04 MPV, how can I tighten handbrake?

[StageLeft]

This car has rear disc but drum brakes for the handbrake (so, regular disc for main braking, but the handbrake has a separate set of pads that go up into a drum-type setup on the same rotor--this is why the rotors are like $90/piece!). I never use the handbrake except for the time I drove over 5 miles with it on. It now has absolutely no grab at all and I need it to pass inspection. Assuming I don't need to actually change the pads with new ones (I do have new rotors), how would I go about adjusting this to bring tension back into the thing?

 

[BlackTigers]

When mine did that, I just opened up the drum and reset the mechanism thingy for the parking brake. Nothing needed replaced, just adjusted.

 

[darom]

Skoorb, if you have more issues with your MPV, check this site out: http://mpvclub.com/ So far thanks to that site on my '02 I've replaced coils/spark plugs, radiator, PCV hoses, brakes. There are a lot of HOWTOs with walk-through pictures. A great community of folks btw. There are guys on the forum with the Service manuals and they will be happy to post the PDFs on how to do your manual brake adjustment.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: darom
Skoorb, if you have more issues with your MPV, check this site out: http://mpvclub.com/ So far thanks to that site on my '02 I've replaced coils/spark plugs, radiator, PCV hoses, brakes. There are a lot of HOWTOs with walk-through pictures. A great community of folks btw. There are guys on the forum with the Service manuals and they will be happy to post the PDFs on how to do your manual brake adjustment.

Thanks! I did ask there also, but traffic is really slow to the site (not terribly surprising, it's an MPV not a miata or something that attracts a lot of tuners). I already used them for round one on my coils, though

 

[darom]

I am glad you found it before. Now I am facing the oil pan gasket replacement. The car is slowing leaking oil which drips on the exhaust driving my wife crazy ))

 

[StageLeft]

That must be irritating. I had that in a previous car and solved it by putting a large sheet of cardboard underneath the car

I replaced coil 3 a month back. I am hitting myself over not doing 1-2 because as you know it is a major PITA getting back there.

 

[darom]

Haha, funny you mentioned coil number 3. It was the same that failed on mine causing a CEL. I replaced all 6 of them, btw on ebay you can find the cheapest prices on these coils. There are 2 vendors at least.

 

[StageLeft]

Mine CELed too but now the others are going and there's no cel; when under mild throttle the engine hesitates. I am not sure I'll be lucky enough to only do coils 4-6. I bet I'll have to hit the rear two as well I did find a place that does them for $55, I think; it was mentioned in the main coil thread at mpvclub.

 

[darom]

Check your PCV hose just for the heck of it, mine failed twice causing a vacuum leak + stumbling under mild acceleration.

 

[StageLeft]

Good idea, I know that's a common problem. I will check it first...

 

[Kaieye]

I have a 2000 mpv with 131,000 miles. I did change the radiator, all the coil packs(slight misfire),etc.etc. but it has generally been very reliable. I will put in about 40k to 50k more than sell it. It runs like the day I bought it new.

 

[AMCRambler]

Well I don't have an MPV but on my Ford Contour, I had an issue with the brake cables themselves binding up in the sheath that they were in. As a result took the console apart to inspect the end that comes up into the handle assembly. I found that the handle had an adjuster built into it. There was a gear and a little spring loaded lock that would click down a couple notches on the gear when there was slack.
When I took mine apart I made the mistake of pulling the handle up without the cables connected so it tried to take up all the slack that really wasn't there because that first section of cable wasn't connected and had no tension on it. So I had to take it apart to release the spring loaded piece by hand and get the slack back. Maybe your adjuster is jammed or it's just not grabbing the gear? If you take the cover off the handbrake you should be able to get a better idea of how much slack yours has tried to take up.

If that's not the problem though, you will probably have to adjust the shoes inside that mini drum brake assembly. I'm guessing they're manually adjustable.