E-brake frozen up...NEED HELP!!!

[Pradamuimui]

Well let me first start by telling you that I live in Kansas, and that it has been 22-27 degrees outside for the last couple of days. Well last night like an idiot I put my e-brake on, came back out several hours later and my e-brake wont release. I know that I have to now wait for it to unthaw, but is there anything I can do to speed up the process? Thanks for all ur help..in advance.

[BlasTech]

Turn it on, let it warm up for a few minutes, try to pump the foot brakes, too?

[chet]

I had the exact same thing happen to me in my '82 Supra. I put in reverse and did the pop and lock procedure where you throttle, dump the clutch a little and drop the e brake all at once. It took a while to get it to release, but if you understand what I'm getting at, it may help speed things up. Good luck.

[phatfreeza]

i so did not know that this could happen... good luck man :)

[bobdobbs]

I wouldn't try breaking it free. That could really screw up your calipers and/or pads. You could try warming the calipers/pads with a hair dryer.

[ahhhonda]

This is a good reason to use your e-brake ALL THE TIME. First of all, it will be less likely to sieze up when it is used regularly, and secondly, you know it will work when you need it(or you'll find out that it doesn't work when it isn't an emergency). I'm not saying you don't use it, but this type of problem is more likely to happen when it's not used regularly. Even with my previous automatic transmission cars, I've always set the parking brake everytime I park. Sometimes it's due to necessity, like parking on a hill in my parent's driveway, but the rest of the time is just to keep it working.

[Mugen_EP]

You will then realize his problem and how often you use the E-brake would have no effect on his problem or would have helped prevent it in any way.

[bobdobbs]

Frequent use wouldn't have prevented this problem. This happens because of road slush in the pads and/or calipers freezing when it gets cold at night. Essentially the pads are frozen to the rotor. Frequent use will not keep it from freezing.

Frequent use helps prevent freeze-up from moisture-induced rust build-up in the cable. But, I doubt he's got that problem on such a new car.

[ahhhonda]

Right, I didn't say this was the problem, I said SIEZE up, not freeze up. I just wanted to stress that people who don't use their parking brakes regularly may run into problems when it is needed the most.

[bobdobbs]

You said this:

Originally posted by ahhhonda
This is a good reason to use your e-brake ALL THE TIME.
That is incorrect. The e-brakes freezing (literally) is not the reason to use your e-brake all the time. There are OTHER reasons to use your e-brake, but in this case, he would have been better off NOT using his e-brake.