ebrake cable question

SON240sx Automotive
1

alright as some of you may know i’ve had problems with my ebrake locking up.

with further inspection, i jacked the car up and had the ebrake up (and out of gear). the left side the ebrake rubber thing was stretched out (1.5" long) and the right side the rubber spongy thing was contracted (0.5" long). I tried rotating both tires and they were both solid, wouldn’t move. CAR WAS OUT OF GEAR WITH EBRAKE UP. Now i put the ebrake down and the left side remained stretched out while the right side stretched out the same distance as the left. Both wheels spun equally with ease. I’m guessing when the ebrake cable black rubber sponge is contracted, the ebrake cable is tightened, while with it stretched out, its at ease.

Question is, how come the left side remained stretched (ebrake cable being at ease) but the wheel was locked. Maybe it was locked to a certain extent that i couldnt turn it. Does this mean the ebrake cable on the left side needs to be adjusted? I adjusted the ebrake from inside the car and its pretty tight. Does this mean it has to be adjusted from under the car?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

PS: This is for an S14

2

May have something to do with your VLSD. you cant turn the the left because its linked to the right and the right is locked.

3

are you sure its VLSD related?

i was thinking one side of the cables were uneven and maybe a simple adjustment would do the trick.

4

I’m just saying you cant turn your left wheel when the right is locked because of the VLSD. Adjusting your cable’s will fix it and make both wheel lock with the brakes.

5

Yeah, kr’s onto something there.

another posibility could be that the one is semi seized, still semi working but mabe heats up after a drive or something.

6

take the handbrake cables off the calipers and out of the car, soak them in kerosene overnight, reinstall, adjust

7

^^^^ i did that too mines before but inspect ur lines properly

8

ya i think its slightly seized somewhere.

i went out today and checked and the left side moves slightly now, but not as much as the right side.

which place is the culprit of seizing?ill try to WD40 it every 10min for 1hr or something.

is it where the square bracket is right where the cables hook up to the caliper?

9

I removed my s13 cables and tried for a while to try and free them up, but if the corrosion is already inside the part that slides, their done for. I found a set of jdm ones from Brian and they are perfect.

If you do have them off, put a set of vice grips on the caliper bracket that they pull on and see how they compare activating the brakes individually. You could even do that with the cables on actually.

10

You may have a stuck caliper.

The VLSD will/should lock up if only one brake is applied to it and you try and turn it.

Have someone work the ebrake while you watch where it attaches to the caliper.

If one side isn’t moving, unhook the cable from the caliper on the opposite side.

Have your friend pull on the ebrake again and see if the caliper will move.

A stuck caliper will limit how far you can pull the cable on one side. The two cables are attached to a single cable. When you pull up the handle it is supposed to pull on both cables equally. If one cable doesn’t move at all, it will go tight first, leaving the other side slack.

It is possible one cable has stretched. But honestly, if a cable has stretched, it’s usually a result of a stuck caliper and someone pulling hard on the ebrake all day long.

11

Hey.
–try removing the ebrake bracket from the caliper -then you should be able to move the ebrake mechnism by hand albeit with some effort -if you cannot move it by hand try a visegrip and see if itreturns to the stopper pin -if you cannot move it or only nominally and it does not return to the stopper then the caliper/ebrake mechanism is seized–if you have checked the cables then this may be the problem
this has happened several times with our S13’s