Corolla Brake Problem

[Jer]

Today I bit the bullet and tackled my first ever drum brake job on my 1998 corolla. I found a helpful video online and followed it to a T until I noticed one of my wheel cylinders leaking. SO I replaced both of them since I was going to have it apart anyway. Put it all back together.... was feeling proud as can be.... and then I noticed I have no parking brake. I put everything back together exactly as it should have been. I took it all back apart just to double check.... then triple check. My question is, when you take all that stuff apart is it normal for it to screw up the parking brake? It was fine before I started this project but now it will raise all the way up and not stop the vehicle in any way. I typically only use the parking brake at night when my car is parked on our sloped driveway. HELP!!!!!
Thanks
Jer

 

[Scott O'Kashan]

Hi Jer.

The parking brake cable goes all the way to the rear brake shoes and attaches directly to them. If the parking brake is now not working at all, somehow the parking brake cable is now not attached to the rear brake shoes anymore.

 

[Jer]

I assure you they are connected on both sides just as they were before I took them off. I have checked it over and over. I even had the wife pull the brake lever inside the car and I could watch the brake move without the drum on it. So I know its working. Its just not working well enough to keep the car from moving. You can pull the brake all the way up while driving it and it has no effect on the car at all.

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Keep engaging and dis-engaging the parking brake until self-adjustment is complete. It may take a while. Next time you do the drums, you will see a shaft with a gear on it. You need to turn that gear until the shoes are just about to hit the drums, then back off a turn.

That is the adjuster, and the e-brake handles it automatically once set.

 

[Scott O'Kashan]

It may be so out of whack then that it needs adjusting to properly function again.

When you replaced the wheel cylinders, did you bleed the brake lines?

 

[Jer]

Thats what I didnt do. I adjusted the star wheel in as far as it would go but didnt adjust them out until the shoes were just about to hit the drums. I just left them all the way in. I will take them apart and do them again. I did bleed the brakes once the new wheel cylinders were installed.

 

[Jer]

Keep engaging and dis-engaging the parking brake until self-adjustment is complete. It may take a while. Next time you do the drums, you will see a shaft with a gear on it. You need to turn that gear until the shoes are just about to hit the drums, then back off a turn.

That is the adjuster, and the e-brake handles it automatically once set.

So I took the wheels and hubs off again and this time I adjusted that gear until the drums just barely fit and then backed it off a little. I then drove the car in reverse and hit the brakes like 7-8 times and.......It worked! Brakes feel tighter and the parking brake works like a charm! Thanks everybody. I know I said I did it exactly like the video shows but what I guess I missed this part. Thanks everyone for all the help! 1998 Corolla now has 162000 miles and a complete tune up, new brakes, wheels balanced, tires rotated and ready for another 162000. Or more!

 

[Donabed Kopoian]

Glad I could help. Nice job keeping up on the car! You'll easily hit your target of 332,000 miles when these cars are maintained properly.

 

[Jer]

Glad I could help. Nice job keeping up on the car! You'll easily hit your target of 332,000 miles when these cars are maintained properly.

Actually, my goal is to beat the record at the Toyota dealer in Herculaneum Missouri. There is a corolla there they call THE MOON CAR because it has 489,000 miles on it on the original engine. Thats the same distance to the moon and back. Just to get to 450,000 miles I would have to keep driving my car to and from work daily for the next 12 years. My car will be 28 years old by then! Dont know if it will happen but we shall see!

 

[autotech2612]

I'm at 233,000 miles. If my goal is 400,000 miles and I travel 11,000 miles a year, it's going to take me about 15 years to get to that point. May get sick of the car before then and purchase newer Toyota.