Parking brake problems...

[JaeTea]

I had new rotors (F & R) and new pads installed on Monday.

After the pads were installed the e-brake would come all the way up without any resistance...so they adjusted it and explained that as the pads wore in it would get tighter. It holds my car on a hill but for some reason wouldn't lock the rear brakes.

Well today I went and did a few ebrake pulls to see if it got any tighter....and NOTHING.

I have the adjusting bolt basically torqued all the way down and I STILL can't lock the rear brakes. Its at the point where I have apply some severe force to tighten the parking brake line.

Any ideas?

[OverBoost]

is there any slack in the line? take off the ebrake cover inside the car and see if you can pull on the e-brake cable when its all the way pulled up. it could have just gotten loosened in the shop and they didnt retighten it, who knows. if its got slack or is loose, simply put the e-brake down, and loosen the nut holding the cable in place. then, pick up the slack and feed it through, then retighten. if that still didnt work then i would check the nut that holds down the wire on the brake caliper itself, that could have gottent disconnected or the bolt isnt on tight enough.

[s13driver]

i have simliar problem. i changed both my e-brake cable and replaced new pads. it holds when i 'm on a hill. but just like you said it wont lock up. i wonder why too. but i m thinking that maybe my pad is not grippy enought ?

[peterulsteen]

I have the same problem. I took my car to the shop to have the rear pads and rotors replaced. I was about to leave the shop and realized the e-brake was ALL the way up with NO resistance and it barely holds the car (only on almost flat surfaces). I asked the mechanic and he said the e-brake cable is stretched and needs to be replaced. What do you guys think?

[ThatGuy]

Check the Spring on the Calipers. Might broke off, and now my E-brake reacts the same way you have described. No tension, and won't lock up the rear.