Hey guys, I'm back! So I took my '98 3.2 TL out for a spin today because the brakes were getting a little surface rust on them (I work from home so I don't commute anymore) and I was thinking about this forum and how I haven't posted in a while. And so I found something to post about.

I tested the emergency brake because I figured that if the regular brakes get rusty, the emergency brake probably does, too. No, I didn't do any crazy skids, lol. All I did was use attempt to use the emergency brake to park instead of the regular brake, and to my surprise, had the emergency brake been all I had, I would have rolled straight off the hill and into the yard! It did not do anything. Of course I said screw this and used the foot pedal, lol, but that was scary because I've always figured that if I was driving and the regular brakes failed, I'd use the emergency brake as back-up. The indicator light came on when I used it, but it did not even slow down the car. Although a few weeks ago when I took my wheel off, at first I forgot to use the emergency brake and I was noticing the car lurching forward when I tried to loosen the lug nuts. Then I remembered and pulled the emergency brake and the car stayed put. So it seemed to work in that situation. Any ideas why it doesn't work while the car is in motion?

 

It could be that you're not pulling hard enough on the handle, rear rotors still have surface rust on them, or just out of adjustment, providing that your pads are not worn down to nothing, lol. Glad to see that you're back.

 

Yeah, maybe I wasn't pulling the handle enough... how much can it be pulled up? Can it go a full 90 degrees? Also, do you know if the state inspection would have looked at the emergency brake? The guy did note that my "rear brakes were low," but it still passed.

 

Inspection varies from place to place so can't really tell ya. Don't be afraid to pull on that handle, haha. Pull it as hard as you need to in the event of an emergency.

 

That was it - I wasn't pulling hard enough, lol. I practiced some more and it seems to work.