Loose handbrake? (aw11)

[jonno*]

Hey,

was coming home on the motorway tonight, and after starting off uphill using the handbrake one time (manual) i started hearing a 'click'ing sound from by where the handbrake is beside the gear lever, and sometimes behind the drivers seat when the clutch would go all the way out after starting off uphill with the handbrake. it's not doing that anymore, but now for the first inch or so of travel on the handbrake (before you can hear it click and feel it engage) it's really loose, like it's not connected to anything, you can jerk it up and down freely and it'll wobble round loosely as opposed to 'feeling' pressure on it when you'd normally pull it up. i've parked it on a flat surface and left it in gear as opposed to on my steep driveway, and will probably get the bus to town tomorrow instead of driving in case it craps out, but i can't get the ramps out there and have a decent look underneath until it stops raining (and good luck with that now..)

it's a 1989 manual aw11 - has anybody else had this sort of problem before, and how would you go about fixing it? I'm hoping it's just something that needs to be tightened..will have a look through the bgb when i find it.

cheers

[Mr Revhead]

possibly broken or about to break handbrake cable
pretty common on all versions of MR2!

[jonno*]

eh, bollocks, not really what I wanted to hear :/ It holds the car fine when it's pulled up like it normally would, but yeah, its days are probably numbered I guess. Are they much of a mission to replace?

[Mr Revhead]

im not saying its definitly that, but sounds like it could be
what it may have done is start to let go, some of the strands will ahve broken, that makes it longer.
just be aware that if it is that, then it could totally fail at any time
im not sure, i havnt had to do one, but from memory they arnt too bad to get at
have to take off the under body covers

[jonno*]

hmm. Well I had a go at it today, and didn't get very far. I don't see how it's possible to take off the covers underneath the car without driving forwards up onto the ramps, but I can't do that with how low the spoiler at the front is. Jacking it up doesn't get it nearly high enough to get under there safely. I think I'll have to take it to a shop and have them put it on a hoist to get under there? so might pay to buy a new cable first :/ ?

[85AW20v]

Take off the inside covers between the weats first as there is a single cable from inside to underneath that could also be the problem. Just reducing the places that could be wrong before you take it somewhere that you have to pay.

[Mr Revhead]

oh yeah that little one runs down the side of the tank tunnel inside the cabin