E-Brake On for 9 miles at about 45mph

[CrackaLackin]

So I got to go for a ride in my G tonight, cause i had a few beers and the girlfriend was sober. But she apparently didn't notice the giant "BRAKE" on my dashboard, and we got a few miles from our apartment before i finally saw it myself, and had her disable it.

We get home and I try it in the parking lot, step on the brake, then activate the E-Brake, and see what happens with idling speed. Well I keep rolling.

Question: Is this normal? what could I have screwed up by letting it drive that long?

Thanks,Drunken and Annoyed CL

[RED_DET]

You could have worn down the pads some, but honestly pulling the ebrake while moving at a certain speed isn't going to really slow the car down that much. Pull the e brake up will the car is stopped, then try to accelerate normally. It should grab and pull the rear end down. You can also park on a hill, engage the brake and make sure it still holds. If it fails those tests, replace the brake pads for the ebrake as they are a drum style and have no effect on the rear brake setup. If it passes, carry on then.

[pfarmer]

So I got to go for a ride in my G tonight, cause i had a few beers and the girlfriend was sober. But she apparently didn't notice the giant "BRAKE" on my dashboard, and we got a few miles from our apartment before i finally saw it myself, and had her disable it.

We get home and I try it in the parking lot, step on the brake, then activate the E-Brake, and see what happens with idling speed. Well I keep rolling.

Question: Is this normal? what could I have screwed up by letting it drive that long?

Thanks,Drunken and Annoyed CL

When you did your test were you stopped, put the e-brake on and the see if it rolled at idle?

If so you probably wore the pads down. What I would be worried about is what effect (besides damage to the drums) you may have had on the rest due to the heat produced.

Perry

[CrackaLackin]

i retried the "stop the car, mash down the ebrake, then get off the regular brakes" test and it seemed to be more as expected, and i'm not getting any vibration from normal breaking, so I think whatever heat damage may have occurred was minimal or non existent

thanks for the advice/guidance

[pfarmer]

i retried the "stop the car, mash down the ebrake, then get off the regular brakes" test and it seemed to be more as expected, and i'm not getting any vibration from normal breaking, so I think whatever heat damage may have occurred was minimal or non existent

thanks for the advice/guidance

I wouldn't expect damage to the rear brakes from overheating so much as something like bearing damage, seals, etc. It is probably worth a couple of bucks to put it on a lift so you don't get bit something place you can ill afford.

Perry

[suby01]

i had that done the entire e brake assembly was snapped. cost 500 to replace on one side. mine was only drive for a few feet, but when they reversed it out the shop maybe reverse works different than drive. and i dont know how differnt the brake setup on the 05s are. but ya have it checked out asap.

[pfarmer]

i had that done the entire e brake assembly was snapped. cost 500 to replace on one side. mine was only drive for a few feet, but when they reversed it out the shop maybe reverse works different than drive. and i dont know how differnt the brake setup on the 05s are. but ya have it checked out asap.

I haven't a lot or experience with parking on hills in newer cars. But in older cars with drum brakes in the back, yes you often could backup when you couldn't go forward, one reason we used to park nose in if we saw an occasional problem with the parking brake.

In the forward direction we actually practiced some high speed turns including u turns using the parking brake to break traction in the rear, the same brake that would allow you to back up with it on. Basically approach the turn, downshift, turn, break traction with the brake, drop clutch. One has to remember that when racing a 'g' (as in mg) or an Alpine (as in Sunbeam) that their wasn't a lot of horses to play with, this help compensate somewhat.

Perry
Modified by pfarmer at 2:49 AM 8/5/2009

[Poyzinous]

The correct term is a Parking Brake. Not an 'emergency' brake. It is not designed by any means necessary to stop the vehicle in an 'emergency'. Calling it an 'e-brake' is like calling a hond@ a car.

[pfarmer]

The correct term is a Parking Brake. Not an 'emergency' brake. It is not designed by any means necessary to stop the vehicle in an 'emergency'. Calling it an 'e-brake' is like calling a hond@ a car.

Although in several cases with cars prior to 1968 I certainly used them in that fashion.

With both of my early Plymouths it was hard to even call them 'parking brakes', the 53 used a band brake the 55 a little different design both located on transmission tailshaft (the 55 was an auto with no park). Pull the brake out from under the dash and it was like the hand brake was attached to nothing at all if the car was moving.

Perry
Modified by pfarmer at 1:18 PM 8/5/2009