E-brake doesn't hold

[srvE30]

Brake handle has tension and the car "pulls" but the brake doesn't hold the car on a hill. It goes rolling on down. Any ideas?

[ELVA164]

How much adjustment have you put into the cables? Sounds like the shoes might just be worn out and can't reach the drum enough. Also, I believe spec adjustment is 5-7 clicks until the handle stops moving.

[srvE30]

It's all adjusted right. I'm sure it's something under the car. That might be the issue. The car still has some old stuff from when it was garaged for 10+ years

[AndrewBird]

Pull the rear disks and check it out.

Also, how do you know they are adjusted correctly? I mean, the correct adjustment is where at 5-7 clicks, it holds the car. Are the nuts on the cables adjusted all the way down?

[srvE30]

Yes. It was sitting a bit high originally.

[ELVA164]

Sounds like the shoes to me, or possibly stretched cables.

[jlevie]

My first suspicion is that the parking brake has been incorrectly adjusted by fiddling with the cables. The correct way to adjust is to:

1) Lower the hand brake and loosen the cable adjusters.

2) Working through a lug bolt hole turn the star adjuster until the wheel
locks using a flat-bladded screwdriver. I just turn the adjuster until it
doesn't want to turn any more. Then back off the adjuster 12 clicks. Repeat
for the other wheel. Note that the star adjuster is at the 6 o'clock position
on later cars, but at the 10-11 o'clock position on an E30.

3) Raise and lower the hand brake several times to settle the cables. Then
raise the lever two clicks and tighten the adjusters until the wheel can just
be turned with moderate force.

[srvE30]

My first suspicion is that the parking brake has been incorrectly adjusted by fiddling with the cables. The correct way to adjust is to:

1) Lower the hand brake and loosen the cable adjusters.

2) Working through a lug bolt hole turn the star adjuster until the wheel
locks using a flat-bladded screwdriver. I just turn the adjuster until it
doesn't want to turn any more. Then back off the adjuster 12 clicks. Repeat
for the other wheel. Note that the star adjuster is at the 6 o'clock position
on later cars, but at the 10-11 o'clock position on an E30.

3) Raise and lower the hand brake several times to settle the cables. Then
raise the lever two clicks and tighten the adjusters until the wheel can just
be turned with moderate force.

Will go over again. Thanks

[Cletonius]

My first suspicion is that the parking brake has been incorrectly adjusted by fiddling with the cables. The correct way to adjust is to:

1) Lower the hand brake and loosen the cable adjusters.

2) Working through a lug bolt hole turn the star adjuster until the wheel
locks using a flat-bladded screwdriver. I just turn the adjuster until it
doesn't want to turn any more. Then back off the adjuster 12 clicks. Repeat
for the other wheel. Note that the star adjuster is at the 6 o'clock position
on later cars, but at the 10-11 o'clock position on an E30.

3) Raise and lower the hand brake several times to settle the cables. Then
raise the lever two clicks and tighten the adjusters until the wheel can just
be turned with moderate force.

Thanks for the steps Jim. Been meaning to adjust my brake for a while now

[Roysneon]

I'm having the same issues. I have new hardware, new shoes, new disks and replaced one broken cable. the car slowly rolls ahead even with the shoes adjusted outward just enough that they let the wheel roll and the cables are adjusted as tight as I can get them. The cables bring the shoes tight against the drums but the car will still creep if on a hill.

I'm going to try to go through the procedure Jim suggests and hope it works for me.

[jlevie]

If you don't follow the procedure above and just adjust the cables, the operating lever that expands the shoes won't have the leverage that it should and the shoes won't be clamped tight to the drum.