I bought a 2002 DeVille two days ago and when I got home, I tried the parking brake. Well, now it's stuck. The parking brake pedal released automatically when I put it in reverse, but the brake is still stuck at the rear wheels. (When I jacked up the car, the rear wheels won't budge, at all.

I found three lines going to the brakes: the ABS line, the brake line, and a cable with a spring. I assume this is the parking brake line. The spring is compressed, as I would have expected.

Can I just take a rubber mallet and pound the lever at the end of the spring to release the parking brake? Both sides are stuck, by the way. I will get the parking brake fixed at some point, but for right now, I just need the rear wheels to move.

I don't want to start messing with anything until I have some direction.

Thanks in advance!

 

you should have a MANUAL release under the dash, usually left of the steering column ...

OWNER's Manual ?



.

 

if the brakes did release as i think they did.
the rear cable r more likely stuck
the way to release them is use a screw driver where u see the spring pushing on the metal hinge and return the metal hinge back to rest just take a little pry should not be very hard when at rest it should be resting against the pin that sticks up

 

I know about the manual release. I tried that as well. The pedal/manual release let go perfectly fine, so the issue is further back in the system.

 

This is the direction I needed and now I know what the hardware is supposed to look like at its resting position. I will give it a try once the kids go down for a nap. Thank you!

 

The cable is stuck somewhere, or pinched. Since BOTH sides are locked up, I would start looking ahead of the "Y" junction, where the two cables come together, once you get it released, and decide to repair it.

 

Ya, I ended up using a rubber mallet to get the brake unstuck--3 seconds on one side and 25 minutes on the other.

Had a shop look at it for free and wanted $300 just for a new parking brake cable plus a bunch more to install it.

I figure I will forget about it for now and just make sure my front wheels are against the curb if I park on a hill so I don't get the parking fork stuck, too.