Hi guys, had the dreaded MOT today, first one with this car so didnt hold much hopes as i dont know the car too well yet having only owned it a month.

Well it failed on something pretty simple? please help me by explaining what i should do?

Reasons for refusal of test certificate

RBT park brake efficiency: 15%

001 offside rear parking brake recording little or no effort (3.7.A.7a)

002 Parking brake efficiency below requirements (3.7.A.9/10)

so basically the hand brake on the rear drivers side is no good, i understand that, he told me that it could not be ajusted and proceeded to explain that i would need a new caliper as the device is all in one (driving and park brakes together) like the rovers he says???????? this is where i got lost and thought time to do some research as it sounds like shite after he only took a quick glance.


Do i need to fork out for a new caliper or is he talking rubbish, how does this rear park brake work and is it easy to fix.

thanks guys

 

I suspect you have a siezed caliper.
If you're confident you could strip it and try to free it off yourself, takes a couple hours or so.
Hes not talking rubbish, get your head under and have a look.

 

how much is a new caliper?

 

Check the movement of the handbrake cable at the rear of the caliper. It connects to a lever and spring assembly. If it doesn't move when the handbrake is applied try applying penetrating oil to the assembly. Give it time to soak in and do its job and try again. You may have to do this more than once.
Its unlikely the caliper piston is siezed as I would have expected normal brake operation failure. It is more likely the handbrake assembly on the caliper that is at fault.

 

I paid

 

Rovers use Honda calipers.

Try winding the piston back in:

 

^Thats what i did on a sticky caliper on my civic and it worked a treat^

 

as they say its probably the mechanism for taking up the slack on the handbrake
you may have to strip the calliper and clean it up a little but it sounds fixable.
if you arent mechanicly minded its probably cheaper to have a new one fitted at

 

He is right, the handbrake mechanism is in the caliper.

Start with Andyds2k's advice. Then try Nicks.

If you are mechanically minded, I would just get a reconditioned caliper from

 

Does the MOT record the brake efficiency when using the pedal?

It would seem strange that it only fails on handbrake and not when using the pedal?

Could just be the handbrake mechanism...