Aenyone

Hey guys. I did a little search for my problem, nothing came up specific to it.
Two days ago, while driving, I felt/heard a *snap*, then my wheels locked up and I managed to limp off of the road. I noticed that I couldn't pull up on my E Brake. It was literally stuck to the floor.
After a slight panic, I slowly backed up and felt the brake easing up. I was then able to pull the brake up and then lower it back to the floor.
I slowly drove home and it did it once more.
I looked at the cables under the car, nothing out of the ordinary.. unless I am just not seeing it.
Is it inside of the brake? Caliper? Or is it a problem with the cable?
Thanks ahead of time.

1989 944 NA

fortysixandtwo

Either something is pulling on the cables or the return spring(s) have broken.
First check for a foriegn object stuck in the cables, or at least evidence of this. Since you could not pull the handle, this makes the most sense.
If the cable inspection turns up nothing, pull both rear rotors and make sure all the parking brake parts are in order and working correctly.

xsboost90

ive seen one other car do this and the springs broke that hold the shoes together.

JimV8

Broken spring inside one of the drums.

Aenyone

Guys, I appreciate the responses. When I heard the *snap* sound, it appeared to come from the passenger rear. So I took the tire off and got down to the brake assembly. The springs were in order, but the E brake mechanism was loose. Here is a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn033wqzJF8

The driver side cable is nice and tight.
Is there a way to tighten the cable or is there still something that I am missing?

Thanks.

NineFourFourNeophyte

similar issue for me, in that while driving heard a sudden loud noise followed by rubbing and screeching metal from the right rear, didn't lock up or anything. pulled over and into gas station, pulled off the drum saw the mess in there, took the shoes etc out, put it back on and continued my trip. in putting in the replacements i noticed that unlike some other cars that have some way of catching the end of spring that keeps the shoes flat, there isn't a distinct one on the 944, no little hole or locking position etc, so how can anyone, ok anyone other than a mechanic say for sure that it is set right and will not move? my suspicion is that some rough tracking helped move it a little and on my way home it came off. is that possible and is there a definitive way of knowing the spring is on and locked to prevent movement? has this happened with other drivers or are we just a bit unfortunate?

thanks.

-nffn

theiceman

great vid and nooooo it is not suppose to be that loose. something busted. Gees I just can't remember my 944 any more but on my 911 there is an adjuster on the part behind the disc ( where you grabbed ) to take up the slack. You have to adjust both sides as the one lever piulls on both cables. Take a look at the other side and you will get the idea.

theiceman

There still may be a broken or missing spring. When you let off the brake the spring inside the drom on the shoes takes up the slack.

Bri Bro

The brakes are pulled together by springs 5 and 6. The pads are being keep apart by the adjuster,3 & 4 and the part 7, the one you show in your video. Part 7 spreads the pads apart when the Ebrake is applied pushing the brake pad onto the drum. Parts 3, 4 and 7 have slots in them that have to be inserted into the brake pad metal structure to be held in place. If ANY of these parts is out of position, it will cause the pads to be out-of-round and the pads can contact the drum.

Aenyone

Guys, great information... I appreciate it.

The problem was a broken spring, I'm just not sure which one. When I pulled the assembly apart, most of it (springs included) fell out of the bottom.
For the time being I have no real EB. As soon as I can get the parts and reassemble it, I'll be in good shape.

Thanks again, for the explanations and the diagram.

Toran

Hello All,

I am currently in the same issue with my rear passenger wheel.

1. Removed the two small screws on the rotor.
2. Still trying to remove the rotor from car!
Did put a pry bar on rotor to give it a little turn and it sounds like something on the e-brake did break off, maybe a spring or a clip. When I tap the rotor with a rubber mallet you can hear little pieces of something rattling around.

Still trying to get the rotor off the car to have a better look.
At this point I cannot pull up the e-brake handle from within the car.
-
Any suggestion for removing a rear rotor that doesn’t seem to want to come off?

T.I.A.

Dougs951S

If you already turned the star adjuster out to be sure the shoes are not grabbing the rotor and preventing it from coming, just whack the hell out of it with a big rubber mallet till it pops off.

Toran

Should I be hitting it from the front or the back?

MB968

To the point made above, make sure you run the star wheel in as far as you can. That will give as much room as is possible between the drum and the brake shoes.

And, do the rear discs have tapped holes in them. This is common, and allow you to put a bolt in each tapped hole to push the disc off the hub in case it is stuck on. This is much better than beating on the disc, if it has these tapped holes.

Toran

Thank you very much for the response. Will get back to adjusting the star wheel. I am at work now but will be on this first thing in the morning!
Will report my success.

T.I. A.