Hi, my 2001 model has just failed it's MOT on multiple things but am looking for advice on just the brakes for now if poss? Failures are:

Rear parking brake recording little or no effort offside
Parking brake efficiency below requirements
Rear brake recording little or no effort offside

Perhaps a calliper or cable problem? Last year the handbrake had excessive play & I have to admit I tightened it with the bolt inside the car under the handbrake, not good I know - could this have caused the problem?

Thanks

Have you got drums or discs on the rear?

So many posts on here regarding brakes, possibly handbrake being asked about the most. Sounding obvious, it's a case with the car up on stands & drums off & see what's what, in the case of calipers they may need serviced & the like. The brake cables of course. Simple stuff really, even if you can't tackle things yourself, you'll have an idea how worn the system is & what's needed.

On older cars it's essential to keep on top of the likes of this if you want to keep the braking system fit for purpose. Lack of proper maintenance is the culprit. Don't shoot the messenger..

Thanks. Drums on the back.

I was reading somewhere that tightening the handbrake from the adjuster inside the car under the rear ashtray (like I did last year) can cause problems later on in time, hence why i mentioned it.

If you're any good with the spanners it's an easy job. Clean every thing with cleaner, make sure adjusters are free & working, obviously you're going suss what needs changed & take it from there.

A wee tip when new brake cables are needed is to squirt as much graphite spray down the cables as you can moving the inner cable up & down, let them hang, then clart grease inside the end rubbers. When fitting make sure all bare metal parts are well covered in grease as well.

If I'm reading this correctly you have little or no hand- or footbrake effort on the offside.
That would be cable and caliper rather than cable or caliper.
How old are the shoes and drums. I would start there tbh and at least open up for a look.

since it's an issue only on one side of the vehicle from your description.
I would start by taking the drum off to see what the state of things is inside. Worn Shoes, worn drum or adjuster not adjusting could all be likely culprits.
If all checks out OK inside the drum then i would be looking at the cable.

Thanks all. Ok yeah Ill open it up for an inspection. Any idea if this problem is linked to me tightening the handbrake from the adjuster inside the car last year?

McKenzie said:

Thanks all. Ok yeah Ill open it up for an inspection. Any idea if this problem is linked to me tightening the handbrake from the adjuster inside the car last year?

Click to expand...

no friction material.. or soaked linings would be my guess..

you'll need to slacken the cable right off to have a chance of removing the drum

just for anybody else reading this its very bad to tighten up handbrake cables without setting the shoes up because it runs a high risk of causing a binding brake which could cause brake failure after a long journey due to heat build up in the drum thus boiling the fluid in the brake cylinder and or cause delamination of the bonding on the shoe too thus locking the wheel ive seen this quite often on french stuff

as said let the cable right off and inspect inside the drums or get someone competent to do it for you

Doesn't have to be that long of a journey. Saw one happen, foot to the floor behind an oil lorry turning right on a country road, less than five miles from start. Handbrake was not fully off at lever.

I agree

Nut slackened off this means the handbrake leaver on the drums themselves will be sat on the stops

A correct adjustment will put shoes just fractionally off the drums but no binding

When tightened the but back up - u are simply removing cable slack 90 - 95%
The last 5-10% comes from u pulling handbrake itself
Somewhere between off and 1st click should have handbrake slack removed and shoes starting to move


If both handbrake and footbrake are poor id blame a poor adjustment and poor/seized adjusted and high friction on the backplate to shoe ratio

Seized pistons can cause similiar issues

Ziggy

When fitting make sure all bare metal parts are well covered in grease as well.[/QUOTE]
I would totally disagree with this. a huge problem is when dust gets trapped in a drum, putting grease everywhere is a recipe for disaster. It just encourages dust to pile up on the parts that have been greased and make a nice sticky paste that eventually gums up everything. Keep grease away from brakes!

I wasn't meaning inside the drum. Exposed end metal parts of the cable on the outside. White grease is quite good. A problem with cables they tend to rust/seize in this area.

OK, Good to hear that, I did my camper last year, and both read drums were gummed up thanks to copious amounts of grease on everything! Had to change everything due to contamination.Just shows some people do it!

As I've said so many times before, on cars of a certain age keeping on top of/servicing the braking system such as cables & the inside of the drums is the only way to have a handbrake that is fit for purpose.