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The Parking brake on my '91 does not work, I have replaced the calipers and frozen cables going to both sides, the only thing I can think of is that the brake rachet needs repare.
When I said calipers, I mean the rotors, pads, calipers, and reset the caliper hand brake settings to spec. The caliper holds the pistons that push against the pads and then the rotors.
Yes on the ratchet, i feel the tightening of the ratchet, and there is some hold, just not enough to hold the car on a slight incline.
No, the parking brake has shoes that hold the inside of the rear brake drums. Adjustment to the parking brake is made there. The calipers don't control the parking brake.
The cables are attached to levers which push out a seperate mechanical piston to apply pressure to the pads which then grab onto the rotor.
There is an allen wrench screw which can be used to take up slack in the parking brake mechanics...
Have you rebuilt the calipers? Dorman sells a kit which comes with all new parking brake hardware (minus the mechanical piston lever which acutates it)...
If you are getting some hold, the parking brake is supposed to be self adjusting, thus the more you move it, the better it gets. This was the case with mine and now it is nice and tight.
1986 thanks for the help anyways, they went back to the in the rotor shoes on c5's. were the early c4's in the rotor and do you know when they changed?
Deepa, I replaced the rotor, pads, and rebuilt caliper, set the parking brake to service manual spec's. Checked the new cables to the calipers, and checked for runout on the cable between the cable split and the lever. Still does not hold the car.
84-87 have the same brakes. 88-96 are the later style (again, I thought that the parking brake was the same but on closer inspection I was wrong...I need to get one know to play around with)
84-87 the parking brake shoes are in the rotor, just as they were in C3's (and I believe disc brake C2's)
I have been in the garage flushing my brakes...looking forward to the warmer weather!
Thanks for the update on the years, I have yet to start working on the car so my time is being spent on getting the rest of the world setup for summer and on thinking about what I have to do.
It is currently 54 degrees in Chicago and getting warmer, the daffiles are 3 to 4 inchs out of the ground, so summer is closer than we think.
Did you replace the cable that runs from the parking brake handle to the two rear cables? I replaced all three cables on my car at the same tome and the parking brake would not hold. Discovered that front cable differed in length slightly - I had to re-install the original front cable to get the parking brake to work.
I have an issue as well and I think it may be related to the parking brake.I have a 91 base that has a rubbing sound at time coming from the left rear. The main shaft and half shaft are tight but the rubbing sound that is isolated to the left rear seems to be centered around the parking brake,it's like it won't release completely and the pads are rubbing . I may be an engineer (electrical) but this is driving me nuts..... BTW 6spd trans
The later C4 with the Caliper/Parking brake Combo is what I have as well, it has been several years since I reworked mine for the same reasons you have, no Parking brake!
What I had found was my Parking brake "Lever" (at the caliper) free play was way off, one of my 6mm x 16mm set screws had falling out, and the other was mal-adjusted.
So I rebuilt both calipers, and replaced the 16mm screw with an 12mm set screw that I found (of all places at Home Depot) these set screws are suppose to be "Blue Loc tight" for the final adjustment.
If the Lever free play adjustment is off you either get a dragging brake, or no parking brake at all. Keep in mind that the auto adjuster parking brake handle has to be de-activated, and locked out with a "drift" or anything suitable that will fit through the small lock out hole. Also you will need a helper to step on the brakes when you take the free play measurement.
Secondly; your brakes need to bed nicely before the parking brake is worth a dam, and I mean several hundreds of miles driven. Be patient. I can now hold my car in neutral on my up hill drive way with my parking brake set.
I have an issue as well and I think it may be related to the parking brake.I have a 91 base that has a rubbing sound at time coming from the left rear. The main shaft and half shaft are tight but the rubbing sound that is isolated to the left rear seems to be centered around the parking brake,it's like it won't release completely and the pads are rubbing . I may be an engineer (electrical) but this is driving me nuts..... BTW 6spd trans
Did you read up in the FSM...
The instructions are written for a GM shop tech, and are a bit difficult to follow at first, but after you go over them a few times, and get your self familiar with the end objective, they become pretty straight forward. I had excessive rotor wear on my L/H rear brake, The same side that was missing an adjustment Screw!
C4 Parking Brake
