Hey it's Duke today and I have a sticky situation.....my parking brake. We've all been there. You park your vehicle on a steeper-than-usual hill and worry it might roll down while you're running your errands. So you decide you'll use the parking brake. When you get back, you release the parking brake, hit the ignition, put it in gear and—uh, oh—you can feel the parking brake is still on. It's stuck. What do you do now?
Welcome to the world of infrequently-used parking brakes. Yes, they do stick for several reasons. It's common for components to corrode and get locked up. Sometimes, if you have applied it extra hard, it can jam. It could be a rusty cable, or it could be a spring that doesn't return the brake to its disengaged position. Some pieces just break when they're stressed for the first time in a while. A caliper or the pivot arm it's on can also stick.
There are a few things you can try to unstick it. Carefully rock your vehicle by putting it first in drive and then reverse. You have to be careful doing that, though, because sometimes you can damage the transmission. You can try working the parking brake control a few times to see if that will loosen the corrosion. If you can't unstick it, you can try driving slowly a short distance to a repair facility near you. Sometimes it won't cause damage to the brakes but it depends on how tightly the parking brake was applied and what was stuck. You may also have to have your vehicle towed to a repair facility.
In any case, once you've noticed these symptoms, have your vehicle's brakes inspected by a professional who can address the root cause. Better yet, don't let your vehicle get into this condition; regular maintenance and inspections by a trained technician should prevent you from getting stuck somewhere due to a stuck parking brake. You could use a "brake" like that.
I leave you with my sticky joke for the week,
"Why are millionaires sticky? Because they are rolling in dough."
Duke
Allied Auto Works
2073 Grant Road
Los Altos, CA 94024
6509687227
http://alliedautoworks.com