Handbrake. Mk1. Arrrrgh.

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Discussion

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Monday 5th October 2015
quotequote all
OK.
Failed MOT on no handbrake on NS.
Changed the caliper.

When I changed the caliper I slacked off the handbrake in the cabin.
Handbrake off.
Adjust the hex screw so pads bound, then backed off a third of turn.
Checked the mechanisms moved on both sides.
Tightened up in cabin
Applied handbrake, can't turn the wheels by hand.
Car doesn't roll on hils.

Kushty I thought.

Failed again.

What am I doing wrong?
Cables?
The cables surely work the mechanism or not?

Any help gratefully received


MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Monday 5th October 2015
quotequote all
Failed the same? No handbrake action on that side?

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Yep. NS was where there was nothing again, not sure the OS is particularly great either though.

The mechanisms certainly move on both sides, no doubt.

The brake did work a lot better a couple of weeks ago, it does seem worse now but I'd not noticed because everywhere I park is flat, weirdly.

Hand Brake lever doesn't rise more than say five notches, and is stiff to do even that

pewe

648 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
My best guess would be a seized cable.
The compensator will allow movement at the handbrake end by pulling on the un-seized cable. Probably best to replace or grease both though the later would be my least favourite option - for what they cost new it's a no- brainer.
HTH.
Cheers, Pewe.

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Cheers Pewe.

So seized cables can still move the mechanism, but possibly not enough to put the brakes 'on'?

Sorry, I should have stated that the mechanisms both move when the hand brake is applied.

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
What calliper did you replace with? Genuine or cheap copy?

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Refurbed OE ... Is what I was told...

....I'll get another... From a different source

Cheers lazza



Edited by DrTre on Tuesday 6th October 16:54

Oldandslow

2,405 posts

205 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
New caliper sounds an expensive fix. If refurbed OE should be fine. Have you tried adjusting it again to see if something hadn't quite bedded in the first time giving a false tightness? This could easily have worked itself looser just driving to the MoT.

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
I'll give it a go but in all honesty, having read around a bit and found other threads Lazza has been on, in haste to just get a caliper I'm pretty sure I've ended up with a copy sold as refurbed.

I plead ignorance rather than tight fistedness as auto link (who I am now buying from) are cheaper than the previous seller. To my untrained eye it looked kosher, but I'm glad all that's failed is the hand brake and nothing more serious having now read other things.

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
As above, returned OE should be fine. Needs to be fully checked over to make sure it is all working correctly and find out where the problem is. I was just making sure you hadn't fitted a cheap eBay copy which are mostly crap and dangerous.

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
If it was Autolink and you bought a refurbished OE calliper then that is what you will have. They are good guys with a good reputation and will not rip you off.

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Just to clarify, yes I bought from eBay.
It looks/sounds like it's a copy I think.

They stated "remanufactured" and oe on the phone, so I just believed them and it wasn't particularly cheap for a recon, however I have my doubts, eg it does not have the full set of cast lettering/numbering and has two prongs on the mechanism.

Today I purchased from auto link who I know only supply quality parts.

Thanks for your help everyone, particularly Lazza as I really don't think I'd have thought of that.

Edited by DrTre on Tuesday 6th October 19:15

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
i read that thread, to be honest I can't really see the photos on there frown

but you can see the two pronged arm on there, mine had that I think (sorry, kinda doing this from memory)

Edited by DrTre on Tuesday 6th October 20:56

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Hopefully this works...

Copy...



Genuine...





Edited by MX-5 Lazza on Tuesday 6th October 21:02

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Tuesday 6th October 2015
quotequote all
Cheers

I'll have to check the spring area when I have the wheel off.
As for the rest of it...well the one i have on is nice and shiny silver, not gold..same hammeritey finish though?!
But as I say, it only has a few letters of cast writing on it, not the amount the genuine one has.

The second pic is the one I'm struggling to visualise...is that the area of the copy that is being on the last pic (genuine)?

MX-5 Lazza

7,952 posts

218 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
Try this. This time I've quoted the whole post so you can see it all in context. I've also added a couple of follow-up posts with more pictures & information that you (and everyone else) might find useful.

================================================================================================================



Ok it's funny how things happen, and we have had a few conflabs about cheap nasty chinese copy calpiers for the Mx/Roadsters that are doing the rounds, more so on the Bay of E, but are also being sold through auto outlets.
If they are cheap, then they are cheap for a reason, unlucky for a fellow member that as been sold and fitted one of these copies, but lucky for you lot for me to be able to post this info up.
This had been fitted for just 2 weeks and he was having problems from the off from fitting it on the handbrake side unknowing what he had bought,and no matter how much he followed our guides could not get it to work correct?
So while his pride and joy was with Ste at the body shop, i nipped around one evening to set it up for him, while under her i could see that it was a copy, and could not do anything untill Ste had finished, so she could come to me to sort.
So i have taken some pic's to show the differences to look out for, please please please do not buy these units, they are not good, and for something that you need to put trust in to save your life one day, well the choice is yours.

Copy caliper ,note the lack of pressed in info on the body...



OE caliper........



Copy caliper handbrake arm pulling out and pin for the spring.....



OE calpier arm and pin, (note even the arm is different)



Copy caliper, which you can see the gap on the hanbrake arm pin..



OE caliper......



Hope these pic's make others see sense not to buy, as this is just one issue that i have seen with them fronts and rears.
M-m




Here they are close up








Hi,

I have just joined the forum and I thought you might want to hear the story of my Chinese Calipers.

The pair of calipers were bought from ebay after the MOT found a seized handbrake mechanism on the passenger side of my mk1 eunos.
The new calipers were fitted by a mechanic that I know and trust two weeks before the Blyton 2013 event.

Basically these cheap copies lasted the 130 mile journey to Blyton Park and three 20min track sessions (200miles) on the saturday morning before failing.
Two of the three track sessions were in the wet so there wasn't much hard braking. (not that it should make any difference)

We consider ourselves incredibly lucky that these potentially deadly calipers failed in the pit lane and not on the circuit or the motorway.



I can assure you my paint job on the calipers looked a lot better before being covered in fluid for two days



as you can see these calipers have all the same problems as the ones in the photos at the beginning of this thread.



We discovered that the brake fluid was squirting out of the handbrake mechanism which meant my foot simply went to the floor when pushing the pedal.



We were very fortunate that the Autolink/mazdamenders were at Blyton Park as they were able to replace the calipers with the correct ones they had in stock (probably knowing some idiot would turn up with this rubbish on his/her car) and within an hour and get us back on track.


Once we got home I phoned the ebay seller, DAS ltd. ( http://stores.ebay.co.uk/DASLtd?_trksid=p2047675.l... ) and told them what had happened.

Not only did DAS ltd not seem at all shocked or apologetic they told me that I had fitted the calipers incorrectly and that they had sold hundreds of these parts and mine were the only ones ever to fail.

The part of the conversation that really annoyed was when DAS ltd told me that they supplied all of Mazda Menders Brake calipers and suspension parts.....
Judging from who started this thread this is clearly a pack of lies.

So in conclusion:

DO NOT BE TEMPTED BY DANGEROUS CHEAP COPIES

DO NOT FALL FOR THIS EBAY AD http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330931131666?ssPageName=...

DO NOT TRUST DASltd http://www.dewsburyautosalvage.com/

DO BUY QUALITY PARTS.


Thanks for reading my rant.

Gaz

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Wednesday 7th October 2015
quotequote all
Yep those are some of the threads I read yesterday.

I didn't buy from there, but it wasn't a million miles away.

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Saturday 17th October 2015
quotequote all
SOrry to bump, but this is the caliper I suspected was fake...now I'm not so sure.
Any help gratefully received!!






Edited by DrTre on Saturday 17th October 10:11

DrTre

Original Poster:

12,955 posts

231 months

Saturday 17th October 2015
quotequote all
OK,think I've worked it out.
The travel on the handbrake cable is nowhere near the same on one side as the other.
But it does work so the cable can't be snapped.
Is there a way to take up slack only on the one side?
I'm assuming it has to be the caliper end.