Car rolled into road with handbrake on!

[ryan]

LUCKILY, nothing was parked on the road, but it still gave me a shock!

I had new rear discs and pads done recently, the rear pistons have been reset correctly, the brakes bled and the handbrake cable has been adjusted to 3 clicks.
However since the handbrake adjustment a few weeks ago, it has got steadily worse. It was great at frist, but now I need to yank it up to near vertical to get any sort of stoppage on my slightly inclined drive!

Any ideas?
Thanks
!

[anna]

Sounds like it might be time to take the rear wheels off and have a quick check that everything is still connected up properly, visually inspect where the handbrake cable routes as well....

[ryan]

Sounds like it might be time to take the rear wheels off and have a quick check that everything is still connected up properly, visually inspect where the handbrake cable routes as well....

New you were gonna say that. Trouble is i've no tools/pit/trust in anyone in Staffordshire. These brakes have been a nightmare from start to finish!

i thought that perhaps the handbrake adjustment underneath hasn't been tightened properly, and may have come loose again or unwound its thread?
Cheers for the quick reply, i'm just off to check if the car is still where I parked it

[Speedy]

Suggestion number 1: try and 'artistically' park it up a curb (i.e. find a big curb, and get one side of the car on it, so you can get some space to have a look under neath)...

Suggestion number 2: go to somewhere where they do a free 'brake check' maybe? get them to diagnose then say bye bye.

Otherwise - was it a garage that did the brakes? take it back to them.....

[anna]

Sorry - that was me above
[should check who's logged in before i post!]

[JOTSTRD]

a have just changed my rear pads and was finding that i was having to pull on the handbrake quite hard for it to work, now i have stretched the cable and have the sane problem, having to pull it up real high, prob best to get new cable if u have changed everything else,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[CosmosblueMR2]

If you want peace of mind while you are waiting for your handbrake to be fixed and not worrying about it rolling off your drive Ryan - make sure you park it up "in gear"

it's shoudn't just roll off that way !

[ENSMR2]

My old rev1 tubby did this at work. Our carpark is on a hill and I parked up and walked away. Next thing I know my no. plate is being called over the tannoy!

Turns out it rolled backwards everso slowely and knocked into another car. No damage but a samll scratch. Which was then reapired by replacing the whole bumper! Yeah right, nice try.

Any way. I had new discs and pads put on the day before at my mates garage. So I took it back to him to make sure there was no willy up. He couldn't reproduce the fault even gave the whole thing a once over, checking handbrake cables etc. So he got me to do it. Turned out I wan't pulling the handbrake up enough

Any way, learnt my lesson, but am now paranoid about parking on hills etc. Even though everything is fine and I have had 2 new cars since (one an auto) I still park up and turn the wheel into the kerb so if it does roll the kerb stops it!

[ryan]

Thanks for the replies,
Is it possible that the under car adjustment may have unwound itself?
Again, thanks for your responses !

Oh, and Frank, I dont leave it in gear as i've got remote start and its now habit to start the car as i'm approaching it

[CosmosblueMR2]

Oh, and Frank, I dont leave it in gear as i've got remote start and its now habit to start the car as i'm approaching it

haha that would be fun - just need that little gizmo James Bond has on his mobile phone...... drive your car up to the Front door to keep you dry from the rain

(doesn't help with the handbrake I know - I'll get my coat )

[dude541]

Thanks for the replies,
Is it possible that the under car adjustment may have unwound itself?
Again, thanks for your responses !

hi ryan,
possible,but as both sides adjust individually id say its doubtfull.......
i would check the small cable from the lever itself,sounds like this could be just about to snap! hence this would cause the problem you described,if it is this the cable is only around £8 to buy,but im not sure if you have to drop the tank to get to it?????
still havent got around to fitting mine yet! so couldnt tell you!
regards
john

[Sidewinder]

All three MR2s I've owned have done something similar to this (although only when parked on a major incline), and it's been down to a stretched cable every time. According to Toyota in Loughborough, this is one of the most common 'faults' with the MR2.

I now carry small chocks of wood in the boot, just in case I have to park somewhere where I don't even trust leaving the car in gear! Looks pikey, but does the job.

[cantfindausername]

Had you been giving the car some stick? I found that everytime my back brakes got hot, I'd pull the handbrake up and within 15-30 mins the car would be in the middle of the street.

My neighbours thought I was well odd for parking my car that way

Ended up leaving it in gear when parked there. You could do that just if parked on a hill and start it manually on those occasions.