Got a 99 ex for free for a winter beater... drove it here and there in the fall, but now that its -8 to -14*C the e brake cables are sticking 90% of the time. its a solid car and was flawless before the ft of snow, I have a new 4X4 Tundra I use at work but need this to get there every morning. I have no experience with drums...my previous/current cars all have discs, going in blind fixing wise. there's no real way to unstick it it just lets off for a few mins here and there, as for the severity of the sticking well imagine yanking your e-brake almost to the max.

 

Is it the cable sticking or the parking brake mechanism inside the drum?

 

the mechanism in the drum we got a foot of snow in a matter of 5 days, I had it on the road the past month leading up to this it was fine, a great little car. its not lowered or anything stupid e-brake always worked fine now as soon as the cold and snow hit its sticking. I always thought the cables were a bit loose to be honest. If it was fine before the -0 temps and snow that would point to the drum internals its self no vs the cable.

 

My recommendation would be to disassemble the drum brakes and inspect. Replace anything obviously bad and then, clean, reassemble and lubricate as instructed in the service manual.

 

the little e-brake light comes on and off forgot to ad that, so maybe its just a cable tension issue. I will take the cover off and look but again as soon as it got cold this happened car was fine before. nothing I found online matched my issue there is no way to get it unstuck I have to do a lot of turns/forward and reverse to actually get out of out parking lot so despite all that it still comes on and off. and will just randomly come on then go off when I'm driving I have to jack the rear up and see "how" much brake is being applied, all I know is I can tank it up a fair bit while driving and I feel no difference same goes when I put it down.

 

This may be a separate issue - low brake fluid due to pad wear.

 

there's a separate "brake" light for the fluid res, the E-brake light is separate at least on this car, ill have a look I topped it up on my "winter ready up" weekend.

 

Must be non-stock as the fluid and brake lights are typically the same for 99 Civics.

 

Get some WD40 and spray it inside the cables. I had to do that for a stuck hood cable and it helped. I totally soaked it in there.

 

OP. you're in Toronto correct?

I lived in Upstate NY for 12 years and we never used parking brakes in the winter. And that's not nearly as far north as Toronto.

The ends of the cables are exposed and can accumulate moisture and freeze.

 

further north in the winter for work, but yah same deal after a month. I know the discs are exposed but afaik the drum has it internally, ill be looking at it this weekend right now i'm blind persay.

 

I got a 98 Civic, parking brake was frozen tight the one morning.. must have been 5 degrees, took it to the shop, they hit the brake drum a few times with a hammer and it popped loose. Good chance the area around the drum needs some lubrication

 

its only the driver rear...gave the cover a few good hits which free'd up the "hub" but I doubt that's a permanent fix. so I thought I can A:undo what ever goes to the lever inside the drum or B: undo the one cable in the cabin. I did inspect it after I cleaned the **** out of it with brake clean, nothing seems wrong...


my abs light is no always on thanks to this

I only use the car for a short 15km drive to work through a small town, and have a parking spot on flat ground

 

dvcrdtcebb

 

Fixed?

Reset the ABS control unit.

 

well it was to the point the diver rear wheel was dragging on almost pavement and I had to fight the wheel constantly. what I did was take it home a put it in the garage and hit the drum a few times hub came loose. I put it back and drove it up the driveway and the e-brake light is still on, maybe that's a Canadian thing cause my Tundra/FTI/tegg all have the same icon for the "e-brake on". ill have to see if the wheel sticks again when I go out tonight.