Parking brake issue

Hi Manny,

More than likely your parking brake pedal assembly has an issue with the ratcheting lock. Unfortunately, the only way to repair this is to replace the pedal assembly. I have seen people try to repair these but they don't seem to hold up.

What happens is, when the parking pedal/handle is engaged the ratcheting that you hear is a mechanism that locks in place as it passes each gear tooth. When it doesn't hold it is because the lock has failed. The light is not going off because again the ratcheting device is not fully releasing to turn the switch off.

Let me know if you need anything else.

Thank you for your response, sorry for the delay I’ve been busy with work. I was told by another person it could be the cable is broken and that is a much less expensive piece to purchase compared to the assembly so that was my hope. I checked the piece in the back seat and noticed it was a little loose, not sure if that means anything. But when pressure is applied to the parking brake and held, it stayed tight. Does that further verify that it’s the assembly?

Yeah. If your issue is the brake is not holding then the cable being broken would not effect this. If the cable were broken I could expect the pedal to not come back up or it would be extremely easy to press down because you have no force of the brake pushing back on the pedal.

If you push the pedal down and it does not latch, my first thought is the locking pin on the assembly.

I understand. Is it required to take off the rear tires with the car jacked up to find where the wires run and all that or is replacing the assembly a little easier than that?

If it were me, I would lift the rear and have someone press and hold the parking brake down so the brake is engaged. Then while they are holding it, try to spin the rear tires. If they hold then your entire system is operating and does not need to be taken apart at all. If not, then you may need to adjust the shoes.

Then you just need to address the pedal not holding which is the process I attached earlier. However, before you remove it, I would get down there and look at the release lever. It may just be binding and not require the entire assembly. In other words, it is like the release handle is being pulled all the time. So when you press the pedal down, the release is being pulled (hung up) so it doesn't allow it to latch.

Alright sir you have been absolutely correct so far, I took it to a Firestone to only get it checked and they confirmed it was that piece, so I ordered the Assembly. Is there a more detailed instruction guide on how to remove and replace it? If not I believe the one you originally posted is the closest I've come.

Okay. The more I looked at this, I can't tell where the actually locking tab is. I can't find a label for it but they are normally in the latching assembly that I sent earlier but in looking for more detail that you requested, I found this picture of the pedal assembly. The portion that they are highlighting is the ratcheting mechanism but part just to the right of this where the cable attaches looks like the locking mechanism. This would make sense because you release lever is just above the pedal assembly so it would make sense that the lock is on the pedal.

However, if they looked at it and confirmed the failure was in that previous part, then I would go with that.

To answer you request, I don't have any better info that what was there. I don't see any videos either from some "do it yourselfers."

Okay sir, me and my girlfriend managed to get to the assembly and attempted to take it off. We stripped a bolt in the process, number 72 in your diagram, and it now spins freely without coming out. But during the process, I saw a metal piece that was the same in another video I had watched of possible causes on the pedal failure and well the pedal now stays in place after I put it back into place. Turns out Firestone never actually checked it it feels like. But the stripped bolt causes the assembly to be very lightly loose when I place the lower bolt back on. Am I able to just leave it? I have to get this thing registered ASAP.

If the pedal operates it will pass most states inspection. They may tell you to get it fixed but as long as it functions, they normally won't fail it.

If it works, I would suggest getting it through inspection and then if you are going to actually use the pedal, readdress it. A lot of people never use the parking brake so if you are one of those people then it won't matter much. I am also of the mind that I would want to fix it sooner or later because you never know when you will need it. However, it wouldn't be an emergency.