One of my emergency brake cables on my I30t 5 speed is sticking and I need advice on freeing it or replacing it. A few days ago, the E-brake lever started going really high and not holding the car. I got underneath and found that the passenger side cable is not extending fully when you let it off so it can't adjust that rear brake further. This means that rear barke is also not operating properly and is beginning to squeek a little. At first I thought it was a sticky rear caliper but it is functioing properly. If you grab the cable back by the rear caliper, pulling hard will pull the cable all the way out but under the force of the return spring on the caliper, the cable will only go back 1/3 to 1/2 the proper stroke and not far enough for the self adjuster to work. I tried spraying a little penetrant in the end of the cable but it did no good.

Any help is appreciated. It looks like the forward end of the cables and E-brake are in the tunnel above the exhaust system and heat shields, probably not much fun. Is this a common or rare problem and what can I do? Thanks in advance. LeeinKY