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Contour Emergency brake adjustment

S

svtdoc

Be Gentle I'm New Here
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Messages
3
I have a 98 Scontour SVT.
The handle on the console is at its highest click.
The parking brake is quite not holding. It needs to be adjusted down a few clicks.

I have looked at the brake calipers themselves and the cables. Everything looks fine.
The parking brake lever arms only travel about 1/2" (or less) to fully engauge the parking brakes.

I have read the shop manual about replacing the cables, i.e., dropping the exhaust system, dropping the heat shields. My cables are fine and do not need to be replaced.

I have to say the shop manual on this subject is absolutely terrible.

I do know that the hand brake lever has a "pawl" on it.

I interpret that as a self adjuster, just l;ikle the clutch cable does.

I am presuming that the pawl on my handle is jambed and is not adjustin itself on the cable to regrip the cable in the correct possition?

Has anyone done this adjustment and is it the pawl on the handle that needs to adjust itself?
 
I'm in the same boat, I got my car that way. I pull the handle all of the way up and the rear pads (freshly replaced ceramics) barley grab. Can push the car by hand with the e-brake on.
 
I was always jealous when my friend could pull his e-brake in his Civic while we were moving and completely lock up his rear tires :laugh:

I think it's a contour thing though. I'm better off downshifting in any case of emergency, my e-brake only holds the car in place :blackeye:
 
Last edited:
Berkel said:
I was always jealous when my friend could pull his e-brake in his Civic while we were moving and completely lock up his rear tires :laugh:

I think it's a contour thing though. I'm better off downshifting in any case of emergency, my e-brake only holds the car in place :blackeye:
Click to expand...

haha same thing here. all my friends pull there ebrakes and lock em up and me well i kinda have to power slide hahha :blackeye:
 
OK gentlemen. Was it the pawl on the handle that you found at fault?

Could you fix it or did it need to be replaced?
 
im not quite sure. i havent really taken a look at it. All i know is that when i pull up on it it clicks really fast and it comes up with barely any effort.:shrug:
 
Emergency Brake Not Working

Emergency Brake Not Working

I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to share for posterity, my issues with a non-working parking brake on my 96 Mercury Mystique:

After three years, two brake drum rebuilds, and $1000 (well, that includes replacing the front struts which were misdiagnosed as causing a severe wobbling after one of the rear brake drum rebuilds), I have finally solved the problem which caused the parking brake to not hold and therefore the inspection sticker to be denied (here in TX).


This was the solution: On this style of brake (rear drums) there is a horizontal bar "self adjuster strut" which has a grooved cam and post that provides a wedging action self-adjustment. There is a spring on the bar. The spring was missing (on both rear wheels). Among three mechanics and several parts stores no one recognized this (since you can't really tell that what isn't there, should be).

Even once I realized this there was still tribulation to get it solved. The spring is not part of the standard drum hardware kit. The Haynes manual shows a spring on the bar but it is a different style which hooks in a hole in the bar. My bar had no hole, which caused some confusion on the part of my mechanic. The Ford parts explosion diagram (for Contour/Mystique 1996) shows a completely different style of adjuster. The 2000 Focus
shows this type of adjuster however, and the assembly numbers listed are the same for both (2K286). Indeed is the correct part, so the '96 diagram is just obsolete. Also note there is a left and right strut (yes, this bit me as well because one of the two parts arrived "unpackaged" and turned out to be the same side as the packaged one!). The part numbers are F5RZ*2L511*A and F5RZ*2L512*A. $43.58 each.
With what I know now, were I to be faced with missing springs again, I would just get a couple of them from a salvage yard.

Here is a picture of the adjuster bar...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55332532@N00/3180685882/

Cheers,
John
Temple, Texas
 
EXCELLENT POST and VERY helpful for posterity!

This is the way to do it, folks.
 
I had this problem on my 99 CSVT. I removed the PB cover and inspected the assembly - not hard to do. The pawl assembly has a spring mechanism that had become jammed. I don't know what I did, exactly, but by using a thin, flat-blade screwdriver I was able to un-jam it. Now it works fine. Give this a try before spending money.
I aslo took that opportunity to super-glue the boot back onto the cover at three of the four attachment points. That was about six months ago and it is still holding.
Good luck,
c
 
Agreed. Those adjusters are the biggest pieces of junk I've ever seen. Every other car uses a regular star-wheel (no spring) that you can easily adjust through a knock-out in the backing plate. But ours have this rediculous system instead. Ive often wondered if theres any way to retrofit our drum brakes to a better adjustment system. What does the focus use?
 
mcgarvey said:
Agreed. Those adjusters are the biggest pieces of junk I've ever seen. Every other car uses a regular star-wheel (no spring) that you can easily adjust through a knock-out in the backing plate. But ours have this rediculous system instead. Ive often wondered if theres any way to retrofit our drum brakes to a better adjustment system. What does the focus use?
Click to expand...

Dump the drum brakes and upgrade to the rear disc's. This is a fairly easy mod and well worth the effort.

PS: you don't have to change the approtioning valve with this upgrade.

On the e-brake if the cables are not streached to the max and the rear pads are good I hear that many times the ratchet at the e-brake handle has been messed up. This is right at the rear of the assembly and is usually the cause of the handle needing to be raised too high. It can be reset I have seen the proceedure, but do not have it accessable right now. If the rear pads have been changed and this has not been done then that is as much or more likely the cause not the star adjuster at the wheel. Especially for disc brake cars.

PS remember ALL rear disc brakes are the same..... that goes for SVT's too!

my 2 cents.

AF

OK so I found part of the info in my files, it is on the Ford CD and this is from Terry Haines.

" If you take a look at the Ford CD you will note they tell you to remove the hand brakelever also...Why do I need to do this...many ask??
Simple...The lever assy has a short length of cable that goes to the two rear cables 'balance bar'...That short cable is SELF ADJUSTING for slack in all the cables( this is outside of the self adjusting at the rear calipers).That short cable MUST be as slack as possible for the rear cables to be fitted. To get it slack needs load to pull it backwards under the car WHILE a self adjust 'pawl' is depressed on the leaver...Not possible if you are alone doing this job...This is why the brake lever needs to be removed...to reset the short cable (as per the Ford CD) to its max extended length. Once the rear cable are fitted the lever assy is also reconnected and fitted...The first application of the hand brake will trigger the self adjust at the lever and take up the slack. Trying to fit the rear cables without following this will be a bear and the park brake will drag...
I'm saying that the best way to change the rears is to remove the lever assy and reset the short cable per the Ford CD...."

So the issue may be that short cable and the pawl on the rear of the handle assembly. There was other info that I am not seeing at this time on the very issues in post #1. Again the answer was in this short cable and the other cables. Someone that owned your car before you may have messed something up. The pawl can be messed up by improper replacement of the cables and or trying to reset the hand lever. It all seemed a big enough deal that it stuck in my old mind to review the CD before messing with the cables.

another 2 cents,
AF
 
Focus basically same thing. Best thing you can say, is once you understand which way to rock the eccentric quarter section, you can assemble everything and have the drum/bearing assembly fall right back on loose at reinstall. After that, a couple of brake applications later, it automatically readjusts up good and close. Other than that though they suck. Teeth so small I always wondered how long before enough wear/trash in notch for them to jump teeth and slip. Those teeth need a good close inspection for clean at rebuild time.
 
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