Changing e-brake Lever

Hey all,

I'm new to the site and just thought I would make a contribution. I had to replace my e-brake lever last weekend and thought I would share how to do it. Especially since the dealer chages $300 to do it

1.) Remove center console. I'm not going to to into much description on this since other threads already exist on it. I'll only say that there are six bolts that need to be removed and be carefule not to force it (yes I learned that the hard way)

2.) After removing the center console, you'll see the whole assembly. You'll need a 13mm deep ratchet to undo the nuts. If you have and extender, that'll help too. The only unfortunate part is that the shifter assembly is mounted on top of the lever assembly so you'll have to at least loosen the shifter enough to pull the lever out from under it. You'll remove six nuts including the shifter. It'll take some maneuvering to get to the nut at the top of the lever assembly on the driver's side.

3.) After you have the lever free from the car, disconnect the wire to the brake light and head lamp censor. You'll have to do a lot of twisting on the assembly to get the remove the cable.

4.) Removing the cable....Use a screwdriver to pop the end of the cable from the lever. The cable is also connected to the base of the assembly. Three tabs hold the cable in place. You'll have to hold all three down to pull it out. I could only get two thru at a time and "accidently" broke the third. The clip still works and the old lever is can be cast away.

5.) After removing the old lever, installing the new one is pretty much just doing the opposite of steps 1-4. The only difference is when you have the cable in and the lever mounted, the cable will be too loose to apply the brake. In this case, it's not much good to you.

On the lever assembly the cable connects to a black pully of sorts. This pully can be adjusted, except there is a white clip that is holding it in place. You should be able to rotate the pully enough that the clip pops loose on it's own, but I had to use pliers to remove. (there was no harm done) Once the clip is removed, just apply the e-brake and the pully will adjust itself to tighten the cable.

6.) Replace the center console and you're done. If you have the right tools, the whole process shouldn't take you more than two hours. You may need another set of hands to help.