Good morning peeps,,

had car in for MOT and only failed on a drop link,, but a couple of advisory??

1- indicator bulb- changed all 4

2- both wishbones

3- said handbrake only just met efficiency 

 

my handbrake has next to no travel (always has) and is quite stiff to pull, tried putting WD40 on the handbrake cover bit in the rest to no joy,, he said it could need callipers servicing or the handbrake cable/s could be knackered and binding inside. 
how many cables are there ??

2 straight from the lever or do they join to a 3rd one ??

thanks peeps 

There are two cables that join a central equaliser.

 

By the sound of it your handbrake is maladjusted on the tight side.

 

Pull out the rear ashtray and cover and you will have access to the equaliser adjuster.

 

With the handbrake off unscrew the 10mm barrel nut a bit (it's usually stiff so a squirt of lube is recommended) and see how the handbrake feels,  5 clicks on the ratchet to full application is about right.

Edited 28 November, 20223 yr by MicMac

Having to adjust one cable at all let alone significantly is usually an indication of a sticking handbrake mechanism on the MK2, often accompanied by dragging brakes and red hot discs.

 

The first thing to do before any adjustment is to compare the angles of the handbrake actuating lever on both rear calipers with the handbrake not engaged, they should both be resting against their stops.

 

If one isn't do not adjust the cable to compensate, you need to rebuild the calipers, I did mine twice without resolving the problem or working out what I was doing wrong so gave up and fitted cheap Chinese ones which worked fine.

12 hours ago, MicMac said:

There are two cables that join a central equaliser.

 

By the sound of it your handbrake is maladjusted on the tight side.

 

Pull out the rear ashtray and cover and you will have access to the equaliser adjuster.

 

With the handbrake off unscrew the 10mm barrel nut a bit (it's usually stiff so a squirt of lube is recommended) and see how the handbrake feels,  5 clicks on the ratchet to full application is about right.

Thanks mate 

ill have a look and see he did say someone has probably just tightened it to make it pass

8 hours ago, J.R. said:

Having to adjust one cable at all let alone significantly is usually an indication of a sticking handbrake mechanism on the MK2, often accompanied by dragging brakes and red hot discs.

 

The first thing to do before any adjustment is to compare the angles of the handbrake actuating lever on both rear calipers with the handbrake not engaged, they should both be resting against their stops.

 

If one isn't do not adjust the cable to compensate, you need to rebuild the calipers, I did mine twice without resolving the problem or working out what I was doing wrong so gave up and fitted cheap Chinese ones which worked fine.

I’ll definitely have a look to see if they both are seated on the stops,, then I’ll rebuild and renew discs n pads if not 

Actually the Haynes workshop manual specifies 1-1.5mm gap between the handbrake actuator lever and its stop.

 

If you get a better pull by loosening the adjuster, the handbrake is good and there's no binding I wouldn't go looking for trouble.

 

If it feels stiff/rough and vague upon application just buy new cables.

 

I've seen the day I would strip, clean and reuse cables but at £20 a pair delivered and an hour faffing to swap them it's the easiest option for a silky smooth action.

 

It's a bad design where the cable ends are upturned so water/dirt ingress is unavoidable.  Eventually the plastic coating wears off the steel inner cable which then rusts, expands and slowly jams over time.

2 minutes ago, MicMac said:

Actually the Haynes workshop manual specifies 1-1.5mm gap between the handbrake actuator lever and its stop.

 

If you get a better pull by loosening the adjuster, the handbrake is good and there's no binding I wouldn't go looking for trouble.

 

If it feels stiff/rough and vague upon application just buy new cables.

 

I've seen the day I would strip, clean and reuse cables but at £20 a pair delivered and an hour faffing to swap them it's the easiest option for a silky smooth action.

 

It's a bad design where the cable ends are upturned so water/dirt ingress is unavoidable.  Eventually the plastic coating wears off the steel inner cable which then rusts, expands and slowly jams over time.

Definitely purchase new like you say captain,, when they cheap enough it’s a no brainier in my book,, it’s pretty instant the brake and no real feel to it,, but I do have a lot of brake dust on the rear wheels so maybe they had been binding due to over tightening the cable ?? 

It's possible, usually it's easy to tell when a handbrake is binding, when you coast to a stop from 5MPH on flat ground, you will notice a slight squatting from the rear as the car stops rolling prematurely and/or the rear brakes are unusually hot.

 

It's likely you just need an adjustment or new cables, if the callipers were binding it would have been an MOT advisory.