Jump to content
CaddyInfo Cadillac Forum

Emergency brake not working


winterset

Recommended Posts

I took the right rear brake apart to grease the guide pins, and clean the caliper up. I spun the piston out a little and cleaned it up around the boot. Then i spun the piston back in and put everything back together.

Took it out for a test drive and the brakes are ok. But when i put the emergency brake on, the wheel still spins. Plus the emergency brake has less resistance than before i did this job. Is there a position i have to leave the piston in? Is it supposed to line up with a divot on the back of the pad? I searched the internet but couldn't find anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


The divot in the piston of the caliper has to line up with the pin on the pad. You hit the pedal, spins the piston and puts pressure on the pad.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Done. Thanks bar. You know lining up the divot to the rear piston head is not well documented anywhere. I must have been lucky the few times i changed or cleaned the brakes. My emergency brake has not been used in 10 years because it didnt fully release from the calipers. Looks like the glide pins had a grease that turned to a gummy tar. I cleaned it out and put fresh brake grease in there. As soon as i lined up the caliper head with the divot, the emergency brake worked again, and it now releases 100%. Also i cleaned the piston with wd-40 to remove the surface rust against the rubber boot, and make it smooth and metal again. I always thought it was the cable that was binding, but i am glad it wasn't. Btw, the stainless steel ebrake cable is encased in plastic, so i can't see how it will ever stick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They do stick. Especially here in NY.

THe cable is encased in the plastic sleeve but the cable itself can rust and expand in the housing. It happens to all of them around here.

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You know lining up the divot to the rear piston head is not well documented anywhere.

It is in the shop manual - there is a drawing that shows the piston notches at 90 degrees to a line drawn between the caliper mounting holes.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll have to look in the manuel. Its 50/50 to get it right as the groove in the caliper head covers 50% of the caliper top.

Rock,

Mine is a NY car also used from the late 90's up to 2004 when i moved closer to my job, and now work from home, so i don't really drive anymore. I used to get up at 5am in the rain and snow to get to work in a suit and tie. I wanted a safe reliable car that would be driven 100 miles a day 5 days a week. Now i am being green by not driving, and not buying a new car.

still have is the oil pressure flicker, and "STOP ENGINE" message. I put a new oem sensor in a few months ago,and last week i put in motor honey. When i drive it hard and get the temp up to 219 (highest it ever gets), i start getting the flicker.

Only reason i fixed the ebrake was my daughter used it the other night, and got stranded. She cant drive it with the "STOP ENGINE" message either. And the inner cable is the one that i was referring to thats encased in plastic along with the outside being plastic coated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...