Doing rear brakes...can't get e-brake back on.
 

Don't know if it's me or there is a problem with the cable. There is not near enough slack to get it hooked back on and have it connected to the bracket on the caliper. If I do manage just to get it hooked on then my e-brake is then engaged.

Oh, and before anyone asked. Yes I had the e-brake off before I did the work.

The E brake cable is frozen... you have to get a new one from the dealer. It happened to me too.

Mine was crushed under the car and the e brake would only engage from the other wheel. I only realized it after I did the rear pads and noticed the cable wasnt long enough... which didnt make much sense at the time... then I saw what happened. I guess someone may have lifted the car up on a jack and crushed the cable causing it to freeze inside of the plastic casing.

Agree with Ant96gle. Same here. Had to replace the cable. You could try to slack the adjuster by the ebrake handle in the car.
In any case, have a helper pull on the ebrake handle while you are watching the caliper end, check if the cable moves freely back and forth.

I'm assuming you we're changing pads? If the cable was on in the first place why does it not go back on now? whats changed? Why did you disconnect the cable in the first place? It lifts with the caliper when you change the pads, the caliper piston has to be wound clockwise to move it back in order to get the caliper over the new thicker pads.

I think I have the same prob and I'll probably have to replace both of them also, but not sure if I'll be able to do it. Let me know how it goes.

http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/056419.pdf
http://www.jatan.net/tsbs/041853.pdf

I was changing the rotors as well so I had to remove it.

The fact that it doesn't go back on now is what made me think it was me and not the cable....I don't know but if others ran into the same problem and it was a bad cable then that is my assumption.

When I pull the e-brake the cable did not move so I guess it is a frozen cable.

Questoin Mike, have you pulled out the cable assembly out to see if there is any physical damage?

I have this http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/303

It's messed up on both sides. I just put everything back together on the drivers side and left the e-brake off, I will see what the other sides does. I still have some what on an e-brake so the other side must be doing something.

The cable is not having any rebound... your gonna have to swap it. I find myself having a hard time explaining it... :rolling_e

Its like a strut, it has a bound and rebound... whats going on is the cable inside isnt rebounding back to where it should go cuz its crushed.

Its really not that difficult to replace though, you just have to get under your car. Theres 3 brake cables. One to each wheel and one connected to both that goes to the emergency brake itself.

Perhaps an explanation why you can't do a burnout?

%#$*&^$)@!!!!!! The piston on the other side won't go back in all the way.

I'm local - need a hand? I'm serious... I work on Rt 59 and Diehl.. I replaced both my parking brake cables and did my rear brakes (rotors, calipers, pads) just a few months ago... I can take a quick peek at what the heck is going on...

E-brake cable: You have the bolt undone on the hinge immediately next to the cable right? It is a single bolt from underneath with no nut.

Piston not going in: Make sure you have the resevoir cap fully off and use a good C-clamp. Make sure the piston is going in perfectly straight.

Come on over! The parking brake is not a big deal and I just need to replace that side.....it's the piston that is the problem. It's almost all the way back in, but I need like another 2 millimeters or so and it's not giving it to me. I has not moved in probably 10 rotations.

It's the rear brakes so I am using a special tool, not using needle nose plyers.

Yes, I took that bracket off for the e-brake.

:rollsmile I got it! All done. That piston was a PITA. It took a can of PB plaster and about 40 turns to get that piston the extra milimeter I needed.

That is because you suck.

Yhea, well the jerk store called and they are running out of you

I will be sure to restock them tomorrow.

Wow gotta love the org.............Glad you got it. I justdid my rear pads and i had to use pliers to rotate the piston (no special tool) and it almost killed my hands.

Keep an eye on that side - I wouldn't be surprised if you find that the caliper piston starts binding the the brakes start dragging... the last thing you want is for a potentially bad caliper to chew up your new brake pads and rotors (if you replaced those too).

Glad you got the car back together! :thumbsup:

yes, I replaced the rotors as well. I have kept an eye on it so far. When I was done I engaged and disengaged the ebrake a bunch of times to see if the brakes would release and they do. Been checking it after driving to see if the rotor is heating up too much as well.

You're on top of it.

Seems this is common, my Ebrake is disconnected right now cuz every time I pulled the Ebrake the rear brakes would drag too much, one side more than the other. Seems not to be a problem while disconnected with only a little intermittant drag. I plan on replacing everything in the rears soon. My cable seems to be very free though cuz while its disconnected it goes back forth freely. Good stuff learned here.

Last nite I had 4 new tires mounted and a front end alignment. I was talking to the mechanic about this Ebrake issue, he said it was very common and has fixed lots of them by only lubing and freeing up the Ebrake actuator on the caliper and has never had to replace the calipers. I need to investigate this option instead of buying new calipers for $60 a pop, I’ll let you know how it comes out. Anyone else done this with success?

I tried to do this but when trying undo the nut that holds the e-brake actuator onto the caliper the bolt sheared off... so I had no choice but to replace the caliper.... but my car has been through almost 9 Chicago winters - so everything is rusty... you might have better luck.

Probibly not, knowing my luck and 7 years of northern Massachusettes winters. They love to lay down the salt around here, real heavy.

How much resistance is normal when spinning the rear rotor? I replaced my e-brake cable today, all went well except I am getting a bit more dragging between the pads and rotor before I fixed it. I can still spin it fairly easily, it's just a tad tighter than before.

Oh, and those heat shields are a pain in my a$$.

:nod: Ain't that the truth. Most of my time was spent getting that crap off...

A little resistance is normal, but not too much. You may want to slack the adjuster nut ont he ebrake handle.

It's fine. I put everything back together and the caliper is not dragging. The side that I replaced does get a tad hotter than the other side, but I don't think it's causing any problems. I will adjust the the nut by the e-brake once I get time to remove the center counsel.

You don't have to remove center console to adjust. The nut is right under th Ebrake handle.

i had the same problem getting my ebrake cable back into that little ridge after i did my rear pads. it to me and my neighbor about 10 minutes to get it back in.. i pushed the cable while he aligned it to go back in. took a good amount of work to do it also. but i only took the cable off because we didnt have enouhg room to turn the caliper back in

That caliper is going to freeze up on you. You might as well replace it now before it becomes a problem

It's working fine at the moment. It's releasing like it should. No reason to replace it until it stops working....it's also the rear caliper so I am not worried about it freezing and becoming a safety hazard.