Need help fixing my faulty E-Brake

Had this for a while, and kind of dealt with it but it’s kind of annoying seeing a light on that doesn’t need to be there necessarily. Everytime I disengage the e-brake on my truck this same thing happens, where I can’t make it so it’ll stop showing me my e-brake is on, when in reality it’s not engaged. I’ll be able to play with it and push it back in and the light will turn off, but then it’ll just move out and the light will turn on again.

here’s a video showing it: https://youtu.be/Wb2R6VR0bjA

thanks in advance

 

Very common first gen Tacoma thing. My 96 did it the day I bought it and my 04 does it too. That’s why I’m not a fan of that style of e-brake. What I usually do is put it all the way down, drive away and then pull it out slightly and push it back in a couple times hard (make sure you’re holding the button on the back).

 

Mine tends to do this time after time.

How does your ebrake hold right now?

When my light is on, my ebrake is super weak & doesn’t hold the truck on inclines, it lurches downhill (in any gear it’s in- doesn’t matter if reverse or 1st)

I put new brakes on in the rear and did the adjustment with the little brake adjuster spinning gear on the inside of the drum assembly.

Now the brakes are super tight, light is gone & I trust it again.

My brakes don’t self-adjust, so after time I need to adjust em myself. So see if that helps.

Another thing to try is to go under the truck and look at the cable under the driver seat basically. See if it’s corroded & wont allow the cable to return fully into where it should, thus pushing the handle back out. Hit it with wd40 and a wire brush and pull the handle a bunch of times to loosen the crud off to free the cable.

Hope this helps!

 

Mine does this when it gets too loose. Should only have 12 or so clicks when you pull the e-brake handle, more than that and it's too loose which will trigger the light if it's loose enough.

I tighten mine via this method under the truck, works great...until it gets loose again lol. Usually lasts awhile though.

http://www.lieblweb.com/ebrakeadjustment.html

Definitely something that effects us manual trans guys more than the autos, since we use/rely on ours a lot more often.

 

It holds really well right now I can park on inclines and so fourth fine without rolling. As far as the cable, do you have any pictures of where it’s located?

 

Check the link I posted, it has pictures of where the e-brake arm is..and a step by step guide on how to tighten it. All you need are a couple hand wrenches, takes a couple minutes.

 

Will do thanks

 

I had this issue with my Tacoma, and for me, it ended up being the fact that over the 22 years the cable that actuates the entire system stretches. This doesn't pull the E Brake handle into the dash and doesn't allow the handle to depress the button that is needed to turn off the light. I chased the issue for a little while until I was able to track down where to adjust that cable. Along the driver side frame rail, nearly under the driver seat. There is a small lever arm and on it there is a barrel adjuster with a threaded rod through it. On the side facing the front of the truck there is a Jam nut to keep it from moving. Loosen that jam nut and adjust the threaded rod until there is very little play, but a little bit, in the cable and tighten the Jam nut. And that should solve the issue, as well as the handle will feel better when being pulled out and it will pull itself back in better.
Sorry for the blurry photo but that circled thing is the location it is in and where you can adjust it.

 

Tried for 40 minutes, worked when I first tightened it but then did the same exact thing.
I’m pretty sure it has something to do with my cable just being way too old and so fourth. Any other ideas? I’ll try again tomorrow but I don’t know what’ll change

 

Right near the gas pedal there is a little jockey wheel that the cable rides on. Check and makes sure that the cable is in fact on the wheel. It helps keep it in line, and makes sure it goes in and out reliably.

 

yeah it’s on the wheel that’s one of the first things I checked. I actually didn’t even realize it but I ended up fixing it after I gave up on it. Thanks for the help!

 

Fixed it. Gave up on it to go for it tomorrow but realized when I parked it that I had fixed the tension and it is now pressing down the button enough to show that it’s off

 

Spray lube and a $3.99 Ace hardware spring is the fix.
I thought all Taco owners knew this.

 

not sure what you mean by this, could you please write an essay explaining it?
No but I fixed it, but in case it doesn’t work do you mean attaching the spring to the button thingy as well as the e-brake in order to make it pull itself back when it’s not engaged?

 

So you fixed it but just in case you didn't fix it I should write an essay at your request explaining how to fix what you now say you fixed.If I got this right please respond with
NEVERMIND
OOOOOOKAAAAAyyyy

 

nevermind but maybe a quick explanation on how the spring method works would be nice

 

When the sun comes up if and when it stops raining and my help shows up we will attempt a short video of how to fix the problem you already fixed and post it to dumbtube so we can all share this wealth of knowledge with the whole world through Google.
Any thoughts for the Title of said dumtude video.
Oh wait
It's on YouTube already



Because I'm nice?

 

yup!

 

But seriously
Look at the Gizmo mounted on the frame rail under the drivers side. Spray them doohickeys with TW approved Tacoma miracle Jiz Fluid Film.
If the spring is still there you're lucky.
If the spring is missing you're fukd unless you can guess what size it is cuz I forgot and not gonna lie on da wet ground to measure.

 

It's a work around fix that people came up with instead of adjusting the cable like it says in the service manual.