When I got my pathfinder I noticed that I can bring it up about an inch before it actually starts engaging. I then decided to let the car idle forward and see when the parking break would engage. I prob had about 7-10 clicks before it held the car.. Can I tighten this?

If you look behind those little black flaps on each side of the brake handle, under the handle, you can see a brass-colored nut. You just need to tighten the nut until it's snug, don't over tighten because it will start engaging the brake and you don't want to be driving around with the emergency brake engaged. You may need to remove that little piece of trim right next to the e-brake to get to the nut but I don't think that's necessary.

Here's the FSM procedure. It's a little more involved...

Well how would you tighten it on an 01 qx4?? I dont see it anywhere in the manual

longhornsqx4 wrote:Well how would you tighten it on an 01 qx4?? I dont see it anywhere in the manual

Wouldn't it be the same exact process? If not, try looking around BR-31 (in BR.pdf) in the FSM.

Ya it appears to be the same, I dont get the actual process of whats going on here though, wish they wrote those manuals in common english lol

My parking brake warning light is constantly on unless I slam on my brakes. Does this mean that the "warning lamp switchplate" needs to be adjusted? If so can you help me locate it? It's not shown in the FSM, at least not in the p-brake section. I pulled the forward cup holder out in order to find it but it seems that the entire center console needs to be removed in order to access it. I would have done that but the front seats are stuck(even with a beatdown they wouldn't move) so I couldn't remove the fastening screws.

One suggestion: Before starting to adjust the parking brake handle, check/adjust the rear brake shoes first.
Generally speaking, if the rear shoes are set properly, you shouldn't have to adjust the emergency brake cable.

As Buzzman stated do a break adjust first before adjusting the hand brake. Remove the drums, both sides up, clean out the dust (vacuum), check for dirt rust and leaking oil seal from axle, you can lubricate things in place and not take anything apart if you are careful and take your time. Use high temp anti seize and just a dab at 3 points along forward and aft shoe next to rear plate, grease the brake cable and springs into the shoe holder of the cable. Then check the brake cylinder, look for leaks, wipe the rubbers clean.

Before putting on the drums clean the brake shoe surfaces with a block of wood with sandpaper, just make the shoe glaze free.

Put anti seize at center of hub so drum and axle meet and drum can come off easier next time. If drum is too tight back off the brake adjust to allow easy install of drum.

Clean the drum with brake cleaner as you clean the complete brake assembly before adjusting or greasing, use the brake cleaner and a rag to clean off any grease on the brake shoe.

All clean and adjusted and with the drum installed, adjust from the outer plate through a rubber hole or slot and adjust the brake shoes by opening or closing the distance that the shoes travel. Rotate the drum by a leveraged stick to see that the drum is not too tight. Do both sides.

With the rear brakes adjusted to proper height next try the e brake handle, pull up and count the clicks, go for 4-6 clicks. Try the e brake on the road, at about 20 MPH in gear pull the e brake handle, you should stop, release the handle if brakes do not release you will have to lube the cables points under the car. In 2 WD at a stop pull e brake up, car should not move, release e brake, car should move.

Test the rear braking adjustment, at 20-30 MPH do a typical stop, listen and feel does the car stop as it should, no excess noise, no spring noise, no grinding. You can verify that the brakes in general are good by stopping in a controlled way with no traffic.

The abs should not pulsate on a dry road, but if you are going too fast the abs could come on at excessive speeds.

The rear work about 20-30% of the braking force so that leaves the front doing 70-80% of t he work. My rears are still very good at 13 years original with just doing the fronts for the third time. This seems to be normal.

Thanks for the info guys. As lame as this sounds it ended up being low on fluid. I've been getting a hissing/squealing sound from the front driver's side wheel well so I'm guessing the missing hydro fluid has something to do with the sound. Could it be a vacuum leak? The noise ceases when I hit the brakes.

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the cable stretches so after 10+ years, its probably due for a tightening

i think its a 10mm. its really easy it takes a minute to tighten. Mine has less than a centimeter of loose slack and takes 6-7 clicks to be fully tight.

Empty, sounds like low on brake fluid. When you brake hard, all the fluid goes towards the front of the reservoir which satisfies the brake fluid level sensor which is why the light turns off on hard braking (or perhaps also on hard turns).

whoops i guess i should read the whole thread before i post a reply lol.

Empty V, sounds like your pads are wearing down. They have a metal indicator tab on them that squeals when the pad gets low, the squeal goes away when you press the brakes. Eventually the tab will break off and the noise will go away - the next noise after that is metal on metal!! Might be time for brake pads soon.

fueler wrote:Empty, sounds like low on brake fluid. When you brake hard, all the fluid goes towards the front of the reservoir which satisfies the brake fluid level sensor which is why the light turns off on hard braking (or perhaps also on hard turns).

That's exactly what it was. I'm also getting a squealing noise from the front right side and created a thread here.

My Parking Brake comes on intermittently now as well. Does not feel like the e-brake is sticking or on, takes awhile for the light to go off. With 88k miles, should I be expecting to have the drum brakes replaced? Replaced pads 2 years ago with ceramics, they look fine. Have never had a vehicle that has gone this long with original brakes ( I think the front pads lasted around 65k or so-unreal to me ). Front rotors not warped and fine.

Adding fluid cleared e-brake light as suggested earlier. Wondering how many more miles I can get out of the drums.