03grey5

So today, I parked and pulled up my e-brake but I think it pulled it up too hard. I heard a huge click/pop sound so I tried to disengage and engage the parking brake but noticed that the lever had no resistance whatsoever. I then tried to put the car in park and see if the parking brake would catch, but the car kept moving forward. Anybody know if this is an expensive fix? Or any knowledge of anything I can check out myself before I take it into a shop?

Any and all replies are appreciated.

Thanks.

healthservices

Automatic?

How is the parking brake related to the transmission?

John@Motorcepts

seems like the cable came loose or maybe worse broke. U need to check the ebrake wires underneath the car and the ebrake itself. Best way it to get it on a lift or lift it up with jackstands and see

03grey5

it's auto. related to transmission? I put it in Drive to see if the ebrake would prevent the car from moving forward but it didn't.

john, do you know how much it usually runs to get the cable reconnected if it is the cable, and how much t would cost for the latter?

v_therussian

I had the same problem after some a-hole hit my car while it was parked. I believe I was told that the e-brake is by-wire and all I needed was to have it "programmed" by the dealer - that make any sense to anyone? I wanna say the job listed for well under 200 on the repair summary, so either way it shouldn't be the end of the world.

toyota2bmw

Electronic parking brake comes in E65/66s and some of the higher model BMWs. The E60s have a (actually 2) cable that is pulled to engage the parking brakes inside the rear brake rotors. Although it's really hard to do, if you heard a loud snap/pop, there is a good chance you may have pulled too hard on it and snap the cable. Best case, the cables came out of their seats. Since the cable is a one piece deal and there are one for each side, you will need to determine and replace the broken line as a whole. Although not mechanical, this will be an involved repair as you will need to follow the line from the hand brake to the rear and you will end up undoing the underside covering of the car. I have the TIS loaded on my Windows XP. Let me look up what's really involved.

v_therussian

If there are two cables and his e-brake isn't catching at all, does that mean both cables snapped?

toyota2bmw

Well he won't know until he removes the center console to see if the cables simple popped out of their sockets on the hand brake. If it's still intact, then the only thing left is the cables. Point of break won't be clear until he traces the lines. The TIS attachments should help.

SilberGrauE60

I think by "e-brake" he meant emergency brake, not electronic brake, and was referring to the hand brake. He simply popped the cabling off the handle, and like has been said, it needs to be re-attached via the center console housing. It happened to me under warranty, so I had the dealer fix it for free. Since then, I have been gentler setting the hand brake and no further issues.

pauliehcfr

I had the same problem. you need to remove the center console to fix it. behind the handle where it pulls the cables was a retainer of some sort thaqt pops out causing this type of problem. i set the retainer back in place and adjusted the parking brake and it has been good since