How to Diagnose E-Brake Cable Failure
Created on: 2018-08-08
How to diagnose a failed e-brake cable.
-
step 1 :Testing the Parking Brake
- Apply the parking brake lever
- Check if the vehicle rolls
-
step 2 :Adjusting the Parking Brake
- Pry up the parking brake boot with a flat blade screwdriver
- Pull the boot off the parking brake lever
- Tighten the 10mm nut on the adjuster to tighten the parking brake cable
- Test the parking brake again
-
step 3 :Checking the Parking Brake Cables
- Inspect the parking brake cables underneath the vehicle
- Check the cables for damage
- Make sure the cable is routed correctly and attached to the drum
Tools needed
-
Socket Extensions
Flat Blade Screwdriver
10mm Socket
Ratchet
Hi. I'm Mike from 1AAuto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years!
If your parking break does not hold, or you failed inspection for it, we're going to show you how to diagnose what's wrong with it. All right, so we're going to try the parking brake. It feels like it's pretty good, but when we use it, nothing happens. It does not stop the vehicle. The vehicle will roll.
The first step we want to do is see if we can adjust this. What we can do is pry this up a little bit. Just grab a straight-bladed screwdriver or a trim tool. I'm trying to pull the boot up. There are some clips that hold the boot in. Just like that, pull the boot off. Those two clips hold it in, and then it slides. The parking brake adjustment is right here. There's a 10mm nut that goes there, so it uses a deep 10mm socket an extension and a ratchet. We can put this on. We can tighten this up, and we can adjust it accordingly. If you need to tighten it up more or loosen it up more, that's one way to adjust the parking brake cable. After making this adjustment, our parking brake still is not working, so we're going to have to go underneath the vehicle and see what's going on.
All right, so we're going to follow the parking brake cables. They're right here in front of the gas tank. This is the one that's on the right side. This is the one that goes on the left side, so if we follow this down here. It looks like it's messed up a little bit right there. It got crushed, this retainer. That comes over here and under here. The cable goes under here, and as you can see, it's not even hooked up to the brake. It pulled right out of the drum, so that would be why this side's not working. Let's take a look at the other side. Follow the cable. This cable is rotted really badly right here, so that's probably the culprit right there. Then, if we go here, it’s the same with this side. This one's not connected either. So we're going to have to get some new cables and pull apart the rear drums.
Thanks for watching. Visit us at 1AAuto.com for quality auto parts, fast and free shipping, and the best customer service in the industry.
Memory Seats Have a Mind of Their Own How to Reset and Program Memory Seats
Andy shows you how to reset and program misbehaving power memory seats!
