yet another E-Brake thread..

jT · Post by jT » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:25 pm

ive read every post that came up when searching for 'parking brake' and 'emergency brake' that related to problems and/or adjusting the parking brake

and every single related thread was crapped with mixed information about drum brakes and disc brakes and which method would or would not work, so im a bit lost on which, if any, method should work for me

ive got a 2000, non-srt, non-r/t, non-anything good.. plymouth neon. drum brakes (when i had some work (~1yr ago approx) done the shoes were replaced and guy said drums were ok, and i dont have any pads, rotors, or calipers on my rear brakes :p)

ok now that we have that out of the way...

my e-brake apparently is not doing too good... my gf had her road test today for her license (shes 25 so 1: no jokes about an underage girl cuz my age is listed over there <-- and 2: no jokes cuz shes so old and hasnt got her license yet :p)

the guy giving the test pulled on the brake while she was coming up to a red light and it didnt do a god damn thing. thankfully he continued with the test and didnt fail her for my car not operating

after reading said threads in the forum i tried the self adjusting method of putting the car in reverse and pulling up the brake.. did it repeatedly.. maybe 10 times or so.. it didnt really do much for stopping the car.. 5-10mph in reverse .. it did stop it but only after basically slowing down the car to the point of no more acceleration, it didnt "stop" the car

it also did nothing to adjust the brake for forward acceleration and stopping

i do use the e-brake as a parking brake on inclines to take the pressure off the transmission before parking it, and theres no problem with that

if i put the brake on and give it some gas, the brake does not hold the car.. there is slight resistance to move forward but it does move forward

so, whats the problem? how do i fix it?

the work i had done that i mentioned above was my master cylindar on the rear passenger side busted up i guess.. had that replaced and the shoes replaced as mentioned (i guess of the shoes was all broke up too).... would any of that had affected the e-brake as well at the time? as i recall the e-brake did not work very well after the service was done and i never went back to have them check it, now im not sure exactly how long ago it was done and i dont have receipts so i dont know if the labor is still under warranty------ if any of the work would apply to the e-brake anyways

since i have drum brakes, does my e-brake have its own seperate brake thing or is that only on disc brakes?

anyways how does my e-brake operate? does it just engage the drum brakes of the rear wheels?

do i have to adjust the brake with that other method of the gear thing through the access point? im not sure if id be comfortable doing that (nor do i have wheel chocks either)

if that is what i have to do, should that have been done when the master cylindar was replaced or is it unrelated?

so back to the whats wrong and how do i fix it..... ?

i guess those are all my newbie questions for now. lol. thanks for the help

aperson · Post by **aperson** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 12:50 am

Sounds like they're out of adjustment. "Most" rear disc brakes have an inner drum for parking brake only. That being said, all the parking brake does is engage the rear drums. I would take the rear drums off, take them all apart and anywhere they shoes move/slide/pivot take some anti seize lube and put it on there. Then take the adjuster and spray it up. Re-install, you may want to take it to a tech though, disassembly is the easy part, take the springs off and it falls apart, reassembly is the hard part. I'm tired right now, I'll take mine apart tomorrow and re post if somebody doesn't get to it first. Sorry.

jT · Post by jT » Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:13 pm

nobody else has anything to say on this? lol.. come on guys!

Post by **Diablo0** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 6:45 pm

Should be a rubber grommet on the rear side of the brake assembly. When you remove it there should be a star wheel. With a screwdriver, move the handle downward to adjust the drag while rotating the wheel. Continue to do so until there is resistance in turning the wheel, then back off a hair until no resistance is felt anymore. Once done, install rubber grommet and try eBrake.

On the drum setup the e-brake is just a cable driven setup that articulates the pads where as when you hit the pedal they're run hydraulically.

jT · Post by jT » Fri Sep 07, 2007 8:16 pm

ok so the self adjust method doesnt apply to my car? i guess it must not since it didnt work heh.

hmm i probably wont get around to doing this.. dont know..... there arent going to be any more driving tests so as long as i get past inspection i dont give a fk

thanks

aperson · Post by **aperson** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 1:48 am

I'd do it just because, and Diablo's right. You do realize that if the E brake doesn't work on drum brakes you don't have rear brakes right? I'd jack the car up and just adjust them. It's not all that hard to turn a wheel with a screwdriver.

jT · Post by jT » Sun Sep 09, 2007 11:18 pm

if thats true that might explain why my brakes seem to work like shit still...

jT · Post by jT » Mon Sep 10, 2007 12:30 am

is there a seperate adjusting star wheel for the parking brake and the brakes themselves?

thats what the FSM makes it sound like

aperson · Post by **aperson** » Mon Sep 10, 2007 4:15 am

No. Just one. Even on disc brakes, because discs are hydro they self adjust by not pushing as much fluid back into the reservoir. If you have to, take the drum off and check it out to see how it works. The star wheel has teeth that have the point to one side and the other is rounded so that it will turn one way and catch the other. There is a little plate that sets against it and won't let it un-adjust itself. If you ever have trouble taking the drum off, you need 2 screwdrivers, one to press the plate out of the way an another to turn the wheel so that you can back the brakes off.

jT · Post by jT » Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:03 pm

ok i just jacked up my car and tested the stuff

of course, all these "tests" were done by hand spinning the wheels, not nearly at 30mph..

rear wheels brake seemingly fine when the brake pedal is used

left wheel stops and is held firmly when parking brake is used

right wheel stops but is not held firmly when parking brake is used... the wheel could turn while the brake was on

i took off the only rubber gromet i could see/find on the drum and it did not give me access to any star wheel.... maybe i was looking in the wrong place (it wasnt an oval shape either)

ill try again another time