E-Brake Help
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: King George Va
E-Brake Help
I really need some technical help, here.
When my E-Brake lever is fully up there is only a slight resistance to rolling.
GM says the pads are good, so the cable is stretched/worn, or that the connection to the lever is worn.
They suggest cable replacement ($244 part, & $265 labor).
Arent there adjustments to be made? GM didnt mention any, but I believe there are.
Automatically -When lever is partially up and car is stopped in reverse.
Manual Adjustment-----Inside the rear hubs.
This is a 98 with only 35K miles, so it seem a little early for this to stop working.
Was there ever a Recall or TSB for this problen?
Thanks for your help/suggestions.
I dont want to spend $5oo to educate GM, when an adjustment will fix the problem.
Jesse East
[Modified by jleast98, 5:32 AM 3/25/2004]
When my E-Brake lever is fully up there is only a slight resistance to rolling.
GM says the pads are good, so the cable is stretched/worn, or that the connection to the lever is worn.
They suggest cable replacement ($244 part, & $265 labor).
Arent there adjustments to be made? GM didnt mention any, but I believe there are.
Automatically -When lever is partially up and car is stopped in reverse.
Manual Adjustment-----Inside the rear hubs.
This is a 98 with only 35K miles, so it seem a little early for this to stop working.
Was there ever a Recall or TSB for this problen?
Thanks for your help/suggestions.
I dont want to spend $5oo to educate GM, when an adjustment will fix the problem.
Jesse East
[Modified by jleast98, 5:32 AM 3/25/2004]
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 28,753
Likes: 9
From: San Jose/Bear Valley CA
CA Events Coordinator
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
The e brake will go out of adjustment by itself and you will need to adjust the shoes that are located in the rear rotors manually. I found that every 6 or 7 thousand miles my e brake needs an adjustment.
VR :cheers:
VR :cheers:
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: King George Va
Re: E-Brake Help (vetterdstr)
Thanks for your input. Do you know if this is suppose to adjust automatically?
If this is a very pravelent problem with the C5, why wouldnt the boys at GM have known it/ They had my wheels off yesterday, pulled on the cable (which was quite loose) and said "need a new cable", only cost $500.
Can others give me your experiences, please?
Thanks,
Jesse East
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 6,927
Likes: 3
From: Glendale NY
St. Jude Donor '08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18- '19
Re: E-Brake Help (Fast one)
________________________________________ ________________________
________________________________________ ________________________
There is a way to adjust the E-Brake.....It's a little bit of a pain in the you know where. Was your car at a GM dealer when they told it needed a new cable? If they had your wheels calipers and rotors off, they were right there. The rotors have a drum in the back with brake shoes. There is a "star" adjustment that expands the shoes. 85% of the C-5 Corvettes have emergency brakes that don't hold. I adjusted mine twice,it was good the first time....better the second time. If your E-Brake handle lifts above a 45 degree angle....it probably needs to be adjusted.
Check the archives under emergency brakes.
There is a way to adjust the E-Brake.....It's a little bit of a pain in the you know where. Was your car at a GM dealer when they told it needed a new cable? If they had your wheels calipers and rotors off, they were right there. The rotors have a drum in the back with brake shoes. There is a "star" adjustment that expands the shoes. 85% of the C-5 Corvettes have emergency brakes that don't hold. I adjusted mine twice,it was good the first time....better the second time. If your E-Brake handle lifts above a 45 degree angle....it probably needs to be adjusted.
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: King George Va
Re: E-Brake Help (vette#one)
Yes, the car was at the GM dealer, on the Rack, with the rear wheels removed. ( I must admit that they treated my new WELD Radials with respect).
The tech pulled on the cable (it was loose, but the lever had been left down).
He then removed the rotor, thought the e-pads needed replacemwnt. But when he compared the pads to new ones, it was obvious that they had not been worn at all.
Then he decided that a new cable was required.
Dont think he considered any adjustment to the shoes. (Of course, Im sitting the waiting room, isolated from the action.
Thanks,
Jesse East
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 21,325
Likes: 3,840
From: small town in S.E Pa. PA
St. Jude Donor '03-'04
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
Your dealer has no clue about this ebrake system.. or he would have adjusted the shoes while he was inspecting the shoes...there is a slight adjustment to be made to the cable.. (four quick pulls of the lever while moving backwards slowly) but you need to adjust the shoes... I went thgrought th same issue when my car had 1000 miles on it... I went to the dealer.. and he wanted to charge me.. So I went home and fixed it myself.. by adjusting the star... I was even threatened with the dealer voiding my warranty id I adjusted the ebrake myself.,.. I havent been back... I made one adjustment five years agoand 50,000 miles ago... my ebrake will stop the car doing 30 miles an hour.. it is very positive,..,
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Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 4,549
Likes: 30
From: Shenandoah Valley Virginia
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
Simple shoe adjustment is all that is required. Remove wheel, caliper, caliper bracket and rotor. You will see the star wheel adjuster between the ends of the emergency brake shoes. Adjust star wheel about 1 full turn out and replace rotor. With car out of gear, turn rotor. If it moves freely repeat process till shoe just barely makes contact with inside of rotor. Perform same operation on other rear wheel and re-assemble everything. Your ebrake will now work fine. The C-5 cars are too young to have cable deterioration or stretch. :D
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,585
Likes: 70
From: Upstate NY
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
My car is identical to yours (year and mileage) and also have the e brake problem. I know 2 other vette owners with the same exact problem, very prevalent on these models for some reason. I have yet to get the wheels off and do the prescribed fix, just been living with it for a while. As long as I don't park on a hill facing downward, I'm ok. :cheers:
Racer
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 395
Likes: 0
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
print this thread up. take it to the service manager and try to either get your money back or have them finish the job. they charged you for nothing. even if you did out the cable on it would still need to be adjusted. i am learning that you can't take vettes to the dealer AT ALL.
Tech Contributor
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,035
Likes: 134
From: North Augusta, SC
Re: E-Brake Help (kardashim)
print this thread up. take it to the service manager and try to either get your money back or have them finish the job. they charged you for nothing. even if you did out the cable on it would still need to be adjusted. i am learning that you can't take vettes to the dealer AT ALL.
:cheers:
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
From: King George Va
Re: E-Brake Help (markcz)
All,
Too late to go back to dealer to have this problem solved. Thanks to the help this forum has provided, I did the adjustment myself this AM. Took about an hour.
Works fine now. It was obvious that the shoes had never been adjusted. It took about 35 clicks on each side to get the shoes into adjustment.
Now I have mixed emotions about ever going back to this dealer. They were planning to sell me a cable replacement at a total cost over $500 that I didnt need because the tech didnt realize that a a shoe adjustment was possible. And, it is possible that a new cable would not completely solve the problem, without a shoe adjustment. I guess they would have eventually figured it out, but I bet they would not have uninstalled the new cable.
Also, from the service manual that I borrower from a friend, to replace the cable one has to remove the passenger seat and the RHS muffler and various pieces of carpet. Thank goodness I dodged this bullet.
Thanks all,
Jesse East
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 50,808
Likes: 9
From: Buy USA products! Check the label! Employ Americans
Re: E-Brake Help (jleast98)
Thanks for your input. Do you know if this is suppose to adjust automatically?
If this is a very pravelent problem with the C5, why wouldnt the boys at GM have known it/ They had my wheels off yesterday, pulled on the cable (which was quite loose) and said "need a new cable", only cost $500.
Can others give me your experiences, please?
Thanks,
Jesse East
