my parking brake has been totally out for about a year now....at first i didn't really care but it is getting really annoying not having one. My car used to make a loud popping noise and lose ALL tension every once and a while when i would pull up on the e-brake. Then it eventually stopped working altogether. Anybody know how to fix this problem?

 

no really dont everyone answer at once!!!!

 

are you gettin any tension at all when your pulling the brake, check under th car and make sure cables are not broke, if it looks good then they need to be adjusted. to do this you need to remove rear rotors and gain access to the brake, they look like mimiture drum brakes that fit to the backside or rotor, then you can adjust

 

yah i checked under the car already and the cables are fine....do you adjust the e-brake just like you would a drum brake?

 

kind of, well when i adjusted mine , i did them one at a time. it has that adjuster wheel in there to make then space out more. i just adjusted them out and checked the tension on the handle (with rotor on of course) and made sure it was still loose when handle was depressed but tight when pulled

 

cool....thanks man!! I appreciate it!

 

What if you wore out the drum brakes, are those replacable? In other words could it be fixed if you simply wore it out ? I think mine are worn out cuz i abused my ebrake for a while. And if thats the case an adjustment wouldnt really help. What ya think ?

 

i guess you could wear your e-brake down to nothing but i bet it has a lot of room left.....unless you have already tightened it once!

 

LS1powerhouse02 thanx, I will look into adjusting it first maybe you are rite. I'll let ya know man... appreciate the reply.

 

No problem man....thats what i'm here for!

 

Was the popping noise inside the car or under the car? If you apply the lever and the noise is inside, it could be the lever itself. It is a self-adjusting mechanism and if the locking portion of the self adjust is not properly engaging you may not get any load in the cables. The popping you heard may have been what we call skip-out. Is there any tension in the cables when you apply the lever? Have you taken off the console and watched the park brake when you apply it? Let me know what you see if you do. If the noise was under the car, check all of the cable connections to make sure nothing is loose.

 

the sound was inside the car....it sounded like it was right inside my console...it seriously sounded like a spring being cut and releasing all its pressure....kinda scared me the first couple of times it did it...thanks for the info...i'll remove my console in the next couple of days and let you know what i find.

 

I think one of the adjusters is broken on mine. I could adjust the passanger side but the driver side wouldn't adjust. The adjuster wouldn't turn in the direction I needed it to turn but it would turn in the direction to loosten the parking brake. I think it's broken because regardless how which direction I turn it nothing happened

 

Anyone know the part number for the adjuster?

 

here are the illustrations of the e brake assembly. the part # s are in the second picture. I put a box around the service parts. I hope this helps out.
by the way the adjuster is # 10 in the illustration.

 

Thanks, looks like I have to buy a whole kit. I'll go and get a price today

 

Ok went to the dealer and its over $200 for the kit.

Anyone know if you can get these from an autoparts store

 

Did you find anything? It sounds to me like your self adjust spring is popping because the self adjust teeth are not locking properly. When you remove your console, check to see if your lever is bent to one side or the other. You may be able to bend it back and it will work, or it may need replacing. Let me know what you find and feel free to PM me if I forget to check this thread again.

 

Really REALLY old post, but I had the exact issue with the release thump sound with my '99 Firehawk as I am taking care of some minor issues before putting her up for sale.
The pawl wouldn't engage every time.
If it did, if I moved the handle it would release without pushing the button.
Took the console off and found the pawl return spring was gone. Hopefully I can find it floating around under the console.

If not, or if it's broken, I have no idea where I would get a new spring.
Feebay sellers want $30+ for the whole assembly. Ouch.
Any ideas??
Time to get out the led headlamp and start looking for that spring.

 

No Luck.
Posted in General Maintenance and repairs with hopes of sourcing a replacement spring.
Thanks.