Parking Brake Cable Loose

[mranderson214]

Hey Everyone,

I have a problem with my explorer that maybe someone on here can help out with. I have a 2002 XLT, V6 engine, roughly 180K miles on it. The car runs great but recently something strange happened.

So the other night I went to park on a hill and put the shifter in Park. I had noticed that the car moved back a little bit (due to the hill). So i pushed the parking brake down in attempts to protect the transmission from the strain of being parked on a hill the whole night. I ended up having to push the parking brake pedal so a bit further than normal. Upon doing so, i heard the what sounded like a popping sound.

Now what happens is that the parking brake pedal seems to move freely throughout its mechanism. When pulling the release lever, the brake doesn't spring all the way up; I have to use my hand to lift it up completely so that the red "Brake (!)" light goes off from the dashboard. Pulling the release lever alone doesn't seem to spring the pedal fully back up but almost all the way up, though not enough to disable the "Brake" light.

When pushing the pedal down in attempt to engage the parking brake, the pedal moves freely down as if there were no tension within the cables.

I managed to get a look at the cable and brake pedal assembly from the INSIDE of the car but I haven't jacked it up yet. I plan to look under the car tomorrow. From the inside, I see the metal tension cable that the pedal should control. The pedal still appears to be attached to the cable as when I move the pedal, the cable moves. There is a lot of play in the cable's movement though. I am able to move the cable a bit with pliers (or fingers) from inside the car. The rest of the assembly appears fine, just the way I've known it to always look.

One thing that I should mention is that for the past few months, I realized that the parking brake pedal needed to be pushed further and further down each time in order to hold the vehicle when parked on a hill. I had previously read about parking brake adjustments but never done one. The night I heard that popping sound, I had to push the pedal down to nearly the floor and well, here I am now.

I don't think that its the brake pads for the parking brake as the parking brake had worked fine at holding the vehicle in place before. Not to mention that I had my brakes changed about a year ago and the mechanic (who I trust) said that the parking brakes looked good.

So, my question is, before I jack up the car tomorrow, what are some things that I can look for? I read up on some adjustment procedures but I'm not sure if that's what my problem is. I've already narrowed the problem down to something under-the-body, as everything in the passenger compartment appears intact but the metal brake cable. It seems as though the cable lost its tension somehow. Does it sound like I might need an adjustment?

Thanks in advance!

 

[xlt03]

Sounds like the cable snapped or the connectors that connect the cable segments broke. Look under the truck on the driver side and follow the cable. Be sure to follow the cable and cable housing all the way to the rear rotors and backing plate. Post back your observations and solution.

 

[mranderson214]

Thanks for the response XLT03,

I jacked it up and I realize that the cable did split. It broke right before the splitter. The splitter that I am referring to is the one that is right around the rear drivers side door, where the one cable splits into two different cables for each wheel. The bracket that holds the cables in place is still intact as well. It seems that it is just the front section of the brake cable.

It seems like a job that I can do myself but I have two questions. Is it hard to access/remove the cable from the pedal assembly inside the truck? And does anyone know if the Explorer Sport uses the same "front" parking cable as the XLT?

Thanks!

 

[xlt03]

Go to this website to view parts. Others bought from them and says prices are great. Tasca Partshttp://www.fordparts.com/tasca

 

[mranderson214]

Thanks, I ordered the part.

The one thing that I'm concerned about is getting the cable out from the pedal assembly. When I looked at the pedal assembly, it seemed unnecessarily complex. Any idea if I will have to take out the whole parking brake pedal assembly to change just the cable? I couldn't find any clear pictures or diagrams that show where/how the cable connects to the pedal assembly.

 

[xlt03]

If I recall correctly, it is spring wound at the pedal assembly. If you look at the assembly on the right side you should see a hole. This where you insert a nail after pulling the cable out. Grasp the broken cable with vise grip from under the vehicle, have a helper insert the nail in the hole of the assembly to prevent cable from retracting. Now replace the cable.

 

[mranderson214]

My apologies for the late reply, I had to send the part back to get another replacement. The replacement of the replacement finally came and it seems to be the correct length. The problem that I encountered is as follows.

I see where the cable wraps around the pedal assembly, but I cannot access it. I tried to take the entire assembly off from the body of the car in attempts to access it. I removed three screws holding the assembly to the body but it appears that something (at the top of the assembly) is still holding it in place. I notice that Ford has a wire harness at the top of the assembly which made accessing the topmost of the 3 screws a little challenging.

Even with the assembly loosened, it seems that accessing that pulley that the cable sits on will be a pain. Is there any easier way to get the cable detached from the assembly besides removing the whole assembly from the body? I tried playing around with the holes mentioned in the last post, but I didn't encounter anything that resembled a place where I could get the old cable off the assembly. And, if I was able to get it off, it would be even more of a pain to get the new cable back into such a narrow space.

Thanks!