197 braking issue. (MOT Failure)

[Typhoon]

The 197 failed it's MOT recently with a list of issues, but the only one I have left to sort is;

Offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort (3.7.B.6a)
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)

This is more than likely to be a knackered handbrake cable or a seized caliper I believe.. it's just determining which one.

With the rear of the car lifted off the ground, the O/S wheel spins freely even when handbrake is up where as the N/S doesn't.

Would I be correct in guessing that it's definitely the handbrake cable then? Surely a seized caliper would make it lock up more than spin freely?

Cheers

 

[Mr R.]

I would say it's the calipers Lee, get someone to operate the hand brake while you watch to see if the cable moves.

 

[JB21]

If like a 1*2 you should just be able to tighten the handbrake cable from underneath as they stretch over time, or maybe the cable has actually snapped to the O/S?

 

[Ads29]

Does the handbrake lever lift up excessively high when operated? If it does then I'd expect to find a broken cable.

If not then it's more likely to be a seized caliper or caliper sliders possibly

 

[JamesBryan]

Seized caliper i'd say.

If you wind the piston all the way back in and then pump the pedal and handbrake lever a few times, the piston should come back out.

We did that on my mates 182 the other day and the piston only came out a little bit before stopping, no matter how many pumps you gave it.

 

[Ads29]

Actually it's probably the handbrake mechanism on the caliper if the cable is OK.

If it was the caliper itself I'd have expected the brakes to fail their effeincy test in the rollers

 

[Chrisgti6]

It'll be the caliper, both of mine did it.

Easy to check the cable, just unhook the end of it from the caliper and see if it moves.

 

[JamesBryan]

You'll see the cable arm of the caliper move when the handbrake is applied, so that's the easy bit to test.