my e-brake is really weak, I have to put the car in gear when parking to keep it in place. It does not do anything untill the final click. It also sqeaks a bit.

 

So, is there a question buried in there somewhere?

If it doesn't work, adjust it.

 

you can adjust your e-brake cable, also check your drum brakes for wear. They might need to be adjusted out a little bit. Hayne's / Helm's manuals will tell ya how to do it.

 

How could I adjust it to make it more responsive, stronger and not squeak is my question. My heltms manual should be here by the end of next week. Thanks for the quick reply

 

under the center console, you will see a nut on a threaded part attached to the cable itself (right behind the handle)...tighten that and see if it helps.

 

That's the first thing you should try, adjust the nut under the center console. I have the same problem as you...if I put my car in drive with the brake still up, the car still moves forward really slowly. I think it was because when I was replacing my brake shoes I pulled the brake cable in the left rear drum kinda hard, causing an uneven pull in the brake cable...sucks, but I still passed inspection.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Milano97 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That's the first thing you should try, adjust the nut under the center console. I have the same problem as you...if I put my car in drive with the brake still up, the car still moves forward really slowly. I think it was because when I was replacing my brake shoes I pulled the brake cable in the left rear drum kinda hard, causing an uneven pull in the brake cable...sucks, but I still passed inspection.</TD></TR></TABLE>

NO it's not... you should adjust your drums... the ebrake cable itself should NEVER have to be adjusted... it's the shoes wearing down...

You should adjust your drums until you can spin the rear wheel with the ebrake off... but it should not spin more than once around...

Even if you go a little tight it will wear down and get to where it should be in a matter of hours-days...

The ebrake cable should only need adjustment upon installation... Even with rear disk the ebrake cable should never need to be adjusted...

If you have drums and you've adjusted the ebrake CABLE and not the shoes... your rear brakes probobly do just about nothing when you hit the brake pedal...

If you keep your drums adjusted properly it should take 7 clicks of the ebrake handle to LOCK you car in place.... drums work as an ebrake MUCH MUCH better than calipers... so if you have rear disk then you should still only need seven clicks ... but I would NOT EVER leave my car on any kind of incline without it in gear if you have rear disk...

Honda decided to not do what they should've and had a drum ebrake inside the rear disks... so those of us who "upgraded" to rear disk loose any decent ebrake.

 

I didn't lose any of ebrake after my swap. Um, If it was a bad thing everyone would not be doing it. Right

 

at least I said both, I didn't have the time to really get envolved with it.

 

I think the problem lies in the fact that I need to maintain my rear (and front) brakes. I am STILL waiting on the helms manual to come in so I do not know what involves adjusting the rear brakes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hybrid98 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didn't lose any of ebrake after my swap. Um, If it was a bad thing everyone would not be doing it. Right</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't think whether or not a bunch of dude's do something or not makes anything true or not...

I think the fact that calipers have MUCH worse holding force then drums do does.

A smaller drum (diameter) with less pad surface and less tension can hold more weight at a stop then a larger diamter rotor with more force on a larger pad...

That's why EVERY decent car with 4wheel disk has either a seperate caliper for the ebrake or an internal drum.

Honda chinced. period.

here's a quote from tirerack's site...

"The advantages of rear drum brakes are lower cost and the ability to easily integrate a mechanical emergency/parking brake system."


http://www.tirerack.com/brakes....html


On mine there is NO question that you have to YANK the ebrake handle HARD to get it to lock up the rears properly... and it's impossible to lock up the rear wheels with the ebrake when moving now.

It's much better more balanced braking when using the hydrolics... but the mechanical side of the disks are crappy in comparison to drums.

 

NonovUrbizniz is 100% correct.

Disc e-brakes don't hold as well as drum e-brakes. Period.

I learned this the hard way when I traded in my car with rear drums for a car with rear discs. It's scary watching your new car roll away . . .

 

your rear drums are self adjusting

you will need to adjust the slack in the e-brake cable

 

self adjusting drum brakes?
if this is true on what cars, Im not saying you're wrong I've just never heard of self adjusting drum brakes, as far as I knew you had to turn the gear yourself

 

I don't know about my car but I had an old vw bug once and it had 2 wheels with notches around it and you would take a screwdriver to turn them to adjust the pads in and out.

 

yeah, adjust the star nut inside the drum. if that doesn't work than your e-brake cables might be stretched out.

 

i always thought honda drum brakes were self adjusting too... the ebrake cable can come loose over time. adjusting it is usually in maintenance schedules. also, i have no problem locking up my rear disc brakes with the ebrake handle... ive done pleanty of 180's and donuts in my day

 

i cant wait to get my hatch out the paint shop and adjust my brake(drums)

 

disk brakes self-adjust because the piston get pushed out as the pads wear out, but drum brakes do not self adjust

 

DRUM BRAKES ARE SELF ADJUSTING ON A HONDA

i will prove it VIA a picture in a little bit


Now what does this small section of instructions refer to?

thats right, the self adjuster in the rear drum brakes of a civic




I am tired of people posting incorrect information on this board, DO NOT POST UNLESS YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE!!!!!



Modified by dirtyd463 at 7:18 PM 7/2/2004