Mark 3 Handbrake mystery

[Anonymous]

Have searched M,P&T threads for a solution but can't find this particular problem identified: prior to MoT h/b was dodgy so no surprise it failed. Garage replaced cables and one caliper (other one replaced new last year).  H/B now ten times worse than pre-MoT;  garage willingly try again; no luck - just as bad; third time they renew pads; marginally better, but will not hold my car on the hill where I live.  I park in reverse, wheels to wall.  Even so, car lurched forward on handbrake and snapped off N/S mirror.
Return to garage: they will look again and have sought advice from local Toyota dealer who helpfully comments that he hasn't a clue, and if my chap finds a solution to phone and tell them (Toyota) how it's done as they have a hell of time with them also.
Anyone else been here?  Is there a solution?  What should we try next?  (Garage concerned have impeccable credentials, saved me £3k on a previous job and do all the heavy engineering for the local Toy dealer!)

[Jon_G]

 l viewtopic.php?f=11&t=32816&p=447651&hilit=handbrake#p447651 l

[wotugonado]

local Toyota dealer who helpfully comments that he hasn't a clue, and if my chap finds a solution to phone and tell them (Toyota) how it's done as they have a hell of time with them also.

  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:    s:lol: :lol: s:lol:  

just what id expect from a dealership, absolute classic.

[Steve Green]

It's no mystery.
Yet another illustration of Toyota and other mechanics not understanding the way in which Toyota (and other) rear calipers work, even if they do have impeccable credentials.
It sounds to me that they have perhaps charged you to replace handbrake cables when they were perfectly OK.

The solution is simple, get both autoadjusters on both calipers working correctly.

http://www.mr2roc.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=33557&p=404864&hilit=rear+caliper+refurb#p404864

Perhaps I should start doing maintenance courses for them.

Hope you get it sorted, but in essence, disconnect both handbrake cables from the calipers and check that you can manually move the crank arm. If you cant, either strip the caliper as per the How To or fit a new one.
When fitting new calipers, make sure that the handbrake cables, both sides, just take up the cable tension and hold the crank about 1mm from their stop pins.

Easy, once you know how.

(Excuse the sarcasm, but how many times do we hear the same story, especially when so called experts have been involved?)