Hi,

Just bought a 1991 Pontiac Firebird GTA and the e-brake doesn't work. I can pull the lever and the light comes on but on brakes? I had a friend look at the cable and said its fine but not sure if he is right. Any other ideas or thoughts?

Thanks

 

with disc brakes, theres 3 cables, one from ebrake to the back of the car, then another cable on the right, another on the left.- Picture an upsidedown Y; I just replaced mine the other day, $20 for right side, $30 for left. main ebrake line was fine. Make sure they're fastened to the back brakes correctly; through the springs. and make sure the ebrake is fastened correctly from the ebrake line to the other two.(I'm not sure if its the same with drum brakes)

 

Ok, so the cables are fine its the part in the center console. The lever goes up and everything but the brakes don't actually engage. There is some other lever or something in there you can push down and it sometimes works that way but otherwise im still stumped. Any other help?

Thanks

 

jack the rear of the car up (+jack stands) and make sure your rear brakes work, accelerate and apply the brakes. Please use EXTREME CAUTION. - make sure youre calipers + pads work correctly. If all your lines are in tact and connected correctly then you may have bad pistons in the calipers, or possibly bad pads.

 

Very good idea, thanks!

 

is the cable connected to the brakes and to the actual ebrake handle

 

Well I did some looking into it, probably should of done it at first but the cables are all good just the Y point where the main cable splits off was only connected to one of the brakes. I just needed to put that back in place, adjust the cable tension and it was good to go. Thanks though!