Observation re: Parking brake

**voorthuist** · 01-01-04, 07:33 PM

An interesting parking brake -related experience you might find noteworthy.

I've been driving my 1995 LT-1 for about 3 wks now and loving every minute of it. Only 32,600 miles when I bought it and everything worked great with the exception of the parking brake, which would refuse to catch until after I had pulled it up repeatedly (i.e. 15-20 times). Took the car to my mechanic of 20 yrs; I had visions of an expensive repair but their Vette specialist told me nothing was wrong with the parking brake - it just needed a shot of brake cleaner to clean out the "goop" in the mechanism. He told me that I would need to do this on a fairly regular basis in the winter owing to the nature of the grease Chevrolet used under the plastic shield; it can cause the brake not to "catch." (I'm restating his explanation, which was of course more technical than this.)

The brake worked just great for about a week, with the nice ratchety sound that a parking brake is supposed to make when you pull it up. Then once again it stopped working... same deal, I'd need to pull it repeatedly to get it to catch. Sure enough, a quick shot (1-2 secs) of brake cleaner (into the gap that the handle rides in when you pull it) solved the problem! Ratchety sound is back. The downside of this "fix" is the smell of the brake cleaner... but it's a small price to pay.

Jeff

**Ken** · 01-01-04, 07:36 PM

Thanks for the tip Jeff.

**voorthuist** · 01-01-04, 07:47 PM

My pleasure, Ken. I hope it helps others. I had done a corvetteactioncenter.com search on this problem before taking the car to the shop; but what I saw in the information posted by others left me with the expectation of an involved repair. So I was relieved that the fix was so easy.

**Gerry** · 01-01-04, 08:06 PM

How fortuitous for me as I am having the same problem on my 88 coupe, I will try the brake cleaner and post my results. What a great site for us older vette owners with age related problems among others. Thanks for the info.

Best regards,
Gerry

**LittleRedFlatBack** · 01-01-04, 08:13 PM

Dang. I wish I would have read this one before I bought a new parking brake assembly. Thanks for the information though.

**c4cruiser** · 01-01-04, 08:17 PM

The parking brakes on both my 87 and 92 work fine and never need any cleaning/lubing.

Brake cleaner is also a degreaser and will remove the lubricating grease from the racheting mechanism, eventually causing problems. On both my cars, the parking brake mechanism is inside the body and not exposed to the outside elements. There is a grommet that seals the hole in the floorpan where the parking brake cable exits toward the rear. Is this grommet in place and in good condition? If not, you should get a new one.

Have you had the rear brakes serviced at some point? Perhaps new pads and caliper rebuild? The service manual says to insert a pin in a hole in the frame of the ratcheting mechanism before the parking brake cables are disconnected from the caliper. Not doing this may cause the cable adjustment to slip.

You may want to remove the driver's seat to get to the cover over the mechanism and remove it to see what condition everything is in. Use a good lithium grease on the ratchet teeth, pawls and motor oil on the rotating parts and pins. Inspect the cables under the car for binding and wear. Replace anything that looks worn out.

**voorthuist** · 01-01-04, 08:25 PM

c4cruiser,

Rear pads and rotors on my 95 are new. The parking brake problem persisted after they were renewed. The brake cleaner "fix" seems to do the trick for now; however, when it gets warmer outside I may pull the front seat to have a closer look at the parking brake mechanism (no garage to work in, only a driveway). Thanks for the heads-up.

**FX GS** · 01-01-04, 08:36 PM

Hmmmm.............never had a problem...........but if I do.....................thanx

**Gerry** · 01-01-04, 10:35 PM

I just tried the fix for my parking brake and it worked wondrfully. I used PBY penetrating oil and it freed up the ratchet gear. After this I used a lithium based greaser and I hope this lasts. I could see how the ratchet just wasn't returning to the proper position. Now every thing is fine and I didn't have to remove anything. This was a great post, thanks a whole bunch.

Be Good or Don't Get Caught!!

Best regards,
Gerry