02SilverWS6

Yes, help me out. Need to know how to do it. It's too high.

Don't want to send it to the dealer. The lot boys love driving the car and I would hate to see more miles in it when I get the car back.

Thanks you guys!

02SilverWS6

ttt

PacerX

iTrader: (4)

I did a LOT of the design work on your parking brake system in a past life, so I can help you out...

But first, you need to explain the problem.

Are you saying that the cable tension is too low at rest?

If that is the case, try this first...

Apply and release the parking brake fully two or three times in a row.

Too low a tension in the brake cable after release means one of a few things:

1) The self adjust system is not working because the plastic "grenade pin" that locks the self adjust mechanism out during vehicle build has never been sheared completely.

2) The cables are sticking. This is highly unlikely on a new car like yours as the majority of sticking problems are caused by corrosion build up due to lack of use. It takes a considerable amount of time to build up this kind of corrosion.

3) Incorrectly manufactured cables (lengthwise). Again, this is highly unlikely.

4) Incorrectly manufactured parking brake lever. Highly unlikely.


Finally, do this:

Park the vehicle on the steepest grade you can find, using ONLY the parking brake. DO NOT leave the vehicle in gear, leave it in neutral.

Does the vehicle hold without rolling?

There may be just a hair of roll back as the service brake releases and the parking brake takes over, but we are talking about less than one complete revolution of the rear wheel here (more like a fraction of a revolution).


The parking brake system in the F-cars is a self-adjusting system. There is a counter balance spring and pawl and sector mechanism that is designed to pretension the cable properly at rest and ensure that the cables don't sag, and that there isn't so much tension that the brakes drag.

Please clarify the problem for me.

<small>[ March 14, 2003, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: PacerX ]</small>

02SilverWS6

Well, the actual parking brake lever is too high when I pull up on it. It also seldomly slips all the way back to a 90 degree position. It doesn't seem to adjust itself and your theory doesn't seem to apply here. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="gr_sad.gif" />

I don't know what to do! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="gr_images/icons/mad.gif" />

I don't want a lot boy to grab it for a spin if I take it to the dealer! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="gr_images/icons/mad.gif" />

<small>[ March 15, 2003, 06:17 PM: Message edited by: 02SilverWS6 ]</small>

PacerX

iTrader: (4)

1) Does the car hold on a hill? Find the steepest hill around and park on it using only the parking brake.

2) Are you getting abnormally high rear brake pad wear?

3) Describe to me, if full down is 90 degrees, how many degrees of travel you get before you can't pull the handle up any more.

4) I can tell you how to test the self-adjust if you want to pull the console off to do it. If you do pull the console, verify that the self-adjust spring (a big coil spring on one side of the parking brake) is still connected. If it isn't, that could be your problem.

5) In the full down position, there is a cam pin that pushes the self-adjust pawl out of the self-adjust sector. You can feel it happening as you push the lever into the full down position on release. In the full down position, the self-adjust spring is activated and the self-adjust sector will take up cable to equalize the tension between the rear brake arms and that spring.

Be patient, I'm trying to diagnose this from afar.

Dan

Stone0fFire

please, continue
i have this same problem
every other car stops at 45º
mine is up there, close to 90º
(compared to length of car)
and also sometimes just slips all the way w/out grabbing at all

???

1ScrudeDude

I got the same prob. Car has only 10k on it....

Tranzor

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread too... I have to pull my E-brake up until it's almost completely vertical before it'll hold on any kind of hill, and it didn't use to be that way.

Brains

iTrader: (7)

Mine stopped working completely... I haven't dug into the console yet, but pulling the handle will pull on the cables -- but it won't hold the car at all. you can lay a hand on the car and push it with the parking brake applied as hard as you can pull (handle nearly vertical!).. It stopped working catastrophically, and I'm almost certain the issue is in the adjuster mechanism -- in the two weeks prior to total loss of the brake, it made a pop, clang, and the handle would go all the way up with zero tension. It did that three or four times, but each time if I put the handle all the way down and appllied the brake again, and it would actually work and hold the car. Now, nothing. Nada. No brake

Sucks not having a parking brake on a 6 speed car

01 SS Jay

There is an adjuster on emergency brake - pop the rotor off and tighten it up (same way as you would adjust drum brakes - which it essentially is).

Mine does the pop clang no tension thing too from time to time.

JRcamaroZ28

iTrader: (41)

I had the same problem on mine also. There is a coat hanger type rod w/ a bend on the end that looks like a hook inside the e-brake handle. so while i have the console out one day i was looking into what could cause this. what it looked like to me was the end of the hook was wearing away from using the break over time so what i did was took a screw drive and from the rear side of the handle i bent the rod inside of the handle forward. to this day i have not had it pop off one time and feels nice and tigth as soon as you pull on the handle.

JR

02SilverWS6

I'll try that.... I'll let you know if it works.

BigDaddyZ28

I can relate to "Not wanting the Lot Boys adding miles to your car"

Lets also not forget about how they usually F at least 1 thing up for evey 2 things they fix.

Tdawg

my dad just took his z28 into the dealership to get the trany mount replaced and when they told him it was ready to go home, when he went to go pick it up the thing would not start, and it was working fine when we dropped it off. it's been about 3 days now and they still haven't been able to fix it . both my dad and my self are getting very about this whole thing.

Tranzor

Ugh... when I hear that, it just reaffirms my position of never EVER taking the car to the dealership.

Tranny mount literally installs in minutes and there's absolutely no way to affect how the car starts... dealership techs.

Tdawg

we just got the car back the tranny's fixed the ignition's fixed but now the power steering's gone, these people are really starting to **** me off

armintheman

iTrader: (31)

i know this thread is like 6 years old but did anyone ever figure out how to adjust the ebrake? to i need to take the rear rotors off?

armintheman

iTrader: (31)

Bump...

SS SLP2

iTrader: (8)

[QUOTE=01 SS Jay;827034]There is an adjuster on emergency brake - pop the rotor off and tighten it up (same way as you would adjust drum brakes - which it essentially is).

"pop the rotor off and tighten it up (same way as you would adjust drum brakes - which it essentially is)."

easy, Johnny

98hc4mula

iTrader: (5)

also if you take the console off, you can see that it has a mechanism to adjust at the lever site. if you can confirm that the spring is attached that will also help the lever to self adjust. I was playing with mine for a while and learned how to do this, the mechanism itsself is pretty simple, just look at it in detail and you will see how it works. but you need to remove the console.
on mine, if you dont have the spring, it will not allow the self locking mechanism to engage and so the lever will go up to 90* instead of 45