[Stealth]

my parking brake in my 1980 fleetwood brougham is there, and when i push it i can feel the car slowing down, but the parking brake doesn't engage, not even when the vehicle's in park

now when i look under there, amid all the wires, there's a little horizontal lever that's hooked into something else. when i pull it down, i hear a "pissshhhhh", like a piston or something, (i can only pull it down when the car's in park, otherwise it just pops back up again). then when it's down, i can push on the parking brake, and it stays on... then to release it, i start the car and when i shift from PARK, the brake automatically disengages... it's pretty neat, but i don't believe that every time i want to engage the parking brake i have to first reach under (above the parking brake itself) and find that lever and pull it down. something's not working like it should. does anyone have any ideas or want to school me at this?

 

[BLVDCRUISER]

to be honest your asking for trouble when you use an e brake on an automatic car. they get rusty from not being used and end up sticking...i never touch mine

 

[Stealth]

yeah but i'm going to be using the parking brake from now on. all the time. i had a problem with it sticking, but that was a while ago.

see, whenever i stop my car, i put it in park, then i turn off the engine, and let go of the brake. then the whole car moves a few inches forward or back (depending), and then the transmission stops it, so i hear "UURRRCHHHHHH" of the gears grinding it to a stop. that's why i need the parking brake

 

[1229]

YOU NEED TO REPLACE THE VACUUM SOLENOID THAT CONTROLS THE BRAKE RELEASE, THEY COST AROUND 18 DOLLARS, I HAD TO DO THAT ON MY FIRST CADDY, NOW THE FIRST THING I DO IS REMOVE THE PARKING BRAKE, I HATE THE WAY THEY LOOK.

 

[Stealth]

is it pretty easy to replace? what exactly does it do?