XSeries-forum

Well that was a nasty surprise!! The Parking Brake efficiency is only 14%. At 47k miles I'm a little bemused considering it's an Auto and the handbrake is only ever used to back up the 'Park-pawl'.

The MoT centre did not seem as surprised and think it's probably full of crud off the roads this winter. Is this a common problem on the E53?

No idea, I never use mine ...

VERY common problem according to my local indy. Happens to a lot of E53 incl mine. I dont use it either and rely solely on the "P" transmission setting but that doesnt wash with the testers.... Cost me £50 to get sorted. Complete pain for somethign you never use.

Oh well. Thanks folks - and it's going to be £60 to fix ours. I'd love to know how they're going to test the electronically actuated ones on the BMWs now being built. I suppose they just press the button and that's that.

Common problem on 5 series E39's. Advice was to drive a few hundred yards with the hand break on slightly to burn any crud off the brake shoes inside the drum. I think the hand break is a similar design on the E53's

Being the owner of a e53 and a mot tester i know just what you mean. you never need to use it but it has to work for the mot. to be honest even when fitted with brand new discs pads and handbrake shoes they dont go much above 20% on handbrake. when you see the size of the shoes its not surprising as they are pathetic for the weight of the car. same as a e46. The lack of use is the problem as rust gets inside the drum part and lack of use and the fact the wheels dont turn with the brake on like an old drum brake car, the rust never gets cleaned off. best advice is to pull handbrake up from time to time whilst going along just to clean up the drum. makes it beep a bit but hurts nothing.
hope this helps.
Dave
ps. when mine was tested at christmas it passed but perhaps my tech that tested it just didnt want to fail the bosses car.

Have the same problem with one of my vans. Now I just drive to the mot centre with the handbrake on.

I always park with the handbrake on. Was always told to as takes the strain off the gearbox.

All sorted. Brake drum was basically full of crap off the roads and a bit rusty hence not having a high enough efficiency. Stripped, cleaned, re-assembled and adjusted and we're street legal again. One to watch for the future though. And we both use the parking brake after selecting 'Park' so it's not as if it wasn't being used! The MOT station suggested that the amount of salt & grit spread about over the Winter is causing more people trouble this year in particular. No idea how true this is, but it sounds plausible.

Thanks to all for the tips on cleaning the system though. I'll remember that trick next time.

I seem to remember something on a forum I once read about that warned of a problem with the build up of crap on the rear breaks... It was something like dirt, mud, salt would build up around the breaks and the lines and this would corrode the lines... if left unattended, the damp crap would eat away until your lines failed which isn't what you want!

It was suggested that a couple of times a year to drive with the hand break for a while to clear the crap and then lift the car to give it a good clean up, especially around the lines and the dust shield.

I've never done it and maybe should?

Mine has just passed MOT again with no problems.


Turks.

I've not got around to checking the handbrake on my E53, but I'm very familiar with the one on the E36 and they suffer the same problem. On the E36, there's two adjustments possible - at the hub and at the lever in the cabin. The correct way to set the handbrake is to fully slacken off at the lever, adjust at the hub and then finally tweak up at the lever. But people don't realise this and just keep tightening it up at the lever, which reduces the travel as you'd expect, but doesn't help the brake to work properly.

I think every car I've owned has worked the same way. Always adjust the the shoes in the drum and then bring the lever to be within the manufacturers spec limit. I usually found that I only ever had to adjust the lever if the bowden cable had stretched.

I think that it is a common misconception to say that the bowden cable has stretched, the usual problem is that the outer cable casing has 'crushed' a little .
Lez