Emergency Brake Doesnt seem to do anything 97 GT

[Ballistic]

I was playing around with my Hand break and it wasnt doing anything so i found a hill and put the car in neutral and pulled the emergency break all the way up and let off the the break with my foot and i rolled down the hill like the E-Break wasn't even pulled..

I just replaced my rear break pads not even a year ago. Do i need to adjust the cable of the hand break?

Thanks..

 

[mcglsr2]

How does the cable look where it hooks into each rear caliper? On my car, they had started to rust and were fraying pretty badly. Wouldn't hold the car anymore.

 

[Ballistic]

How does the cable look where it hooks into each rear caliper? On my car, they had started to rust and were fraying pretty badly. Wouldn't hold the car anymore.

Ill pull it in my shop tomorrow and check that out.. thanks!

 

[mcglsr2]

Ill pull it in my shop tomorrow and check that out.. thanks!

Sure thing, and while you are there, ask a friend to operate the ebrake for you while you watch the rear calipers. If the cables look good, see if they are actually pulling on the calipers. If your friend pulls the ebrake up, but you don't see either cable move, the issue could be at the "T" section where the single ebrake cable pulls on the two cables that run to the calipers.

 

[CC'S95GT]

as stated above the piece that goes through the floor is prone to breaking.

 

[RichV]

I just replaced both cables under my 05. They were rusted inside and would not move the levers on the rear calipers. Got them from RockAuto. Real reasonable.

 

[Tally_4.6]

TSB for s197s ^

 

[Ballistic]

Still havent had time to pull it in the shop but left it in gear on flat ground pulled the hand brake and let my foot off the break and it seemed to be working and when i let the brake down i started to roll, so maybe that one thing that needs to be adjusted by the handle?

 

[mcglsr2]

I'm not sure the ebrake is adjustable. Let me look through my manuals - granted I have a 95 so it might be different for you. But when I replaced my cables, I didn't really do anything to "adjust" it that I can recall. Let me get back to you.

 

[mcglsr2]

Yah, all it has for "adjustment" is how to release the tension on the spring so it can be serviced (or if the rear axle housing has been removed). It talks about putting the lever down in the release position, getting under the car and pulling the cable about 1 to 2.5 inches and then up top inserting a steel pin into the lever housing to keep the spring from applying tension back on the cable.

If this isn't done, it's possible the spring can get screwed up, and then the whole thing needs to be removed to be fixed. It's possible this is why your parking brakes aren't working. When you pull up on the lever, is there any resistance or does it pull all the way up with little effort? If it's easy to pull up, and it goes all the way up with almost no effort, you probably lost the tension on your spring. If there is resistance when pulling it up, it probably means your cable has rusted/seized in the sheath (what happened to me).

Edit: So, to clarify, there is no "adjustment" for taking slack out or anything. If there's slack, it's because your cable is either broken or your spring has lost its tension. Again, this is from a 95 manual - yours might be different though I would doubt it.