Emergency brake adjuster

[Avu3]

Hi Gang,

My dad has a 90 LSC and his emergency brakes barely work. We did a brake job, figuring that was the problem - it wasn't. It has the screw-in calipers and this movable arm that is pulled by a cable - haven't had many new cars, so don't know if that is normal. Pulling the arm does move the caliper out, but not enough to activate the e-brake.

The manual says these are supposed to be self adjusting; but they don't work. We have adjusted the Cable as I am familar, but all the slack is out and it is at the edge of activiating the lever; just as the book says.

The e-brake function has sort of detiorated over time - they used to work great; now the pedal just goes to the floor.

Anyone know what is wrong, or have any suggestions?

It has 90K miles; fresh brakes; ABS; and was just bled.

The car stops great. No problems.

Thanks for help/suggestions.

[HotRodLSC]

You need to check the cable mechanically. If the adjustment procedure doesn't fix the problem, and there are no obvious problems (broken cable), you'll have to replace the cable.

[Avu3]

Guess I didn't make myself clear, sorry. The cable works fine. It actuates the lever in the back of the caliper fine - to the stop. It just seems that the lever isn't pushing the piston our far enough to grab the disk with any force.

Is it common for the Ebrake mechanisim in the Caliper to fail, or is there some unique bleeding procedure or something with these calipers?

Any help is much appreciated.

[HotRodLSC]

The cable must have stretched to the point that it will not exert enough force to push the piston anymore. There aren't any specific bleeding procedures that are stated in the factory service material, only what you have already done, imo replace the cable.

[Lscman]

If you have early style 11.35" rotors, I can help. Later 10.5" rotor setups are different. The calipers are different. If you have early large rotors, the caliper emergency brake system is quite finicky. The cable return springs must be strong enough for the caliper levers to return all the way to the bracket stops. If they do not return all the way, they will not adjust. One way to adjust the emergency brake manually is to remove the cable pin and work the lever from reset to apply position repeatedly, until the lever wants to sit close to the reset position. After you reinstall the cable pin, it should be tighter. When installing new pads, the piston must be wound so the caliper can just barely be forced onto the rotor without damaging the pads and hose. If there is more cleartance than that and you can feel much play, the emergency brake will not adjust enough to work.

[Avu3]

Thanks LSCman. I 'm sure that is the problem. We wound the piston all the way in. I'll disassemble this coming week and report my findings.

Thanks so much. I was feeling pretty bad about screwing up Pop's car.

Avu3