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MG MGF Technical - MG-F Handbrake Warning Light

Hi all,

The warning light for the hand brake (parking brake) seems to be a bit sensitive - it stays lit up even when the handbrake is fully off.

I can make it go out by forcing the handbrake handle down so that it is *exactly* flat, but the slightest disturbance brings the light back on again.

Has anyone come across this before? And is there an easy way to remedy it?

Thanks,
James.
J Phillips 1

If you take out the cubby box under the armrest in the centre console, you'll be able to see the cables going from the hanbrake to the rear wheels. Towards the front, you should see a 'cross plate' where the single cable from the hanbrake splits into the 2 cables that go to each of the rear wheels. Just in front this is an adjustment nut which you can turn to alter the tension in the cable. If your warning light is coming on a lot, you probably need to reduce the tension in the cable.

HTH

Ian

Ian Matheson

Hi James,

The most common cause of this is the lever arm on the rear calipers being partially seized. The cable operates the lever, which pushes the pad onto the disc, but if the return spring isn't able to pull the cable back fully then the handbrake lever won't sit in the correct position.

Worth following Ian's advice to see if adjustment solves the problem for now, but also worth inspecting the rear calipers. The lever arm sadly isn't serviceable, so a new caliper is the best solution, however many people have found that vigorously wiggling the lever back and forth while squirting penetrating oil down the shaft frees up the mechanism enough to restore normal operation, for the short term at least.
Mike Hankin

Got my F serviced last week and it now has this problem.

Sam

Sam Murray

Thanks for the advice gents!

Sam - funnily enough, this only seems to have started happening on mine since the last service.
J Phillips 1

This happened to me regularly when the car was serviced by Diamond Motors. Cure was to take it back and have the cable readjusted properly as suggested by James.

Cable on mine has been trouble free since I stopped using Diamond about 3 years ago, (they finally went bust about that time).

Chris
Chris

I also get this problem...

Started happening about 6 weeks ago after i parked on a steep hill and so put the handbrake on quite tight...

The light being on doesnt matter though does it? It doesnt mean the brake is still on does it? I mean, i know it normally does, but in these circumstances?

Nick
Nick D

This thread was discussed between 17/01/2006 and 19/01/2006

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