Help! E-brake stuck!
 

Set the ebrake this morning to let the beast warm up, won't un-set. The handle goes down, light goes off, but there's slack in the cable underneath the car, all the way to the little rubber boot. Where should I look for what's going on?

Thanks

If there is slack in the cable (both sides) then it is at the wheel(s), (slack indicates it should be released). Time to do a brake job. Disk or drum??

Whats the temp where you live? I had a 87 Fiero that had the same problem when the temp was in the low 20s. I left it in gear on cold nights, but a rotary has low compression. If the car were to move, it could start.

It was about 35 this morning when it happened, Car starts fine, just won't go well with the ebrake engaged,
Do I have to pull the rear wheels (disk-GSL) to get this un-binded? A complete brake job was done in the spring.

Take a small hammer (with the E brake handle down) and lightly tap the back of the piston in the back. Some small taps may release it?

Piston..I assume I have to take one or both rear wheels off to get to it?

depends on how skinny you are LOL

At least have to jack it up probally ;)

I'll give it a shot tomorrow, last time I tried to get the wheels off, no way. Someone got spastic with the air wrench. I'll jack it up and try to get it from behind.

I am talking about the car, not the wife.:p:

I assuem they just iced up a bit in there, a light tap to the back of the piston may free them...You'll probally have to do both wheels, look at the bottom of the piston where the e brake cable goes and see if it looks released on one side and not the other...

Gotcha, thanks.

The brake was really hard to pull up this morning, it was cold out and the car is usually in the garage. My son's HONDA is in its place while he works on the stereo.
Anyway, I wanted to leave it running in neutral to warm up, pulled maybe too hard on the thing to keep it from rolling down the driveway.

I'll let ya know!

Well, it seems I'll need new calipers & pads (rear).
Big $$ from mazda, anyone got a couple of good used ones? Or suggestions for reasonable equivalent?
Ya, ya, supposed to be in the 'fer sale' section I know.
Sometimes it's better to ask forgiveness..:bowdown:

Well tell your son to get his honda out cause the 7 is better.:cool:

Believe me, he KNOWS.
He wants a 2nd gen himself, but he's got to demostrate a bit more maturity before I'll let him upgrade his ride!

MW,

How do you know you need new calipers? They are fairly indestructible I thought. I now the pistons and guts can go bad (they make a rebuild kit BTW), and especially your pads. Point is, I don't think the rebuild kit is THAT expensive. Calipers probably are.

jerij

I took it to a mechanic (I don't want to putz with brakes), that's what I was told.
Maybe I need a 2nd opinion?

Hmmm....

Never hurts.
I'm still trying to see in my head just what the lever does the PB works on. I know it's mechanical (I've had mine off a couple of times pulling axles) but I've paid not enuf attention to it. My SE driver is at my folks right now with a clogged fuel filter (I hope!) so I can't take a look.

jeryj

The lever pulls on a cable. The cable splits in 2 and goes to the frame rail on each side in the back. From the other side of the frame rail the cable is "covered" to the wheel.
How close did I get without looking??

Before you go spending money on new rear brakes, jack the rear end up, put it in neutral, and disengage the parking brake.

Make sure both rear wheels are off the ground and see how easily they spin. There will be some natural resistance from the diff. but there shouldn't be any grinding noise or strong resistance.

If that's the case, pull the wheels off and check the adjusting nuts that hold the e-brake cable to the caliper. I've overtightened these before and found that the e-brake will stay engaged when the handle goes down.

You can temporarily disconnect the cable and spin the rotors to see if that solves it.

The nuts should be against the bracket but don't need to be ridiculously tight.

Also, grease the pivoting bracket at the caliper.

Probably not a bad idea to at least check your brakes before going and spending a lot of coin.

F-

With it jacked up and on jackstands (saftey). Look at the inside of the brake assembly. Towards the back youll see where the cable hooks into a fork. With the PB lever released take a pair of pliers and try to turn the fork towards the back of the car. The fork/lever is probably just stuck or your cables are sticking. Do this to both sides and you should be ok for a while. Dont let some putz mechanic suck you dry for a wad of $$$$$. Try this first. Also you can try and spray some lube or WD-40 on the lever to help it turn and stay free.

i believe those caliper rebuild kits are about 25 bucks? dont quote me on that tho

Guys, thanks so much for the suggestions, I'm gonna give it a try a soon as the weather warms up enough to get the SE out of the garage and put the GSL in. (SE is in the middle of the ATF treatment right now).
This'll give me a good chance to see how the brakes work anyway. Might just get lucky!
Thanks again, I really appreciate how everyone on the forum looks out for each other's wallet!:)

mine is stuck as well, i got an 88 gxl handle goes down light goes off brakes stay slightly engaged, driveable but burns pads faster than you'd believe shoud i just do the same thing as mw payne