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Frozen Brakes

Hi Donny,

<<About a month ago I changed my rear shoes and drums on my 1984 318i.  Today, I
went to leave and the rear brakes are locked up.  I mean they are locked up
tight.  There is lots of play in the emergency brake cable, so I know that it is
not set too tight.  The fluid does need changing pretty badly, but that wouldn't
cause the brakes to lock?>>

	I have had similar occurances with many different kinds of vehicles.  As
I understand your problem, car will not move, emergency brake not applied.  In
some cases, the brake shoes can actually bond to the drums.  It happens alot in
the winter, drive through puddle just before you park the car, next morning will
not move.  It can also happen in high humidity conditions where you have not
moved the car for awhile.  This can also happen to the clutch disk bonding to
the flywheel.  The fix is somewhat abusive; car on, use the clutch judiciously
to try and break free the frozen brakes.  Obviously applying any sort of
penetrating lubricant is out of the question, as it would ruin the linings and
probably not do any good anyway.

	I have had to do this to 2 trucks and a couple of american cars with rear
drum brakes.

	If the bonding is very minimal, you might be able to break it free by
rocking the car back and forth.

HTH
Regards,
Joe Fahy
'88 ///M5
'74 911S