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Hey guys, I noticed that whenever I pull the E-brake lever up, the red Brake light doesn’t light on, sometimes it lights and other times it doesn’t, I also checked to see if the E-brake is working by pulling the lever up and putting the car in drive but the car moved forward without any resistance whatsoever, which means that the E-brake is not working.
I also have both DRLs out (no turn signals either) and I just received both sockets and lenses for both sides. Not sure if this is something related to the E-brake problem but thought I’d mention it either way. Perhaps it’s a wiring issue? What do you guys think I should do?
First thing. Did you check the fuse for the turn signals? Check that. And as far as I know, I think the turn signals are unrelated to the e-brake situation you have. If the fuse isn't blown, check your relay for the turn signals.
Second thing. Your e-brake light may not come on sometimes because the trigger might be getting stuck and not releasing. What I mean is that there's this relay under the center console. When the e-brake handle is down, it makes contact by pushing this little metal piece down. Look at the photo I sent you. I circled the thing I'm referring to. Perhaps it gets stuck or something.
Third thing. These cars are complete garbage when it comes to the e-brake. It seems everyone I know has issues with this. You don't even want to know the hell I went through to get mine to work. When you remove the center console to access look at the ratcheting mechanism that the e-brake is attached to. pull it up and down to see if it seems to be working right. You're most likely going to have to remove the wheels, calipers, and rotors. Before you remove the calipers and rotors, try spinning the rotor by hand with the car in neutral and the e-brake up. My car had enough resistance for me to not be able to move the wheel by hand, but not enough to keep it from rolling down hill. Once you remove the rotor, take a look to see how much pad is left on the brake shoes. A weak or non working e-brake can be one of many things or even some sort of combination.
The brake handle isn't self adjusting right (like mine)
Parking brake shoes are worn
Rotor hat got worn out
Cable has stretch so much that self adjusting brake handle mechanism is at the limit of what it can compensate for.
First thing. Did you check the fuse for the turn signals? Check that. And as far as I know, I think the turn signals are unrelated to the e-brake situation you have. If the fuse isn't blown, check your relay for the turn signals.
Second thing. Your e-brake light may not come on sometimes because the trigger might be getting stuck and not releasing. What I mean is that there's this relay under the center console. When the e-brake handle is down, it makes contact by pushing this little metal piece down. Look at the photo I sent you. I circled the thing I'm referring to. Perhaps it gets stuck or something.
Third thing. These cars are complete garbage when it comes to the e-brake. It seems everyone I know has issues with this. You don't even want to know the hell I went through to get mine to work. When you remove the center console to access look at the ratcheting mechanism that the e-brake is attached to. pull it up and down to see if it seems to be working right. You're most likely going to have to remove the wheels, calipers, and rotors. Before you remove the calipers and rotors, try spinning the rotor by hand with the car in neutral and the e-brake up. My car had enough resistance for me to not be able to move the wheel by hand, but not enough to keep it from rolling down hill. Once you remove the rotor, take a look to see how much pad is left on the brake shoes. A weak or non working e-brake can be one of many things or even some sort of combination.
The brake handle isn't self adjusting right (like mine)
Parking brake shoes are worn
Rotor hat got worn out
Cable has stretch so much that self adjusting brake handle mechanism is at the limit of what it can compensate for.
What year is your car? Automatic or manual?
thank you for taking the time to write down the above information, I appreciate it. My car is a 2002 WS6 Automatic Transmission. The turn signals / DRL are not functioning because the sockets are corroded and water is leaking into the socket, so I ordered 2 new lenses from Depo and 2 new sockets from 269 Motorsports, I also have 2 new amber bulbs. Hopefully that should take care of the DRLs problem.
not only the parking brake is not functioning ( I can still move the car when the gear is in D position without any resistance whatsoever, and the parking brake lever is pulled up),but the red Brake light is on in the instrument cluster while doing so. Plus the red parking brake in the instrument cluster doesn’t always work, it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.
Just as a precaution, I put these behind the rear tires.
As mentioned above, the common cause for the dash light is a dirty switch under the center console. The red piece circled above is a grounding switch and it collects hairballs and other dirt that connect the switch circuit regardless of handle position. Just unscrew the hex bolt that holds the switch to the handle assembly and you can take the coper contact out and clean it.
The common physical problem with the parking brakes is NOT adjusting them after a brake job. The F-Body parking brakes are not self-adjusting and need to be set for the exact I.D. of the rear rotor when its installed on the car. The procedure is in this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...ightening.html
As mentioned above, the common cause for the dash light is a dirty switch under the center console. The red piece circled above is a grounding switch and it collects hairballs and other dirt that connect the switch circuit regardless of handle position. Just unscrew the hex bolt that holds the switch to the handle assembly and you can take the coper contact out and clean it.
The common physical problem with the parking brakes is NOT adjusting them after a brake job. The F-Body parking brakes are not self-adjusting and need to be set for the exact I.D. of the rear rotor when it’s installed on the car. The procedure is in this thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...ightening.html
much appreciated 👍 thank you for sharing.
so I guess I’ll have to follow the below video to get the parking brake to work again, plus I’ll have to take out the center console and clean the above mentioned part to get the dash light to work properly.
In theory, this is it. You may find your mechanism is so gummed up that the star wheel doesn't click or hold position. If so, you would need to take the assembly apart, clean it and then lube it to get it working properly.
In theory, this is it. You may find your mechanism is so gummed up that the star wheel doesn't click or hold position. If so, you would need to take the assembly apart, clean it and then lube it to get it working properly.
much appreciated 👍, I just dropped off the car at the shop, I’ll make sure to mention that to them.
Update: Well…after a week of working perfectly fine, the parking brake is malfunctioning again. It’s like the exact same thing prior to adjusting it, probably needs adjustment again. I don’t know 🤷♂️ I’ll look more into it this week.
To my knowledge, the transmission should be on N and the parking brake should be disengaged when I have to adjust the parking brake from the rear star shaped wheels. I actually didn’t do it, had a garage do the work while installing the exhaust, lid and do some maintenance on the car a couple of weeks ago.
I think this is the problem I warned about in post #6. (... and also one of the many reasons I never let "mechanics" touch my cars)
The parking brake mechanism is lubed with grease, which collects dirt and brake dust over time and becomes something like tooth paste. Periodically the whole works needs to be taken apart, rebuilt and re-lubed.
If your brake was working and then fell out of adjustment, I'll bet there's a bunch of goo in there that is keeping the star wheel from locking properly and the thing is coming out of adjustment.
I think this is the problem I warned about in post #6. (... and also one of the many reasons I never let "mechanics" touch my cars)
The parking brake mechanism is lubed with grease, which collects dirt and brake dust over time and becomes something like tooth paste. Periodically the whole works needs to be taken apart, rebuilt and re-lubed.
If your brake was working and then fell out of adjustment, I'll bet there's a bunch of goo in there that is keeping the star wheel from locking properly and the thing is coming out of adjustment.
thank you for the above post, I thought I’d take out the center console and see if there’s anything to adjust from there or anything to clean.
I honestly didn’t know that I’d have to take it all apart, rebuild it and re-lube it all over again. Is it difficult to do such a job or would a mechanic or brake shop be able to? Reason I’m asking is that I can’t do it by myself as I’m not mechanically skilled. And don’t have the tools to do such a job.
is there any video or pics that can help?
I live far away from any garage around here, had to take the car to a friend of mine who lives in Dubai (the next town over) he has a Garage and tunes all GM cars on the dyno there.
I’m planning to order the below brake kit too and powder coating the stock calipers red, so might as well let them clean up the whole parking brake assembly and re-lube it again. Or worst case scenario, there’s a suspension and brake shop near them that will be able to do the job in case they couldn’t.
thank you for the above post, I thought I’d take out the center console and see if there’s anything to adjust from there or anything to clean.
There is nothing there. All parking brake adjustments on these cars are made at the wheels with the brake rotors off the car.
Originally Posted by d-mob
I honestly didn’t know that I’d have to take it all apart, rebuild it and re-lube it all over again. Is it difficult to do such a job or would a mechanic or brake shop be able to?
Any mechanic with experience working on drum brakes can do this re-build and re-lube. The mechanism is very similar to a regular drum brake system.
I think one of the main pathways for dirt into this mechanism are the rubber boots on the backing plates of the brake mechanism. These don't last very long and are very difficult to find. I made a modification to mine, which lasted for years and solved all my problems:
^ I suggest looking at your boots and checking the condition of them as you continue to work on the car.
Originally Posted by d-mob
I’m planning to order the below brake kit too and powder coating the stock calipers red, so might as well let them clean up the whole parking brake assembly and re-lube it again.
You will have to re-adjust the parking brake assembly for those new rotors, anyway so that would be a good time to do this re-build/re-lube job if you can drive safely in the meantime.
There is nothing there. All parking brake adjustments on these cars are made at the wheels with the brake rotors off the car.
Any mechanic with experience working on drum brakes can do this re-build and re-lube. The mechanism is very similar to a regular drum brake system.
I think one of the main pathways for dirt into this mechanism are the rubber boots on the backing plates of the brake mechanism. These don't last very long and are very difficult to find. I made a modification to mine, which lasted for years and solved all my problems:
^ I suggest looking at your boots and checking the condition of them as you continue to work on the car.
You will have to re-adjust the parking brake assembly for those new rotors, anyway so that would be a good time to do this re-build/re-lube job if you can drive safely in the meantime.
much appreciated brother 👍 I’m still waiting on the brakes to be shipped so that’ll take some time, but recently I haven’t had a problem with the parking brake but I’ll still look into it because of my OCD lol.
I also found a how to on the website here. So that will be helpful too.
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Parking Brake is not working 
