went to adjust the handbrake up on the mondeo the other day there and realised that both calipers had siezed.. thought it was a bit dodgy when i bought the car and was told "its got a new handbrake cable, just needs adjusted up" cos surely you would be aswell adjusting it when you fitted the new cable..

but anyway.. anyone else had this trouble?

 

Yup. Handbrake issues are common on mk3s. More often than not it's the cable. I replaced my cable a couple of months ago.

 

Depending on what year it is, the early ones were auto adjusting so used a different cable and mechanism to the normal manually adjustably ones

Remove the cable and see what's what but, as dan says, the cables are the main culprits and they give all the symptoms of a sized caliper, cables are now regarded as a service item on my car every year

 

had a new handbrake cable fitted, will have a look again tho and see whats what

 

un hook the cable and work the caliper arm, chances are the calipers are fucked.

failing that you can buy an upgraded handbrake lever that is manual adjusted with a nut/threaded bar setup rather than the self adjusting rat-shit assembley.

never had to replace any cables, every.
but it doesnt mean to say they are not a common fault.

Sean.

 

tried that, and didnt have much luck.. but i was parked up at work on the nightshift, so it was done at dark o'clock in the rain so was in a rush. so hopefully in the crabbit rush i just didnt check right! but the cable is new so i do reckon the calipers are done for

 

simple way to check

look at the actuator arm on the caliper

aply handbrake
does the arm move?
release handbrake
does it move the other way?

cable time if it doesn't

remember that the auto adjuster cables are different so if you've got the wrong ones they will fit but not work

 

thanks, not had a chance to look at it again but will hopefully get a chance over the weekend..
when my mate tried adjusting the handbrake up, when u pull the handbrake on now you only get a couple clicks and it feels like its on, tell you release the foot brake and the cars still moves freely

 

slacken the calipers
slacken the handbrake
refit caliper
use foot pedal to get the brakes to biting point
then adjust the handbrake cable to tightness