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MPV parking brake dragging

Tiny
CHUCKY
  • MEMBER
  • MAZDA MPV
Hello,

I have a Mazda MPV 2004 with approximately 730000Km.

It seems that my back parking brake is dragging. I have rear disc brakes which includes a drum for the parking brake. I know that the parking brake is draging because I removed the calipers and pads and turned the wheel and it is still making the noise. I suppose that there is some way of adjusting the parking brake, but I don't see any way of doing this except for taking off the rotor. The problem with this is that I don't know how to take it off. Do I just bang it off, or is there something else I have to do? There is a grease cap, but I am not sure how to take this off.

The other thing that seems puzzling is that when I apply the brakes when driving, it makes more noise. This does not make any sense if it is the parking brake. In any case I'll tackle the problem a step at a time. First the parking brake. I'll fix that and see if the problem goes away entirely.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
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Sunday, November 26th, 2006 AT 10:27 PM

6 Replies

Tiny
BRUCE HUNT
  • MECHANIC
  • 3,754 POSTS
The parking brake drum will be hard to pull off as the brakes are binding. These have a self adjusting mechanism and yours appears to be adjusting too much. I am not sure if they give an access hole on the back side to allow the mechanism to be backed off or not. Check and see if there is a rubber plug. If so, a screwdriver will allow you to back the brake shoes off. I would have the rotor and brake assembly turned at a shop if they are still within safety tolerance.
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Monday, November 27th, 2006 AT 8:18 PM
Tiny
CHUCKY
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Thanks for your advice Bruce. I found the hole in order to adjust the parking shoes. Unfortunately they are siezed solid. I've tried spraying some anti sieze stuff on it and it still would not budge. I guess I'll just go ahead and try banging the rotor off. I've since learnt that I need to replace the pads and rotors as well. Any suggestins would be helpful.

Thanks.
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Saturday, December 2nd, 2006 AT 4:43 PM
Tiny
COSMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 347 POSTS
Yes the adjuster is probably seized, and no the penatration fluid won't help. You are going to have to get those rotors off the old fashion way (with a hammer) and unseize the mechanism. Wathc out thoughm the clips holding the shoes to the backing plate like to break when removing the rotor/drum.

If you get it apart you will probably find that the rotor would of needed replacing anyhow from the condition on the inside braking surface. Let us know how it goes.

Cosmo. Mazda Tech
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Monday, December 4th, 2006 AT 9:47 PM
Tiny
CHUCKY
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Thanks Cosmos,

I banged on the rotor a few times until I noticed that the rotor was being held on by 2 screws ! Doooh ! I removed the screws and had to give it a few more wacks because the parking brake shoes were holding them on. I eventually got the rotor off, but not before damaging the parking shoes. I installed a new rotor and pads. I hope I didn't damage anything from the banging while the screws were on. It seems to be okay.

I noticed that the new pads were not sliding, but were getting jammed in. I figure that would wear down the pads faster and that may have been the reason for the old pads wearing out faster than the pair on the other wheel. There is 5mm there and on this pair it was right down to the metal ! I had to bang them out with a hammer. So I filed down the pads where they had been sticking until they slid easily. Most likely it will develop rust there faster since there is no paint there, but I've also greased it up. Anyone has thoughts on this? I would imagine that this is a common problem.

I still have to unsieze the adjustment wheel and replace the parking brake shoes and change the other side's brakes and rotors. I invested into getting a repair manual and won't proceed until it is delivered because I'm unsure how to unsieze the adjustment wheel. Hopefully the manual will address this issue. Any ideas are welcomed.

Anyhow, this has really been a soap opera. I've invested a fair bit of time and effort already. But, I figure it is a good investment since the next time I'll know what to do.
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Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 AT 8:33 PM
Tiny
COSMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 347 POSTS
The difficulty in which you are having with the pads might not be the pads at all. Did you remove the hardwear from the caliper cages and file off all the rust under the hardwear?
This rust will push up on the hardwear and often causes the pads to wear out early because the pads don't move.

Cosmo. Mazda Tech
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Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 AT 9:21 PM
Tiny
CHUCKY
  • MEMBER
  • 4 POSTS
Many thanks for the advice. I actually did that for my other car, but for some reason opted to file down the pads on the MPV instead. In the future, I'll file down the caliper cages instead. Nice to draw on expertice of others. Manual and brake shoes are in. Going to get them today. Hopefully, the manual will give me advice like the one you just gave me, but I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks again
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Wednesday, December 6th, 2006 AT 11:11 AM

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