This thread appears to be mostly about tire and wheel concerns but it includes brakes in the title so:
I have a 2005 Cooper with 43000 miles on it. I have had no braking from the emergency brakes for several years. I have jacked up the back end and bottomed out the adjustment and can turn the rear wheels by hand. The only explanations I got were 'the cables are rusted in place, broken or stretched'. I was skeptical since I rarely use the hand brake but I purchases the cables and installed them. Same results. The cables I took off were not bound up or broken.
($10 for the pair + shipping) The only suspect left is the caliper but I have not found any exploded view of them to see what I would be getting into.
Anybody have any suggestions as to what the cause of the problem might be? I will post this in the 1st Gen maintenance problems thread also.

Ben

 

With your car supported safely pull a rear wheel. Go under & pull on the e brake lever on the caliper. Does it move or is it locked in place? If you can pull it & the brakes don't come on it is the caliper. Have you had the rear pads replaced? If so was the piston rotated back in correctly? If the pistons were both just pushed in the e brake portion of the caliper is trashed.

 

Thanks for your response. I haven't had a chance to check out your suggestion. Might get to it later today. No the pads have never been replaced.

Ben

 

The ebrake lever on the caliper moves freely. Full application (7 notches) of the ebrake handle only moves the brake pads to barely contact the rotor. I guess that the ebrake ratchet in the caliper is not working. Since I rarely use the darn thing anyway, I put about 3/8 inch worth of washers under the adjustment nut and now get a little contact at the rotor. A lot cheaper than $330+ for new calipers.

Ben

 

That is a good fix. I'd have a hard time swallowing $330 for calipers too.