E brake

[cutlass442dude]

The e brake no longer works on my alero and feels loose when you pull the handle, do you suppose the drum brakes are worn out or the cable is just loose. I suspect it's the brakes, but if its the cable how would you tighten it up. How could i solve this problem, thanks any help is appreciated.

[King Asoka]

ya this just happened to me as well........

[cutlass442dude]

do you have any idea what to do?

[King Asoka]

not yet, im gonna go talk to my mechanic, ill let you know what i find out. the haynes is no help.

[cutlass442dude]

alright thanks man, keep me posted. :D

[Redog]

I had my car at the dealer one day for something else and I had they look at this problem too.

They said that they "adjusted" the brakes but that with rear discs there's nothing they can do. I personally think this is BS

I'm getting a pair of rear powerslots for my birthday, but they won't be on for a while, I think this will help

[cutlass442dude]

the e brake pulls the brake drums not the discs, the drum brakes are hidden way in there, i'm pretty sure anyway.

[Cyber Knight]

I'm quite sure it's the cable, I recently had mine tightened and it's fine now, but it's already gone from 3 'clicks' up on the handle to 5 to keep it from rolling outta my parking spot. I wish I knew how to tighten it myself. I think they make our cable out of taffy.

[cutlass442dude]

yeah i looked under the car and there are no adjustment screws or anything , at one time i only had to pull mine up 1/4 of the way but now it just flat out dont even work.

[Cyber Knight]

I thot there might be somewhere on the handle itself that you could tighten it, but I didn't wanna take apart my console to get at it. It happens on all cars, probably some worse than others. The only time I use my e-brake is when I'm warming it up and scraping frost from the windows or dusting the snow off, otherwise I just park it in gear and use the curb on hills to keep me in place. And maybe I've used the e-brake in an icy lot at 2AM, but that's a must!

[cutlass442dude]

I was thinkin that to, i was gonna see if i could find something at the bottom of the lever but , same as you , i didnt want to take the console apart and thats the only way. I would really love to have my e brake back, i use it alot , (mainly burnouts on pavement) , but ice is very fun too!

[sound_xtreme]

ummm, we have no brake drums. pretty sure you can tighten the cable tho.

[Alero0119]

my alero had 4 wheel disc n my e-brake worked so good when i bought it, barley had to pull it and it worked. eventually after hittin the icy parkin lots it stopped workin all together so its gotta be just the cable n not te brakes. if it were the brakes u would a metal on metal scrathing noise when applied. my civic on the other hand is a stick n i use the e-brake all the time especially right now in all the snow for powerslides.. :D hehehe, but the e-brake is still one click to lock the back tires

[havik]

If I used my e brakes to perform burnouts, spinouts, etc... I wouldn't be surprised to find out that one day my e brake didn't work anymore. Just a thought.

Sounds like the first thing to do is to get the cable tightened. If it doesn't work, post back

[BLK03GXS]

Yes you have to tighten the cable, the adjustment is either at the base of the lever, underneath the lever, or on the cable.. but there will be an adjustment

Mine is also out of adjustment :pissed:

[cutlass442dude]

Well if anyone actually finds out exctally how to tighten the cable, just let me know, i might try looking under the lever cuz i've already looked under the car and there is nothing there.

[Silverknight]

I had mine adjusted by my dealer and he charged $40 (canadian)...and the brake is starting to losen up again....the wire connects directly to the drum brake in the middle of the disk of the back wheels, it's easy to spot, but hard to tighten. The mechanic said he had to take the reat wheels off and adjust the cable on each individual brake...good luck though

[cutlass442dude]

BTW There are drums on the alero. the ones in the middle of the discs in the rear was what i was talking about. just like he said ^

[wsdbikes]

I have the same issue with the 03 I bought a few weeks ago. it only has 23k miles and the handle pulls nearly all the way up to engage. It has drum rears also.

I have had quite a few vehicles and there is always an adjustment for this. I plan to take care of this in a few weeks and will post the details on how to do it for the drum brake rears.

[3.4Alero]

the e-brake is self adjusting. The only way to tighten it is to either cut the old cable, or get a new one.

[BLK03GXS]

You have to be poopting me... if you are talking about drum breaks then yes drums are self adjusting however.. the self adjusters arent to be relyed on unless you like to have your rear breaks out of adjustment, they dont allways keep the shoes adjusted...
Refrence the e-brake there MUST be some sort of adjustment... because if not then that is BS, cables are intended to strech.. thats why there is ALLWAYS an adjustment... and if there isnt GM is going to get a nasty letter...lol

[3.4Alero]

From the Haynes Manual:

"The parking brake is self-adjusting. If the parking brake lever travel is excessive or won't hold the vehicle on an incline, the parking brake shoes may need to be adjusted or replaced."

Cars with 4-wheel disc brakes DO have parking brake shoes, for anyone who said they don't. I believe, though if you have a newer Alero with rear drums, the parking brake works off of those.

So write your nasty letter to GM, and never doubt me again.

[a2k]

My ebrake level is pretty loose.. .meaning i gotta jam it all the way up before it starts slowing down...

but hey -- i was jamming up my ebrake while spinning on ice and everytime i jammed up the parking brake while the car was moving there was a loud THUD coming from the back of the car..

so to play it back: ebrake shoots up, same time car beeps to warn you, and same time THUD, and then car spins out (so fun!)..

is this normal??? tried it out on a civic and it didnt' happen...

scary sounding thud too... heheeh

[King Asoka]

maybe you should stop using it as a toy.........(i know its lots of fun but...)

[DansGen1Alero]

It happened to me as well, Dealer told me it was the cble to be adjusted behind the wheel, ran me 250. I think it is BS, loosened up again, My ebrake is sticking straight up i ant pain 250 do do that again, If any one knows of a cheaper way let me know.

thanks

[3.4Alero]

you CAN NOT adjust the cable! They probably cut some off and threw it back together. Get a new cable and put it in yourself.

[frozenchickendinner]

My ebrake doesnt work, so if i park on a hill i just lay my car on he ground, it wont go anywhere.

[3.4Alero]

LOL, that would work.