Parking Brake Hangs On

[ral1960]

This week I finally figured out that's the reason my 2004 Deville is sluggish the first mile or two in freezing weather. A few times, the pedal has balked at coming all the way up, which should have tipped me off. Even when the pedal works normally, the car is sluggish.

I assume the parking brake still acts on the rear wheels, as in the ancient time.

Has anyone else had this problem, and how did you fix it? I imagine I need new rear pads after 2 winters of this, so I'll be taking it to a mechanic for that. Could a simple cleaning of the pistons fix it, or could it be the brake line or pedal?

[Ranger]

Yes you will need new rear pads and probably rotors as well. Probably one of the parking brake cables got moisture inside, rusted and is hanging up. It will need to be replaced.

[ral1960]

Thanks, Ranger.

If only one cable is bad, wouldn't the car pull to one side?
It sounds like an expensive repair. I may just not use the parking brake in cold weather.

[submariner409]

The Seville series has the same sluggish (or stuck) parking brake cable thing. The trick is to either not use it at all or exercise it frequently by applying the parking brake in ever increasing amounts, releasing it each time, to keep the cables free. Very poor design, and subject to all sorts of hangups.

Don't forget that the rear caliper pucks must be screwed back into the caliper rather than just compressed. The pucks take up slack in the parking brake system by ratcheting out a click or two during application in order to compensate for wear because otherwise the mechanical caliper operation would tend to simply compress a standard puck back into the caliper.

[ral1960]

I have no idea what a caliper puck is, but I suppose a brake mechanic will know to screw it in. It's only a problem when it sits overnight in cold weather. I was afraid it was the transmission.

I just remembered that the automatic brake release on my 74 Fleetwood rarely worked. You had to kick the pedal up with the manual release lever. I was surprised the Deville doesn't have the automatic release.

I hope my 2004 doesn't develop other problems the 74 had: timing chain, hood hinges, water pump, radiator, exhaust manifold bolts, air shocks, wiper switch, A/C switch, water in the trunk, and rust. And 13 mpg.

[Ranger]

It won't pull if it is a rear brake.

Sub is referring to the caliper pistons when he says "puck".

The Deville DOES have an automatic parking brake release (unless they did away with it in '04).

[99Classillac]

Yea they did away with it. I thought all 2000+ Devilles did away with it. Ranger you have auto release? My 99 Deville had auto release but I have a 2004 DTS that I must kick down on the park brake to release. No auto release there. Surprised the hell outta me the first time. I rode a half mile before I realized the park brake was still on.

[Ranger]

Yeah, mine is auto release.

[99Classillac]

WHAT?! WTF? I feel jipped! I so miss auto release! Auto release is the shit. I think the kick down to release just screams cheap and cheesy car. Do you have the auto trunk pull down?

[Ranger]

No, I think they did away with that in 2000. Always like that feature.

[99Classillac]

Yea. Made caddies stand out. I wish they woulda kept the auto park release too. Guess GM just gets cheaper every year. One day caddies are gonna be rebadged chevy's. Literally.

[ral1960]

My 74 had the trunk pull down. On a ski trip, I used it 3 times and the battery was dead. After getting it jumped, I was the third car to hit an ice patch and totalled a Mustang II. My tank would have been driveable if the battery hadn't hit the radiator and shorted.

[99Classillac]

Lol, I bet that big sucker was a tank. Great that u totalled a Ford. We can always use less of them on the road.