E-brake wont disengage.

[ggus]

HI guys,

It's been a while since I have posted on here. I am returning from a very long military deployment. Anyways, My E9 has been sitting in my garage the past 7 months and a few days ago I went to start her up. I was worried she wasn't going to start up but after a few turns she came right to life! I left her running for a few minutes and waited for the revs to come down and they did. But when I released the E-break the brakes did not disengage, the e-brake handle goes up and down but the rear brakes do not disengage. I thought if this is all that broke after sitting for almost 7 months not bad!

So, where or how do I check if my E-brake is disengaging properly? and if it is what do I check with the brakes?

Note: I am not a mechanic. I can do some work if I have the tools.

 

[Pittraider18]

Did you try to pull forward at all? It could very well be that there is some rust built up and the pads are just seized to the rotors. May need to give it some forward drive to break them free followed by a couple of hard braking to clear the rotors/pads up of any buildup.

 

[ggus]

Yes, I tried to back out of my garage but the rear brakes were engaged.

 

[Pittraider18]

Yes, I tried to back out of my garage but the rear brakes were engaged.

If you have the ability to get the rear of the car in the air, I'd start with getting the calipers/rotors off and checking to see if there are any broken springs or maybe a seized wheel cylinder for the drum parking brake assembly. Does the parking brake handle feel like it has any tension/resistance when pulling it up?

 

[Drew Gregg]

Once you have the E-brake problem resolved, I suggest that you keep the car from rolling by putting it in 1st gear or "P" if it's an automatic. The E-brake doesn't need to be used, unless it actually is an "E" for Emergency.

 

[jefflit]

Difficult to diagnose over the web but either cables, actuating levers or shoes themselves are stuck. As I'm sure you know the parking brake utilizes traditional brake shoes inside the rear disc rotors. The cables pull on a metal lever mechanism at the bottom of the brake shoe assembly, which could be rusted to the point of not pivoting. Shown below. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to rock it other than via the cable (unless you disassemble everything).

Like all shoe brakes, there are springs that pull the shoes back away from the "drum" (the inside of the rotor). There is also a threaded adjustment barrel at the top of the shoe assembly (shown below). You can use a brake spoon or large flatblade screwdriver to back that adjuster all the way in (as shown in photo) to see if that allows the shoes to retract. You can access the adjuster's star gear via a hole in the rotor but if things are really stuck it might not be possible to align the hole with the adjuster.

There are two metal tubes welded to the trans tunnel that the cable housings slide into as the cables themselves are routed up to the handbrake lever. If you lift the rubber boot on the lever I think you'll be able to see if the cables are retracting back into their housings or are stuck and just have slack at the end near the lever. You can detach the cables from the lever (a couple 10mm nuts) and then pull the cable housings out of the tubes so you could spray penetrating oil down the cable. Unfortunately, it is not easy to remove the cables from the backing plate, as the ends have studs that stick through from the rotor side and are secured by nuts to the backing plate, requiring removal of the rotor to fully remove.

If the cables are not moving in the housings then you won't be able to crack the shoes loose so your best bets are to spray lubricant down them and try to push the cables back and forth into the housings manually. If that doesn't work then you could remove the nuts securing the cables to the backing plates and push the cable assembly in, thus releasing the tension on the shoes. If the cables move but the shoes don't then I suspect you should be able to crack them loose by releasing the adjusters and driving the car a few feet, maybe back and forth. The springs might not be strong enough to overcome the corrosion on the shoes to backing plate or shoes to rotor but if the cable mech isn't forcing them outwards then spinning the wheel should be able to overcome that. I hope that helps.

Regardless, you're probably due for a complete overhaul. Just because I found this photo while looking for the others, I'll include it here so you can see all the parts. An inspiration to get them all clean:

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

@jefflit Great post! (equally great last picture)

For the rest of us...If you are going to store your car for a month or more, follow a checklist to prepare it for storage. It's not a toaster. Here's one checklist. Others can add to this. In any case, do not apply the emergency brake.

EDIT...forgot the link to the checklist

 

[Arde]

Don used some sort of vibrating drill on my Fulvia, and the rust fell magically. No amount of force worked before that.
Different car, different use, but I was wondering if that tool could be applied to one of the lug nuts to make the wheel vibrate.

BTW, that is a good theft prevention scheme when you go away for 7 months...

 

[bluecoupe30!]

You can see now that this is not complicated. Sitting is bad for every Classic. But you must get your eyes on the brake components to see where the binding is coming from. It will all make sense once you have followed the shoes, springs and cables. You may not even need any special tools! Let us know what you find.

 

[dang]

If they worked properly before sitting then something is just stuck. I'd get the car up on stands, take the wheels off and pound on the outside of the hub/rotor between the wheel studs. Like you're trying to get a stuck rotor off.

 

[ggus]

Thanks guys. Ill work on it this weekend, and let yall know.

 

[Stevehose]

You could also loosen the two 10mm nuts under the lever cover to eliminate any potential tension there before the BFH process.

 

[Ohmess]

I presume you have also tried the simple pull up hard and release several times. Every once in a while, this clears things up.

Next, before any disassembly, I would try driving the car 100 yards in reverse, then back. Sometimes things break free with some force from another direction.

And I disagree with Drew on "emergency" brake usage. I use it every time I park my car. The wear on the system is minimal and this checks that the ebrake works every time you start the car.

 

[dang]

You could also loosen the two 10mm nuts under the lever cover to eliminate any potential tension there before the BFH process.

I was thinking along these lines also. He can probably figure out which side is sticking (assuming both sides aren't) by loosening the nuts and seeing which cable moves.

 

[Arde]

Thanks guys. Ill work on it this weekend, and let yall know.

We are being measured on many cases we close per week, I guess yours will count for next week... good luck!

 

[Arde]

I was thinking along these lines also. He can probably figure out which side is sticking (assuming both sides aren't) by loosening the nuts and seeing which cable moves.

Interesting option, would the car drive in circles?

 

[bavbob]

Circuitous logic..........

Cables should be hanging in the breeze if the brake is released and brakes are engaged so the double nuts are also hanging in the breeze, no? See if you can push the cables back with a pair of pliers. Also how was the car stored so we all know how whatever happened, happened. You are in Texas so assume nice and dry and warm but....

 

[rsporsche]

Texas - warm yes, dry ... sometimes

 

[Stevehose]

East Tejas is very humid.

 

[ggus]

Well it took a minute for me to actually make the time to work on the car but i got it unstuck today. Thanks for the advice guys.