Hey guys... Had a problem with my e brake not engaging, removed the rear seat cup holders and spotted that the bracket that holds the two cables was loose, I held the cables in pulled the ebrake and wallah!! It worked! Well now it won't dis engage. The ebrake is STUCK ON!!!! Help! As I need to drive to school in the morning!

 

Pull harder?

 

What do you mean? The cables are like stuck pulled out. I was able to use some force and push one back but the other is stuck

 

Please any help appreciated guys

 

take the wheel off and beat it back lol

 

Your gonna have to follow the cable and find out where its hung up at.

 

Crap....Im trying to figure how I'd do this in the dark...just my luck I'm clueless on what to do as of now

 

maybe try moving the car. It might jar it loose

 

Well, my dad checked it out visually... And he thinks the passenger caliper is frozen..you guys think it would damage something if I drove it like this for awhile?

 

You will mess up the brake pad and warp the rotor most likely. And your car will feel like its moving "heavy"

 

I see..you think theres a chance if I drive it like this, it will free the brake?

 

How did things turn out this morning?
Sarah
GM Customer Service

 

I took it for a ride early this morning before school in hopes of it breaking free...no luck, just a ton of smoke and brake dust...ended up having to drive my moms camry to school ... ...dads making appointment with a brake shop today so they can hopefully break it free...low on cash right now so hopefully they wont charge much!

 

whoah whoah hold on a minute!! are you actually saying that a cobalts Ebrake actually held on?!?! well ****, mine wont even hold the damn car!!

 

if you pull off the rear cup holder, you will see the linkage for the e-brake. Check and see if the cables are hooked into the bracket..if not that could be your simple fix. BUT be cautious... as that is how I found my problem, put the cables in and pulled the e-brake..engaged now its stuck...1st gear parking lock FTW lol

 

i cant believe you drove with it up to try breaking it haha prob just made it worse not being a dick just thought it was funny u prob made a flat spot on ur rear tires too

have someone rock the car as u try to disingage the ebrake.

 

oh no they're in those brackets trust me

 

Pull off the handle cover, pull the ebrake handle up and then tighten the 10mm nut to your desired stiffness. Mine is horrible for loosening up, I had to tighten it all the time before I got new pads on the back (wooo at 27000 kms). Don't tighten it too tight though, you might snap the cable or the brakes might be somewhat applied even when down. I had to loosen mine off a bit after I got it back from the dealership putting new pads and calipers on the back cause it was causing rubbing.

 

ya I've done this already once, and it was great at first, 2notches and they locked, but 3 months later its back to the same.

 

just as stated above, I would fish through the whole system and find the flaws. Your rear calipers may be shot

 

Well, when I pull it, the car will sorta creak back a bit then stop, but they dont lock the wheels "confidently" if ya know what I mean

 

i had this problem on mine recently after a new pad/rotor install. mostly on passenger side, the caliper was sticking while driving (so it smelled like brakes a lot, felt my wheel and hot damn the rim could've melted the tire !!)

and also the e-brake wasn't really working... wierd combo i thought.

wound up just getting new calipers, its the only way to get new 'springs' for the e-brake and those work perfect now. it was the springs being old that made the e-brake not work. also be sure to grease the sliders and ofcourse bleed the brakes, rr,fr,fl and rl sequence

 

this is something I'll look into in the summer lol, too cold now and too busy with school haha!

 

haha i know exactly what you mean!

 

Yeah your back calipers might be shot. Mine didn't start acting up until about 20,000 kms, tightened the nut and another 1500 kms and it was loose again. 24000kms and the clunking while braking started, felt the inside of the pads a it was like a mountain range but the outsides were smooth. Finally got the car into the dealership at 26500kms when I went on vacation. New pads and calipers and the ebrake holds, none of that slight roll before stopping like you were describing. Gonna make sure to lube those slide pins now! :P