The emergency brake on my 2005 Chevy Impala doesn’t hold well.Is there an adjustment on the cable???Do the emergency brake shoes need adjusted.
is this a hand lever or a foot pedal?
on your age car i doubt it is out of adjustment yet.
there is an automatic tensioner on the rear wheels which self adjusts to keep it right.
on the off chance, have you run with it on for a time, and possibly worn the shoes out?
most autos never get the ebrake shoes replaced.
is this worse than it was before?
are you able to pull up on hard, or push down hard the handle/lever completely?
It has a foot pedal. has been the same since i bought it.brakes where all checked when i bought it used with 30k miles.never driven with brake on.very annoying chime if you did.
You do know it is not there for normal stopping and it will not work as easy as the service brakes will. It is more properly called a parking brake.
you do have to pretty much tromp on the pedal to get it to lock up to keep the car in one spot.
how many clicks does it make when you step on it?
it should click 3 or 4 times.
i had a problem a week ago.parking on a hill it didn’t hold very well. i too sometimes call it a parking brake.
I believe this model car uses a set of small brake shoes on the rear to serve as a park brake even though the main brakes are disc/pads.
Check both the adjustment and the shoe lining. It’s also possible the shoe lining could be worn down from a sticking cable or some driving episodes with the brake still partially on, although the former should be unlikely since the car is only an '05. If it’s a northern rust belt car then a sticking cable is more possible.
i pulled wheels and checked parking brake shoes. looked almost like new with a slight bit of drag when you spin the rotor.(shoes run inside of rotor).cable moves freely but pedal still clicks almost all the way to the floor. maybe thats as good as this chevy gets.thanks for all your responses.
If you have rear disc brakes, your parking brake setup may be similar to the system on my 2000 Blazer. It has rear disc brakes, but each rotor has a built in drum for the parking brake pads. The parking brake is basically a miniature drum brake built into the rotor. The parking brake adjustment is independent from the disc brake mechanism. I believe you have to pull the rotors to inspect the emergency brake pads.
The truck failed NJ inspection for the parking brake in the spring. The mechanic replaced the emergency brake pads, the rear disc brakes, and the calipers since they were sticking, but they can be adjusted. Hopefully your brakes will not need as much work as mine.
Good luck,
Ed B.
“maybe thats as good as this chevy gets”
No. It likely needs adjusting. It should be able to hold it on a hill and it should not be able to spin the rotor by hand with the brake on.