I have had my mk2 for 3wks. After a week I took it back to the garage because the car would not hold on the handbrake. The cured the problem but it has returned today. On reading the previous MOT details I noted that the car had previously had failures because of the nearside rear not holding.
Can anyone provide me with a solution to this obvious recurring issue?
I’ll stick my neck out and say that the rear calipers require cleaning /servicing and possibly cables lubeing /adjusting [ after caliper attention ]
They might just need adusting, or as Mick says cleaning and servicing. You might find they, or at least one is leaking and needs replacing.
As above, but never rely on the parking brake alone to hold the car, especially on any incline. Always leave the car in gear, reverse if facing downhill, and high as possible if facing uphill. Do not allow rear brake tests on rolling roads if the car has LSD, it can be damaged if it has. Always insist on a metered braking test (car moving) if the car has LSD. It also helps if you turn the steering wheels away from the curb - if there is one - if the car starts to move the front wheel should be close enough to the curb to stop it moving further - but if it’s in gear then this prevents movement also.
Also - you need to consider is the handbrake and linkage alone the cause of the failure, or are other points worth looking at - e.g. are the pads worn? is the brake disc badly scoured? do the calipers need replacing?
Is the hydraulic hose leaking? One faulty brake can cause major problems if you need to make an emergency stop, so I would suggest you get the whole braking system checked out properly, especially as it’s apparently had several failures previously. You life - or someone else’s depends on good brakes.
You don’t say where you are, but it’s always essential to know where the nearest MX5 specialist is, a dealer isn’t cheap, but there are alternatives out there. You say you bought the car from a garage, afraid to say most garages selling used cars aren’t qualified to fix problems on Mazda’s, and especially on MX5’s. The car may be under a three month guarantee, but don’t rely on that to get the car fixed, most garages will do short term fixes to cover their back, but others will fudge it so you think it’s solved. Sounds like this may be the problem.
There are recommended specialists around the country - not enough, but give us an idea which town, city or even county you are in, and someone will tell you their favorite specialist.
I have never had to leave any of my mx5’s in gear when I have parked them up either facing up-hill or down hill, as I have made sure my brakes are correctly serviced and adjusted at all times.
I would strip down the brake in question for further inspection, and while its striped down fit new caliper slider pins, clean out the lands were the brake pads fit making sure all the crud is cleaned out and the pads are free to move, (you will need a 10mm spanner to remove the brake adjuster plug and a 4 mm allen key to adjust the brakes) and with the handbrake in the off position adjust the calipers both sides, making sure you lock the wheels then back the adjuster off until you can just turn the wheel by hand then adjust the hand brake cable inside the car so that you have 4-5 notches on the handbrake, have a road test than check the brakes fore binding and re adjust if required.
The frequent problem with MX-5 brakes is that the cars are now 10 years or more old and frequently have been serviced by people who believe all garages will rob them and so, ill equipped and informed, set out to do their own work.
If you have to do all that stuff when parking, simply remove the hand brake totally! The rear calipers frequently seize. It is pretty much the nature of cars that are used infrequently. There is no reason at all why the hand brake of your car should not function correctly.
Brake test rollers do not destroy LSD’s the fiction of the diff will transfer load across the axel and influence the brake reading for the other wheel. If they damaged the diff, then the diff would be pointless for its intended use (different loads and speed across the axel) in the first place.
If you bought it from theb garage only 3 weeks ago, they should deal with the problem under warranty surely?