....the ebrake on this car has suxed since day 1. I bought my car 3 years ago on New Years Eve and from day 1 the ebrake has never held. I adjusted it the best I could from the drums after alot of swearing, it was done but never held the car on a forwards incline.

I came across this thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...um_id=1&arch=1 but it was in the archives so I couldn't bump it back to the top. As I was doing my kill 5 birds with 1 stone (insulation, replace squeeky AC blower motor, cleaner stereo wiring, dunk carpets in bathtub full of Tide, and fix ebrake) I decided to fix the ebrake as all the carpets were out. I followed those instructions, used brake kleen to clean all the crap out of there, then applied a heavy duty machine oil with Teflon to the parts. At first I was skeptical because my ebrake didnt "feel" bad. But I am a believer now.

I aimed the car DOWN hill, lightly engaged the ebrake, and the car held! Then the ultimate test. With the car idling, I slowly released the clutch. It caused the car almost to stall but rolled only a little bit. Once I pushed the clutch back in, the car STOPPED. Now my ebrake is finally working right once again. I havent even tried the back up and engage the brake method either (not even sure if it works). If you've adjusted your drums with no luck, try this method, particularly on an older car. The heat from the tunnel just cakes up any grease.

FINALLY one more annoyance with this car is busted along with my squeeky blower motor. Woo hoo!


Remote starter here I come..

 

That was a great thread the first time I read it back then. Even better the second time now.

 

I just LOVE success stories!

 

Thanks for the info. Saved this for future use.

 

That one should be added to the Tech Tip. Thanks for the revisit!

 

Nice to know...
But in my case and scenario anyone plz help would be apriciated.

Rear rotors have been pulled and adjusted tightly! they barely fit and its snug it also scrapes a bit its hard to turn i wanted to make sure.
This helped my ebrake quite a bit.

Than I grinded the rotors inside making sure of a good grip.

I took your article poped out the seat looked inside the ratchet and found that it was not stuck!

The little lock pice locks in on about the 5th tooth counting fron top to bottom.
I cleaned it up with wd40 put some dynomat behind the brake to help with heat and put some heat resistant grease and worked the handle a bit to ensure proper lubrication.

Now my handle looked in very good condition from the get go i just did this to make sure.

Anyhow any way i can tighten the big wheel with the teeth some more? That way the ebrake will be nice and tight and it would not have to travel up so damn high to work?

 

It is amazing how this neat little self adjusting strategy works to reset the e-brake ratchet.

 

Finished adjusting my e-brake this morning...easy job!

 

Thanks

 

HOW DOES IT WORK BRO???
I am trying to find out?
Is it that reverse driving 5mph and pull up the break? becz that did do nothing for me......

 

Thanks for the hint! Doing mine today.

 

Now, that is a great e-brake link!

 

That is a great post. I'll have to try that in the spring. Thanks for sharing..

 

I am going to try this next. I thought it was my pads/rotors/adjustment all along until I removed them last night to replace my rotors and found them to be just fine as well as adjusted all the way out, to the point where I had to hammer the old rotors off with a rubber mallet. I bet this is my problem, the E brake has never held on my car from day one.

 

Not to say that the ratchet mechanism in the handle doesn't cause a problem, but when I had my calipers off to paint them, I popped off the rear caliper mounts, removed the rear rotors and set up the adjuster on the parking brake shoes. I'll guess I got around 15 "clicks" on each side.

The difference is night and day!!! Parking brake actually works and will hold the car ...

When I had the rotors off, after I cleaned all the dust etc off, I looked closely to see how this adjuster tightened up when you apply the parking brake while backing up. THERE IS NO MECHANISM THERE TO DO THAT!!

Any automatic adjustment must be through the ratchet mechanism on the parking brake lever, 'cause it sure isn't in the wheel assembly!!!!

RonJ ...

 

i,m not undestanding the mechanism on this which part is a pawl that is supposed to be stuck. I have mine apart. My ebrake only catchs @ the very top of the pull. Just don't get it. having a blond day.

 

Exactly my problem now how do we re calibrate to catch a lower part of the pawl?

 

I have had the same issue as well, actually paid the dealership to adjust the brake, didn't do a thing and had to agrue to get my money back.

I will be giving this one a try.