My 85's parking brake won't engage. Supposedly the PO's brother put new cables in but didn't adjust them properly? Also the brake light on the dash won't go off.

What can I do to fix these things?

thanks

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sparks

To the best of my knowledge, the only adjustment for the parking brake is found at the junction of the cables under the car - the driver's-side cable terminates in a threaded rod which fastens into an adjuster (hollow steel tube, open on one side, with a nut on one end). That's how my 88 is set up and I think the earlier cars are the same way - I just installed new cables myself last weekend.

However, my new cables seem to be a hair too long, because with the adjustment as tight as it will go, the parking brake is still too loose - it drags, but wouldn't keep the car from rolling down a sloping driveway.

I am still trying to brainstorm a solution to this - so far the best idea I've come up with is to take some small washers and use them as spacers between the cable ends and the actuating arms on the calipers - effectively shortening the cables. Supposedly you can rotate the pistons on the rear brakes for a snugger fit, but I don't want to risk damaging my new calipers by tapping on the pistons. Any better suggestions than my "washer" fix would be greatly appreciated!

When you pull up on the e-brake handle do you feel any resistance? Do the levers on the calipers move at all?

If the levers move all the way to the far stop but you still don't get brakes then you need to remove the lever and turn the shaft in the direction they would turn while applying the e-brake until you feel resistance. Then re-attach the lever so that it will rotate back against the near stop and release the e-brake. (The near stop is the one away from the spring. The far stop is on the same side of the lever as the spring). It takes very little rotation of the lever to apply the e-brake.

I hope this hasn't confused you. The e-brake works as follows:

Pulling up on the e-brake handle inside the car pulls the front cable which in turn is connected to the right and left cables. Pulling the handle causes the right and left cables to be retracted inside their sheathes.

This causes a lever on the caliper to move thus rotating a shaft that the lever is connected to. This shaft is a threaded actuator that when rotated screws in against the back side of the caliper piston which pushes it against the rotor.

When you install new pads you have to remove the actuating lever and let the shaft unscrew itself out of the caliper housing as the piston is compressed into the caliper. With the new pads installed and the caliper and rotor installed (temporarily secure the rotor to the hub with the lug nuts so the caliper will center itself on the rotor) you have to manually screw this shaft back into the caliper to take up the slack. (I'm assuming the car is up on jack stands with the wheels removed). When it bottoms out re-attach the actuating lever (it has a hex shaped hole that mates to the shaft) so that when the lever rotates back against the near stop (in the direction that the return spring pushes the lever) it releases pressure against the piston.

Tighten the cable adjuster where the front cable attaches to the two side cables until the e-brake lever has about 8 clicks but when released the caliper levers are resting against the near stops.

I am in the middle of re-doing my rear brakes. Pontiac did the e-brake recall when I got the car in July 97. I've only put about 20000 miles on it and the left brake just started squealing. When I removed the wheel I found the left outside pad totally gone. The inside pad and both pads on the right wheel looked new.

What I found was that the slider pins that the caliper uses to center itself on the rotor were siezed up. One o-ring was missing and one was only partly there. I pressed them out using a small socket and large channel lock pliers. I removed the o-rings, cleaned the bores and pins and lubricated and replaced the o-rings.

It is very important that the caliper is free to center itself on the rotor as the brakes are applied and released. If they are not free to move then either the inside pad is doing all the work or the outside pad stays in contact with the rotor when the brakes are released. You could have accelerated pad wear and reduced brake effectiveness under this condition.

Hope this helps,

Carroll

The brake light is activated by 2 things. A switch in the brake handle and another switch in the ballance block next to the master cylinder.

Unplug the one on the ballance block. (It's on the fender wall just below the maser cyl.) If the light is still on then the switch on the brake handle may be bent or broken. You have to take off the trim to work on that.

If the light goes off when you unplug the balance block then you have hydraulic problems or a bad switch in the ballance.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 10-18-2000).]

Thanks for the help guys.

I'm gonna check it out this weekend.

I'm not getting any resistance when I pull on the e-brake handle.

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sparks

Take the cables and springs off the calipers. move the arms by hand and see if there's any load on them. They should load tight as you reach between about 1/4 to 1/2 their range of motion.

If the arms don't load then the problem is in the calipers. If the arms do load up then at least you know it's still a cable problem.

Have you guys with new cables checked to see if the equalizer was revised? There may be a new one to go with the longer main cable.

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 10-18-2000).]