1990 Jaguar XJS emergency brake will not hold car. We replaced all pads and rotors, incl ebrake. Everything appears to be working properly.
Have you tried adjusting the parking brake cable?
Over time the parking brake cable can stretch. This is why there’s a provision in the cable assembly to adjust out any slack in the cable.
Tester
in addition to making sure that the cable is both sliding free, and actually actuating the ebrake; when you took the rear rotors off, did you adjust the ratchet tightener snug? (but not too tight so you cant get the rotor on)
it will automatically ratchet tighter a little bit each time you stop while backing up, to make the ebrake snug, and work right.
when you are backing up and stop, (with the car quiet, radio off, no noise) you can usually hear the ratchets clicking the first few times as they snug up.
when you did the brakes, did you do one side at a time? or both at once?
i NEVER do both at the same time. i always keep one side assembled to use as a reference. it it possible that either you mixed up the ratchet assembly, or installed it backwards in the brake housing. (if installed backwards it will miss the ratchet tooth/cog and wont tighten up)
when you removed the rotors how did you relax the tensioner to get the hub off? or did you just bang the heck out the rotors to remove them?