to contact the drums. Then there are a bunch of springs that pull the shoes back to their normal position. I can't say how it happens or anything like that, but I think my "popping" stopped when I replaced the shoes. I did it myself and it took a couple of tries to get the springs all situated properly. My only guess is that maybe the springs were getting old/rusty/worn/whatever and were failing to pull the shoes back, the popping (in my opinion) was caused by the wheels turning in the opposite direction as they were turning when stopped and this caused the springs to pop back, snapping the metal shoe back to position (metal hitting metal producing a popping sound). It didn't happen if I kept going in the same direction after stopping and I think it is because there was a less sudden response by the spring (or maybe it never retracted, I'm not sure). Also, by the way, the parking braketypicallyactuates the rear drum brakes, so I can see how this would create similar responses.

Anyway, I could be totally wrong on this, but tech is out for a few days so I thought I'd try to help out. I can say that I drove around with the popping for quite awhile without noticing any serious detriments. Hope that helps. And even more, I hope that someone with some real knowledge helps you out.

By the way there's an animation here that better describes what I'm trying to say. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/drum-brake2.htm

 

This model does have rear disk brakes, but I believe the e-brake is a drum inside the disk brake. I'm about due for my 60k mile service, so I'll address it then, but it does seem to be driving fine and I do think it was due to moisture. Thanks for the help.

Andrew

 

You do not have a problem. The parking brake does stick when wet. It is the surface rust. You generally do not have a problem when driving forward. I leave my auto in airport parking. The winter time is a bear as the brake sets up. It breaks loose when the auto is placed in reverse and will not occur again until the moisture does it's dirty deed.

r.