parking brake first time issue
 

so... today I was parked on a very gradual incline while borrowing my cousin's jack stands and while I was packing the trunk I hear a 'POP'

apparently the parking brake decided to let go and caused the car to start rolling backwards... I had the jack in hand so I literally dropped it in the trunk and held the car from rolling backwards with my body. luckily there is a bit of a bump at his driveway that acted as a block and was able to re-engage the parking brake.

not sure what happened... =( scary cause if it happened when I wasn't there or looking could of ended up bumping something

i went back inside and re-engaged the parking brake and let off the brakes. it held... so far so good. no i do not pull the e-brake to be 'cool' in a corner. only time i use it is during stops or when parked. never when in motion.

has this happened to anyone before?

Our Parking brake are the ?Mechanical" type....i think you did not engaged properly...before moving away...

Could be bad or could be no big deal. First thing I would do is check the operation of the brake now. You say its working again, but I would check a couple of things. Get the rear wheels off the ground, engage the parking brake and check to see if both wheels are locked. Also check the cable on the back side of the e-brake drum to make sure it's taught - it should be if the e-brake is engaging now.

Next easiest step is to check the adjustment on the parking brake itself. If it doesn't need adjusting, then you're probably looking at having to open up the parking brake drum to find the culprit. There's an adjuster spring inside that has popped for someone before. See the attached PDF for the Parking Brake section in the FSM :twocents:

:iagree:

You didn't have it in gear?

I'll check it out this weekend when I swap my pads.

It was about halfway engaged when I got back into the car. Could of been pilot error not getting it all the way up.

I did get into the car and engaged it again and sat for a few minutes and it didn't pop. Hmm...

No... when I park it I usually keep it engaged in the opposite direction of the gradient. This time i was a bit lazy and was literally hopping out and back in :/

Have you ruled out demonic possession?

Since you haven't had any problems before, this would be my first guess.

Or the mechanism may have some dirt/trash/excess grease in it.

I doubt that the problem is in the rear, but I can't be sure. Since you are going to be back there, go ahead and check that end out, also.

Not entirely. But Alina has been good to me. I work her over with some spirit once in awhile even if I can't get it up all the time. Gotta keep the car happy by given her some throttle and lateral g love :bowrofl:

Find a Priest. It worked on my 240Z.

u know datz how most people die.. if ur cant get inside the car to pull the e-brake, just let the car roll and crash. it aint worth getting pinched and dying for.

or maybe ur life is, im not doing it. :icon17:

It just wanted to see if you were full of maple syrup

:icon17:

:bowrofl:

I was already against the car when I heard the pop then felt the weight. I wouldn't jump in front of the moving car lol

It was just like when I roll the car during winter storage. Was okay over night will check again. Will make a note not to park on a hill for awhile til I look at it

That's the wrong way to cosplay as Chekhov.

Maybe the car just wanted a new driver.. :ugh:

I wonder what the resale value of a car would be if it ran me over and no damage... or what car fax would say.

Well if you guys see someone ask hey is it worth it? Only has a manslaughter on the title... :ugh2:

You did the brake pads right? You do the rear ones?

Not yet chap. Planning on swapping the pads on fronts and rears this Sunday

Priority #1: Buy a set of wheel chocks
Priority #2: Tighten e-brake cable. http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...make-work.html

Probably just need to tighten the bolt on the parking brake under the cupholder

One day i got out of my car to throw a bag away and it started rolling, brother was in the car freaking out because the parking break was fully pulled

I tightened it the next day and now i can actually lock up the wheels with it

I have the chocks and did the bolt under the center part before. Last year when I got my pads and rotors swapped I actually asked them to retighten

Going to inspect the cable though. Leaning towards pilot error. Well I'll find out if the garage has a dent in it or not lol

how far can u pull the e-brake handle though? mine's like 2-3 clicks or something. its been like dat since day 1, never needed adjustment.

hell, my 12yr old G is still on the factory ebrake setting. lol

Mine was a bit loose last year... even my shop noticed that early in the season before the swap. Said it's not dangerous but could get tightened up when I do my brake light pads the next visit.

4-5 clicks? Definitely tight at the last click.


Lol I put my car through a lot but never pull the e-brake during corners.

Both mine and my brother's Z have crappy e-brakes, both new with just over 600 miles on them. With either car, you pull the brake all the way up, then pull hard to get one last click before the brakes actually hold the car.

I'm going to adjust mine tomorrow at the handle. If that solves it, I'll go over to my brother's and adjust his as well.

BTW, I imagine you make the adjustment with the e-brake off (down), correct?

Yup, e-brake needs to be off. The simple way is to just tighten it down until the wheel doesn't spin freely. Then back it off a few clicks. Then check e-brake function.

If you're OCD, the PDF I posted up earlier has some very specific requirements for the verifying the number of clicks in the travel distance of the e-brake handle.

Thanks for the info JARblue.

I just went out and performed this little "tweak". No more than a few minutes to do and now my e-brake grips completely with nearly half the distance of the handle than before, right at 6 clicks. This is the way it should be! I had to make about 20-21 1/4 turns on the ratchet to get the nut to the right setting.

And since there doesn't seem to be any pics posted about this nut that needs to be adjusted, I thought I'd post a couple. The first pic shows the nut, the second pic shows the 10mm deep well socket on said nut.

http://charlest.zenfolio.com/img/s3/...00016770-5.jpg

http://charlest.zenfolio.com/img/s5/...61371321-5.jpg

The FSM actually says to release that nut and loosen it when adjusting the parking brake. Then do the adjustment in the drum on the rear wheel that I talked about (tighten until wheels lock then loosen it back 5 or 6 clicks). Once the drum is adjusted, you can adjust the cable by turning the adjusting nut.

When we installed the wheel spacers last week, we checked the drum adjustments. They were about 3 clicks away from stopping the hubs from turning. We pulled them back those 3 clicks and they spun freely again.

Doing this adjustment at the handle was the next logical step. I just needed to do some research on how to access it (removing the cup holder) and having the time to do it.

:tup:

Wow, your cable must have been really loose if you needed that many turns with the drum already adjusted. If you hadn't done it yourself, I would have assumed whoever did the adjustment loosened the cable to adjust the drum and then didn't retighten the cable. Good info and pics on the adjustment :tup:

Yeah, who knows. My car was built in Jan of this year, but maybe it was built early on a Monday morning or late on a Friday evening. LOL

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

did a count today... pulling the e-brake I get 7 - 8 clicks. =S

the cup holder/ centre console area removal is pretty easy. I also suggest bringing a vacuum / moist rag to clean it up incase any debris and dust in there just because I'm OCD like that :tup:

I think I might need to adjust mine a click or two tighter...

regardless of time it sucks when shops get sloppy... other things could be loose and may not know until too late :ugh2:

might as well ask which oil to use while I'm at it. :roflpuke2:

Turning what off and on again?