Ebrake doesn't hold! What to do?
 

Well, I've notice for awhile now my ebrake seems to be loosing it's "strength." I was under the car the other day and the cables looks fine and when I pull the ebrake handle up it's tight and it releases fine. Except it has a hard time locking up the wheels. I can't park on a hill relying on the ebrake cause it'll just roll back. I'm not sure if my calipers are bad, I replaced the pads not too long ago. What could it be?

AFAIK the e-brake isn't supposed to lock the wheels. I've only seen one car that could do that and it wasn't stock.

I always park in gear with the e-brake up. That give me no problems. I would think a CA driver would know this......

I've never seen a car where the e-brake wouldnt stop the car on a hill except my mustang, where it was broken.

Keep your main brakes in good condition, and just put it in reverse when you park it. If it's a steep enough hill that reverse won't hold it, either your compression is low, or you need to find a flatter place to park.

Mine doesn't work at all. I really should fix that one of these days.

-=Russ=-

Well my ebrake wont even hold even with it in gear. I think the tranny is just getting old and when I'm on a hill in first it will still roll back. It'll fight gravity and stop and go....almost like something in the tranny is slipping and can't handle the weight.

-I know the ebrake wont completely lock the wheels it's just it doesnt work PERIOD! I am having a hard time understanding why cause it was fine earlier.

Check your rear brake pads, if worn replace. Also you might want to try and re-adjust your tension on the e-brake.

You probably have air bubbles in your brake lines....
I have the same problem...my suggestion is:

- when you park up the hill turn your front wheels away from the curb(side walk).

- when you park down the hill turn them into the curb.

or placing a brick under your wheel will help (if there are no side walks).

Use the lessons taught to you in drivers ed when parking your car on a hill such as what was said in the previous post. Use your e-brake and put it in gear as well.

carroding to my haynes manual, the e-brake should lock completely in about 4-5 "clicks", mines loose again dont like it that way.

Bubbles in the brake lines?
I always thought the e-brake was mechanically linked to the rear calipers?

It sounds like you just need to adjust the e-brake?
It does get "loose" sometimes.


-Ted

Umm, The ebrake should lock the wheels if you pull up on it hard enough and if its working properly.

Why do people say this. If your parked on a hill with your front end pointing up and you put it in reverse. Where do you think the car will go? it will roll backwards. I know this for a fact. 1st gear is the best thing you can do but you still would need some help from the ebrake. BTW. Leaving it in gear while parked on a hill will not hurt the transmission. If it did, then driving the car would be a HUGE mistake.

1. How many clicks do you hear when pulling on the e-brake? You should only hear up to 10. any more then that and you should adjust the cable. Also.

2. You need to make sure all the clips that hold the cable under the car ar still good. broken ones may let the cable flex and not hold.

3. Make sure the ebrake is pulling equally on both calipers. I dont know exactly how to determin this but if it feels like only one tire is getting more brake when you park it, then adjust the other side at the caliper where the cable connects to it.

4. make sure your rear pads are good and that there is no oil residue on them for any reason

Justin

Reverse is, at least on the S4 NA tranny, the lowest gear ratio, which means it holds best. The engine will turn forwards or backwards just fine if it wants, so there's no real advantage to using a forward or reverse gear. On some cars, 1st is shorter than reverse, so you'd use that.

-=Russ=-

Keep a brick in your car and stick it under one of your wheels. Having your car look broken is better than haveing it roll away...

Or roll into someone else's car. I bet "my e-brake won't work" will fly too far with them.

Install NEW rear brake pads.

But since you did that NOT TOO LONG AGO, adjust the cable and or look at the mechanism for the emergency brake AT the rear caliper to see if you see brake fluid leaking around that outfit.

It's fluid/mechanical in nature (emergency brake). Last time I looked anyway.

Or also remove the old pads and adjust the *adjuster* behind the pads and then reinstall the pads to see if it works better.

Ok I'm not too much of a noob so I've already done EVERYTHING you all have suggested, but I do appreciate the help.
Here's what I've already done.
-Check the pads they are fine.
-Adjusted Ebrake already that's fine.
-No breaks in the cable.
-When I change the pads about two months ago I bled the system.
-It's pulling the hook that's down by the caliper.

The only thing I can maybe think of is that the rotors are old and maybe they're too skinny? I'm not sure if it's cause of use and age they've worn down and should I replace those? They seem ok but I'm not sure if that's it.

ive always just parked in gear and put the hand brake on. Usually those 2 will stop the car from rolling back.

He's not asking on tips for parking, he's asking what might be wrong with his ebrake..

(I have the same problem, doesn't hold on any incline, cable / pads / tension are fine)

How much clearance did you have b/t the lever and the stopper pin at the rear brake caliper?

Have you turned the adjustment nut as far as it will go?

Hmmm I haven't tried that yet I'll do that tomorrow and see what happens.

Also Thanks "Phr00t" yea I wasn't looking for advice to PARK MY CAR. I know how to do that come on guys I know all this already. I drift my car out on the damn track and done all the mods myself.....what kinda of driver would I be if I couldn't park on a hill!

No, not possible.
The brakes (calipers) are all "self-adjusting", so unless you ran the reservior dry, the brake pads will keep self-adjusting to the brake rotor thickness.

*bzzt* Try again...

I still think you didn't adjust the e-brake correctly.

...especially since you mention you "drift".


-Ted

As Ted suggested, try tightening up the cable. That can help and I believe the procedure is in the Haynes manual. I believe that if the cable stretches enough you may need to replace it.

I TRIED THAT A MILLION TIMES!!!!! I did to where the thing is tight and you can't pull it any further at just 2 clicks then I loosened it to see if it'll work in 6 clicks then loosened it to 9 clicks to where I can't pull the handle anymore. Trust me I've adjusted it just fine. When you're inside the car and pull the handle everything seems fine but you can get out and push the car back with the ebrake all the way up.

I think what I'd do......jack the car and have someone try to turn the rear wheels with just the normal brake pedal applied. Just in case you have something wrong with the calipers. Like a non floating caliper or something like that.

Ok I was under the car for a couple of hours today trying to figure all this out....this is what I can figure out.

1) I actually did have a buddy apply the brakes and the rear calipers seem just fine. They do apply pressure to the rotors when the pedal is depressed.

2) When it came to adjusting the ebrake from the little nut on the handle I noticed that the screw inside the nut is sticking out quite a bit. It looks like it's tighten as tight as it can possibly go. Now the screw in the middle just turns with the nut and I had to pry a screwdriver in there to stop it just so I can see if I can take the nut off if needed.

-My first conclusion is that I need a new front cable cause it's pulling the hook at the calipers as much as possible and it still doesn't lock the brakes. Also I worry cause the screw at the adjusting nut is sticking out.

-Second I may need new calipers cause for some reason they aren't reacting to the pressure from the ebrake cable. I don't know if something inside the calipers is stuck but it doesn't seem right cause both calipers aren't grabbing at all. But that's why I think it may be the cables.

If you look at the pic that hook as hardly any free play at all. The cable is pulling it back as far as it can go. Shouldn't the calipers lock up sooner so the hook doesn't have to travel so far? I'm not sure I'm just throwing out everything I know about the problem.

Got a question for you...

Are you pulling the e-brake for DoRiFuTo?

If so, there's is a good chance the cable is stretched.


-Ted

I have never drifted my car, and I have the same problem as the OP. Any other suggestions? I have the same symptoms... Cable tightened as far as possible, brakes actually work in the rear, cable is pulling on the calipers, but very little e-brake holding power.

Rear brake calipers partially seized?

How about try this as a test...
BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN DOING THIS AND DON'T DRIVE TOO FAR.
Engage the e-brake partially.
Take a quick test drive around the block or two...
Stop the car and feel the center of the wheel or if you can access the rear brake rotors, feel the ambient heat off the rear rotors - is it pretty warm?
Is it even left to right?


-Ted

I think the calipers may have partially seized that's my best guess. I'll try the lil test like you suggested tomorrow and see what happens. The cable could have also been stretched some too since it does get abused a lil bit from my "driving" (just look at my avatar - yes I'm actually moving the car it isn't sitting still) If they seized I'm assuming my best bet would be to get new calipers. But what's the going rate for new ones? They are just the rears so hopefully they'd be a lil cheaper.

I'm having the same problem with my car - i tightened the handle to right/left spillter cable to the point where the spillter bracket pulls right up against the main cable bracket, the handle can't be pulled up any more past 2-3 clicks. The problem is definitely something having to do with either the right/left cables or the calipers themselves. I levered the mechanism on the caliper and the wheel seems to be stopped, so I'm guessing i have to replace the right and left cables.
What does everyone else think?

A_drift you don't need the E-Brake to drift a 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you said "bleed" the system.. what are you talking about? The e-brake is a cable... Are you talking about bleeding the front pads??

UHH THE E BRRAKE HAS NOTHING TO DO W? AIR IN BRAKE LINES! Its also there as a safety feature if your brakes ever go out. the e brake is w/ cables. either do like many said and check pads and rotors.( I know u said u had new) adjust tension. or maybe if you have already adjusted the tension all the way the lines are astretched. or even since you say they dont work at all maybe by some chance the cable got kncked out of pplace ..? -erik

did you check the e-brake balancer?