e-brake not working. tried replacing it TWICE!

[JurisMyDiction]

hey guys. i bought my pignose without a working e-brake. i then replaced the e-brake cable with a junkyard part. didn't work. so i went back and got one out of an automatic 240 (figured it'd be less used) now when i pull it up, it feels like it tightens like any other e-brake, except the car simply free-skates as if NOTHING were in place. yes it's installed properly. does anyone have any expertise in the area? anything else i should be checking? i figure e-brakes are pretty mechanically straightforward.

[Sileighty_85]

calipers might be seized

verify the piston moves out when the cable is pulled

[JurisMyDiction]

but the regular breaks work really great, would that make a difference? is there a separate actuator for the e-brake?

[mjr321]

where in pines you at? did you try tightening it ??

[LayNLow]

Uh, check the rear pads, see if there is anything left of them.

[JurisMyDiction]

Uh, check the rear pads, see if there is anything left of them.
wow, you know. i actually haven't done this yet..... i really hope (just to save face) that that's not the answer, cause on this forum, you realy don't get to be that stupid and get away with it! haha

mjr321, i'm by pembroke lakes mall between pembroke and washington on flamingo.

[JurisMyDiction]

ok so i checked everything. turns out the car has 300zx brakes (i really don't think it does because the brakes look identical to 240 brakes, but that's what the guy told me.

the cables are about an inch too long on each side (they stick out of where they grab onto to caliper by about an inch) but when i pull it up for some reason it feels like its getting tight. this lead me to believe that the part of the e-brake cable that goes from the handle to where it forks into two cables is fine. and that the issue lies within the cables that go to each side of the car. i might try and just cut the slack out of them and use cable ties to reconnect them. i'm going to try to find the pieces brand new. but does anyone have anything to imput about the situation?

[JurisMyDiction]

correction. they're definitely not z brakes. just plain old 240sx brakes. WHAT"S HAPPENING?!

[clark]

dude, you have to troubleshoot.

get a friend to help you or give some homeless person 5 buck to sit in your car and pull the ebrake while you inspect what is going on in the rear.

remove your rear wheels, see what's going on with the lever/arm attached to the ebrake cable/caliper. is it seized???

this is pretty much just common sense, at this point it is not auto mechanics..it's verifying if something is moving or not.

[WIKID S4TEEN]

dude, you have to troubleshoot.

get a friend to help you or give some homeless person 5 buck

Better idea. With a video camera, place it recording the brake,
go to inside of car, pull e-Brake. Play back video!
Save $5.

[JurisMyDiction]

dude, you have to troubleshoot.

get a friend to help you or give some homeless person 5 buck to sit in your car and pull the ebrake while you inspect what is going on in the rear.

remove your rear wheels, see what's going on with the lever/arm attached to the ebrake cable/caliper. is it seized???

this is pretty much just common sense, at this point it is not auto mechanics..it's verifying if something is moving or not.


as i said in my previous post, i already did this. when the e-brake is pulled, the lever arm barely moves a couple mm. when it's loose, the cable sticks out about an inch on each side. the ONLY thing thic sould mean is that either the cables are too long, or something entirely wacky is going on, and i know for sure theyre installed properly as ther eis only ONE way to do so.