Hello, last evening my 1992 emergency brake would not release, and when I tried to un-jamb it, it went all the way up and just kind of fell flat against the floor again. I finally got the brake to release, but the handle is limp and the emergency brake light will not go off.

Has anyone had this happen to them? I have the factory service manuals and was going to take it apart this weekend, but thought I should check with all of you first.

Thank you.

 

You might've broke the cable that runs along the bottom of the car. That's easy to check. Also, I wouldn't drive it, until you know that it's not engaged. The e-brake works by mechanically jamming the rear disc calipers against the disc with a cam. You could drive it if you were checked the temperature of the rear wheels, as it would heat up considerably. Drive one block and then put your hand close to the center of the rim and see if you can feel the heat (I wouldn't touch it until you did this, no use getting burned!).

Finally, try reengaging the E brake one more time, all the way up, pulling hard and seeing if it will disengage. This happened to me one time on the 95'

 

The procedure for releasing the parking brake is to # 1 mash the brake pedal with you'r foot, #2 pull up on the E-brake handle until you feel resistance, # 3 mash the button on the e-brake handle and release the tension, # 4 push the handle back down out of the way. I hope there is no damage to your rear brakes if you drove it with the e-brake on.

 

Not trying to be smart here, but you do know you have to pull the brake handle up, hold in the button and push the handle down. Just trying to cover the obvious here. I mean there has been long time members here that didn't realize you could push the handle down after setting the ebrake

 

It has happened more often that you would think.

 

Thank you all for the help and advice. I had absolutely no problem with the E-Brake prior to this, and it is definitely not enganged at the moment. The car rolled freely prior to driving it home, and I don't know if this matters but the car is a 6 speed, and Im pretty sure I always put my foot on the brake when starting the car. Maybe I need to mash it more! I'll give it a try this evening and thank you all again. I love this car and it's been really trouble free since buying the car last December. Maybe it doesn't like the east coast as it came formt the midwest!

 

as they said here, the handle is supposed to fall back to the floor, otherwise you could not get out. like a ratchet handle. I knew that from reading the user's manual- but forgot! old age. Finally realized I had to pull it up until it starts to require force, then push the button, to release, then push down to floor, then release button.
the light goes out if it is released, triggered by a brass clip inside the cover. my 91 is not adjustable.

saludos

 

what can cause the parking brake to NOT grasp and hold? no tension at all to the rear brakes. pull up on the brake handle, and notta

 

This thread has been dead for almost two years. To get some good current advice, start a new thread and put your problem in the title.
Second piece of advice, if you're not going to fill out your profile, put the year of the car in your question. All C4 parking brakes don't work the same. Some have shoes behind the rotor, and some physically push the pads against the rear rotors.

 

thanks your advice well taken.. didn't realize profile is incomplete.. still novice in initiating requests for advice here..

 

My 94 E-brake stuck and it was completely against the stop so you could not pull back anymore and push the button to release. My cousin found a video on Youtube that shows a guy use a long flat screwdriver to release the cam. The cam is at the top of the arm track on the "outside" side of the handle. It's hard to see if you car is together but in the video the car is missing the boot so you can see where it is. Basically you can get a flathead screwdriver under the cam and fit up, it will release your E-brake. Look for the video, the knowledge came in handy.