Sticky Parking Brake

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My parking brake has recently become a bit sticky, as in when you pull the brake release, the pedal retracts very slowly and does not go the whole way by itself. I have to pull it up with my foot the rest of the way.

Ive looked under the dash and sprayed some WD on the moving mechanisms and that hasn't helped, which leads me to wonder if the problem is further down the cable.

Maybe unrelated, but I recently fitted some poly subframe collars, in which I had to lower the subframe which did put some tension on the connecting lines, like the parking brake for example. There was no difference to the parking brake directly afterwards, so maybe not related.

[66yostagea]

I cant help you but my RWD S1 auto had a similar problem. The parking brake would not release.. Could not seem to fix it so now it is disconnected.

Does anybody know how to fix?????????????????

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I pulled off the rear rotors and blew all the dust away with some compressed air, then put some anti seize on where the cable comes enters.

Didn't make a difference, unfortunately.

Will have a look under the dash again to see if anything can be done there.

[Daleo]

I have seen Nissan handbrake cables seize plenty of times before; have any of you actually disconnected one of the wheel cables to see if it is free or seized?

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Both cables were sliding in and out of the connectors, I just don't know whether that is where the resistance is.

[Daleo]

Is there a intermediate cable up the middle?

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Not sure where the 2 cables join. Didn't have the car that far jacked up that I could see where the cables go.

[66yostagea]

Waiting with bated breath.LOL

[dooza]

Funny (not), but this has just started last week with my c34 S2...????

anyone worked out the cause ???

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I think Ive ruled out any issues with the cable and rear brakes.

When the pedal sticks, there is still tension on the cable, so there doesnt appear to be resistance in the cable. The springs in the rear brakes seem to be retracting the cable fine.

This leaves the pedal mechanism.

I would really like to avoid having to remove it.

What is the shock absorber type device? Is that purely to soften the movement of the pedal? If so, that may be a problem area. Also the spring may have weakened.

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Well after having the pedal seize right up on me, I thought it was definitely going to be a removal job.

To avoid that, I gave the WD40 treatment another go. This time I had to lay down mats, newspaper and towels to stop the WD from getting onto the carpets. Using a bit of PVC tubing attached the can I was able to soak the pedal mechanism from every angle, completely soaking the area until the WD was running off onto the towels. Repeated a few times.

Well f**k me, it worked a treat. It freed the mechanism right up, the pedal now releases fully when you pull the brake release. My only concern is that I did wash off some grease on the pedal, so hopefully I haven't affected any lubrication points, but if I have to add some oil or grease in future its not too much a big deal.

Will report back if I actually ended up ruining the pedal, but so far so good. Beats having a stationary vehicle.

[webng]

I will be trying this on the weekend. Thanks for posting.

Figured out how to "manual" release the brake. Deep under the dash, need a fairly long flat head screwdriver there is a mechanism you can push in that releases the brake. Have had to do this more then once when other people have used the foot brake.

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There could be something like that, but I couldn't see it. Its a very difficult area to work on even if you take off the lower plastic part of the dash. I still don't know how the mechanism actually holds and releases the tension on the cable. I thought spraying lubricants might be disastrous and the brake wouldn't hold at all. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

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Update: this band-aid fix lasted 4.5 years. LOL

Just had to do a reapplication of WD40 over the mechanism again, as it seems to be binding up again with cold weather. I'm still not sure how the release mechanism works, or what's causing it to stick. But considering how much work it is to remove it, I'm not taking it out. Unfortunately, this time the WD40 trick was less effective. I might have to do a few applications.