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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Focus / September 2006Parking Brake stuck
I have a 2000 Focus ZX3, 5 spd, its been parked for about 5 months, the parking brake wasnt working too good during the winter. I parked it without the brake on as the floor in the storage was level and thought it would be ok. The guy that looks after the storage moved the car and set the parking brake and now its stuck. I can let the handle down but the brake is still on because when I try to drive it forward or backward you can tell its still engaged. How do I fix this without getting it towed. have a 2000 Focus ZX3, 5 spd, its been parked for about 5 months, the parking brake wasnt working too good during the winter. I parked it without the brake on as the floor in the storage was level and thought it would be ok. The guy that looks after the storage moved the car and set the parking brake and now its stuck. I can let the handle down but the brake is still on because when I try to drive it forward or backward you can tell its still engaged. How do I fix this without getting it towed. . ========================= Assuming the problem is located inside the drums your going to have to get the drums of somehow and free up the mechanism. The first thing i'd try is hiting the brake pedal as hard as possible while driving to see if it will break free (no pun intended). You may have to put some miles on it that way just to wear the brake pads down enough to get the drums off! best of luck o nhtis one. > have a 2000 Focus ZX3, 5 spd, its been parked for about 5 months, the > parking brake wasnt working too good during the winter. I parked it [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > still on because when I try to drive it forward or backward you can > tell its still engaged. How do I fix this without getting it towed. More than likely, it's not actually the brakes, but the cable between the hand brake lever and the wheels/brakes. Have you been able to get under the car and tug on the parking brake cables to see if they're binding somewhere? You might even see that the cable sags somewhere between the handbrake lever and the wheels, which indicates that something is binding or not releasing just beyond the point where the sagging ends. You mentioned that the parking brake wasn't working too good in the winter; if the brakes themselves were binding and causing the problem, then you would have the release problem whether you used the parking brake or the normal brakes. Since it only occurs when using the parking brake, it appears the problem is somewhere in the cables between the handbrake lever and the wheels. Try tugging on the cables and spraying some lubricant wherever the cables go past a pulley or rub against anything. Those cables are subject to rusting and corrosion if not lubricated, especially if you drive where salt is applied to the road or in a humid environment. John we get this all the time at work on the curtsey cars. simply get a 19mm socket to fit on the rear wheel bolts then get an extension bar on the end of the socket and HIT the end of the extension bar with a hammer a good few times....... freed of brakes. its the shoes sticking to the drums. IF this still does not work then get someone in the car trying to drive it forwards to put more strain on the brakes and repeat the above process. Never failed for me! Its the shock that releases them and the use of the extension bar does not damage your wheel. MC. >> have a 2000 Focus ZX3, 5 spd, its been parked for about 5 months, the >> parking brake wasnt working too good during the winter. I parked it [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > > John |
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