Hi everyone first post but have been on sight for awhile. Anyways today was heading out and noticed when I stopped and went to set my e-brake the lever had no resistance but I was on flat ground and didn't have time to check it out. Drove home and parked on hill and e-brake barely worked and now it does not work at all. Any ideas I am going to dig into it tommorow. Do these cars have an internal drum inside the disc or does it use the main caliper? 2008 HHR SS 5sp black and just hit 37,000 miles so its out of warranty. The E-brake has always been weaker than I liked but it is gone now and it feels like something snapped or broke as the shift handle goes all the way up easily and usually it is hard to pull it past half way.
Thanks
David

 

You have 5 year 100 thousand mile warranty. Wont that cover it?

 

3 year 36,000 bumper to bumper, 5 year 100,000 mile is only on powertrain and when you look at the parts that are covered the braking system is not included if it is that would be nice I will call the dealer Monday to see if they can cover anything if it is something major broke. I will find out tomorrow when I pull it apart.

 

Thats a pretty crucial system on a manual tranny,, I know I'd push them on a safety aspect

 

Look underneath for obvious things.. Like cable hanging, etc..

 

operate the e brake handle a few times until it gets readjusted....you guys that don't hardly ever use your e brake need to do so to work the self adjusters for the rears...it s not auto matic on the e braqke.....normal brakes adj off of hyd pressures, e brake is mechanical by means of a threaded mechanism.

 

Like Woody said!

If you have not been using the E brake it will also give you a low pedal too when you step on the brakes.

Just step on the bake pedal and work the lever. It will take some pulls to make it ratchet up.

Most people unaware of how this adjust have similar issues on automatic cars.

 

I use the E-Brake frequently as its a stick and the first thing I did was to use it several time to try and adjust itself also this happened all at once. I checked underneath and nothing broke outside cables looked good. Checked where they go into cabin under console and I could pull the drivers side out the cable was still intact so either the other cable broke or the connector that connects the handle to both sides broke. Anyone pull the console out before? It can't be to hard to do it's just frusterating having several problems in this new of a car and most of them were assembly issues from the factory and now its out of warranty. I am capable of doing most repairs but I bought the car as a fun daily driver and not to work on.

 

I'm guessing the Nico-Press style round stop has slipped from the 1/16" air-craft cable. if thats the case then its in the mounting unit for the E-Brake. EB's are typically a cable pull for the odd event you lose complete hydro pressure, or in my case, you want to try a 180. I would think its a cable issue since there is no resistance at all.

$.02 I was always taught to use the WB no matter what, otherwise its the tranny holding the car in place, and that ain't smart even on flat ground for either a 5sp or auto.

 

Does this apply to non-SS drum brake HHRs' too ?

I'm more used to backing up & hitting the brake swiftly about 3 X