I was waiting for the wife at work & decided to do a quick trans fluid check in neutral, went to press down on the e-brake and... DINK!

Cable snapped somewhere I don't know yet...Did a quick pull on the cable by the rear & didn't budge..everything looks, felt sound.. nothing is hanging
If I did have to change it, is it difficult?

 

No, they are not dificult to replace. The front cable (from pedal to equalizer/adjuster) is usually the one that breaks. There's a clip that holds it to the pedal assembly, a couple brackets that hold it to the underside of the vehicle and a nut where it passes through the equalizer/adjuster. When installing the new one a piece of flexible wire fed down through the floorboard then wrapped around the eye on the cable will make routing it to the pedal assembly a breeze.

If it's one of the rear ones they're even simpler to replace. Disconnect the cable from the equalizer/adjuster and the parking brake lever at the wheel and it's off.

 

I just tried looking underneath & I can't really see were its starting. I think it may be hidden somewere in the underbody... Not comfortable jacking up the monte with no e-brake/parking brake.. Just gonna take it to the shop next week & eat the price.

 

sucked it up & bought a replacement cable from work...$15 isn't too bad. Crawled underneath & seen the cable snapped at the driver side caliper. The whole assembly is rusted out....

Nice to know how safe it is for me to be under the car Stopping off at the mechanic saturday morning.

 

Don't worry Jen, I've been without a functioning ebrake for almost a year parking on hills and I'm still alive

I do wish you could attempt it or at least find out how the process is done. I'd like to know what to expect when I have to rebuild mine.

Let me know how this goes?

 

I never feel safe without the e-brake. There are some hills in this area so I use it often as a safety. Its bad enough I don't trust the car on jacks its so rusted out.

 

Personally:
I havent even...EVER... tried mine!

I wonder if after 14 yrs its still functional?
Theres no hilly rds or Mountains here in Michigan to even consider useing it.

Hope its not to , Difficult or pricey Jen, Should you deceide to have someone else do the repair for you.

 

If it really is that bad then you might want to make a thorough pass under the lift while they're working on it to make sure the rust isn't eating through anything else... Like your brake lines.

 

I squeezed my way underneath to check it out and yea...lets just say there was a reason why I didn't lower the car on my taxes..

There is so much that needs to be changed.. I'll crawl under tomorrow again to take a picture & show you guys how bad the rear is. On a side note of my monte rusting to bits, I'm starting to get a loud bang/knock in the suspension on the driver front. I'm assuming the mounts are shot...same with the shocks. I'm really hoping it lasts until I start collecting parts again.

The brake lines are surprisingly ok. No idea how but they are good.