I take the car down to my muffler/brake guy. He looks at the cable under the car as I engage/disengage the ebrake. He notices hardly any movement in the cable. So here I am wondering what to do with my inefficient ebrake. Replace the cable(s)?
e-brake not working enough, cable?
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Cpl_Bryant
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- Location: Albany, NY
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e-brake not working enough, cable?
My car is due for inspection and my old buddy who used to hook me up isn't in the business anymore SO... I went to frickin jiffy lube. They tell me that my ebrake is barely holding the car in place, which I knew. This would not pass an inspection.
I take the car down to my muffler/brake guy. He looks at the cable under the car as I engage/disengage the ebrake. He notices hardly any movement in the cable. So here I am wondering what to do with my inefficient ebrake. Replace the cable(s)?
I take the car down to my muffler/brake guy. He looks at the cable under the car as I engage/disengage the ebrake. He notices hardly any movement in the cable. So here I am wondering what to do with my inefficient ebrake. Replace the cable(s)?
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PATDIESEL
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GS right? Well I suppose the GS and RS are the same to adjust. What you need to do is pull the cover off the ebrake (center consol) and you'll see a long bolt attached to the ebrake lever. Tighten the bolt and it will drag more cable into the passanger compartment and thus less slack in the cable and a better ebrake.
However, that is how to adjust it. Before you do that you need to check a few things to make sure adjusting it is the right answer.
1. check the free play in the cable as the muffler guy did. If it has play then adjust any out, but not tight by any means or the ebrake will drag.
2. make sure all the rear brake components are working properly. If they aren't then it may be that the ebrake cable is working fine, but the lever is just not moving or is frozen. To check all the parts, take the brakes off and clean and lube all the moving parts and make sure everything moves easily.
If that is still not enough then you might need to replace the rear brake pads. If they aren't thick enough they might not be grabbing even with the ebrake all the way up. Adjusting the cable should fix this with any amount of pad, but over time the cable is going to stretch and may be too long even when all the adjustment is used at the ebrake lever. If that is the case a new set of brake pads should be a temporary fix, but the answer is going to be new cables since at fully out adjustment they still won't grab.
However, that is how to adjust it. Before you do that you need to check a few things to make sure adjusting it is the right answer.
1. check the free play in the cable as the muffler guy did. If it has play then adjust any out, but not tight by any means or the ebrake will drag.
2. make sure all the rear brake components are working properly. If they aren't then it may be that the ebrake cable is working fine, but the lever is just not moving or is frozen. To check all the parts, take the brakes off and clean and lube all the moving parts and make sure everything moves easily.
If that is still not enough then you might need to replace the rear brake pads. If they aren't thick enough they might not be grabbing even with the ebrake all the way up. Adjusting the cable should fix this with any amount of pad, but over time the cable is going to stretch and may be too long even when all the adjustment is used at the ebrake lever. If that is the case a new set of brake pads should be a temporary fix, but the answer is going to be new cables since at fully out adjustment they still won't grab.
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Cpl_Bryant
- Regular Member
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- Joined: April 1st, 2005, 10:41 am
- Location: Albany, NY
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Very thorough response, thank you. It is an RS. I just got new drums and shoes not too long ago so I hope that they are still okay. The car has over 180,000 miles on it and I am assuming it is the original cable since I haven't changed it since I got the car with 76,000. When I first got the car back with the new shoes and drums, the ebrake worked great. Actually, the rear brakes were dragging some I remember, but that turned out to be built up break dust inside the drum (or so Midas told me). Hmmmm... I think I will try adjusting them at the ebrake lever, but I am thinking that the cable may have stretched as you said. Unless anyone else has any ideas?
-Jim