W163 - Weak Parking Brake
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 64
Likes: 3
From: British Columbia, Canada
2000 ML55 AMG (W163)
W163 - Weak Parking Brake
Hi Forum,
Had this issue for months now and finally decided to sort it out. Having issues with my parking brake on my 2000 ML55. The foot pedal looks alright, the light on the dash comes on when engaged, and off when disengaged. But the parking brake is very weak and doesn't hold the car. When I park at a hill and put the car in PARK, and engage the parking brake the car slowly moves until it gets stopped by the gear/ or park mode. So it works somewhat, but i would say only 5-10% capacity.
Since it works "slightly" i am thinking maybe the cable is alright but the parking shoes on the back wheels are worn? What do you think, and the parking shoes are they on both back wheels or just one of them?
Could be something else causing it? Another thing i noticed is that if it gets below 10 degrees of freezing i cannot disengage them one engaged, don't know if that info is relevant or not but i have noticed that twice now, so time to fix it.
thanks for any advice.
Had this issue for months now and finally decided to sort it out. Having issues with my parking brake on my 2000 ML55. The foot pedal looks alright, the light on the dash comes on when engaged, and off when disengaged. But the parking brake is very weak and doesn't hold the car. When I park at a hill and put the car in PARK, and engage the parking brake the car slowly moves until it gets stopped by the gear/ or park mode. So it works somewhat, but i would say only 5-10% capacity.
Since it works "slightly" i am thinking maybe the cable is alright but the parking shoes on the back wheels are worn? What do you think, and the parking shoes are they on both back wheels or just one of them?
Could be something else causing it? Another thing i noticed is that if it gets below 10 degrees of freezing i cannot disengage them one engaged, don't know if that info is relevant or not but i have noticed that twice now, so time to fix it.
thanks for any advice.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 64
Likes: 3
From: British Columbia, Canada
2000 ML55 AMG (W163)
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 64
Likes: 3
From: British Columbia, Canada
2000 ML55 AMG (W163)
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 7,107
Likes: 765
From: Bronx, N.Y.
2002 ML 320 & 2006 ML500
Another thing i noticed is that if it gets below 10 degrees of freezing i cannot disengage them one engaged, don't know if that info is relevant or not but i have noticed that twice now, so time to fix it.
When this problem occurs, does the parking brake pedal come up or does it remain down?
When this problem occurs, does the parking brake pedal come up or does it remain down?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 64
Likes: 3
From: British Columbia, Canada
2000 ML55 AMG (W163)
I read elsewhere that the parking shoes gets worn easily and those i can replace quity easy, at least try that first. Would you know if the parking shoes are on both back tires? or just one of them?
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 64
Likes: 3
From: British Columbia, Canada
2000 ML55 AMG (W163)
Another thing i noticed is that if it gets below 10 degrees of freezing i cannot disengage them one engaged, don't know if that info is relevant or not but i have noticed that twice now, so time to fix it.
When this problem occurs, does the parking brake pedal come up or does it remain down?
When this problem occurs, does the parking brake pedal come up or does it remain down?
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 7,107
Likes: 765
From: Bronx, N.Y.
2002 ML 320 & 2006 ML500
If the pedal stayed down, then it is probably any one of the three cables that control the parking brakes. Spray liberally everything in the diagrams below with Liquid Wrench or WD40, especially the slack adjustment mechanism.
