Ford Taurus Parking Brake Stuck

I bought a 95 Ford Taurus wagon cheap yesterday and the parking brake pedal is stuck in the off position. Any suggestions? I haven’t tried anything yet.

First you have to isolate whether it is the pedal assembly, or the cable that is frozen. And go from there.

clear the details. is the parking brake stuck ON?

but the pedal wont release, or the pedal will release, but the brakes wont?

if the brakes wont release when the pedal is released, you have to go under the car and pull the wire where it exits the cable sheath to ‘help’ it release.

they sell cable lube with a plastic cone. you put it over the cable sheath and spray, and work the cable back and forth to free up the cable.

if that doesn’t work, time for a new cable :frowning:

no it is stuck off. the pedal will not engage. it is stuck up. the parking brake is not on. ive encountered the classic stuck on or failure to release on other cars, but i can’t get the parking brake to engage at all on this car. i was just wondering if there was something i should look for before i rip the whole thing apart.

Question: parking brake is stuck engaged, all the way to the floor, ford taurus. What do I do, beside call a mechanic?

Lottie, you should start a new discussion instead of adding to a year old one. This is an entirely new situation and easy to miss tacked to an old thread.

For your problem, you need to find out what is binding. The first and easiest is to look underneath and see if the mechanism that is holding the pedal down is jammed, and not letting the pedal release. It should be on the side of the pdeal lever near the pivot point. If the mechanism is releasing, but the pedal is not moving, the cable may be jammed or the parking brake mechanism at the rear wheels may be frozen. Usually this is due to rust. Sometimes, tapping on the brake drum with a hammer can get them unfrozen. Other times, putting the car in reverse and drive alternately to rock the car can get them to ‘pop’ loose.

Thanks, I will start a new one. And thanks for the info about the possibly jammed or rusted parking brake. We’ve “WD40’d” it new the pedal and under the dash with no luck yet so we’ll try your other instructions.