Emergency brake stuck? - Car Troubleshooting


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Emergency brake stuck?

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Megatron78
New User

Dec 3, 2009, 10:31 PM

Post #1 of 4 (4834 views)

Emergency brake stuck?	Sign In

Hi,

I am having a burning smell coming from the read passenger wheel of my car. I am not sure if it's a rubber or an electric smell or something else.

For the past few weeks my emergency brake light on my dashboard has been lit. I ignored it mostly as sometimes it would be on and sometimes I would start up my car and it would be off. My car has had some weird harmless electric issues with my dashboard lights for years. Just thought maybe it was another little computer or electric thing that was no big deal.

The past few day though I have noticed that I experience loud noise in my car once over 45 or mph. Like a place noise or something.

Also I noticed that it seems hard on my car to get up much over 45 mph.

Tonight when I got out of my car is when I noticed the burning smell coming from the rear of the car. And I suddenly remembered the emergency brake light being lit for the last few weeks and started wondering if my emergency brake could be stuck.

I know that driving with the emergency brake can produce a "funny" smell as Mitch Hedburgh talks about it in a skit he did. He called it the "Emergency make the car smell funny lever" or something.

So I went outside to do some tests.

First I turned the car on and began to pull the ebrake lever up and down hoping that the light in the dashboard would go off. No luck.

Then, I thought that IF the ebrake is stuck then when I leave the lever down and it is really stuck then I shouldn't be able to push the car in neutral, right? Well I left the lever down and I could in fact push the car. I then tried to push the car with the ebrake up and of course I couldn't.

I plan on taking the car in tomorrow unless these symptoms describe a situation that someone here thinks that could remedy myself. I don't know Sh!t about cars but don't have to be at work for 15 hours from now and I have a jack and a few tools.

Thanks for any help!

Here is my car info:

Year of vehicle - '01
Make of vehicle - Nissan
Model of vehicle - Sentra (manual transmission)
Engine size - 2.0
Mileage - 150

Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
Sidom profile image

Dec 3, 2009, 11:08 PM

Post #2 of 4 (4830 views)

Re: Emergency brake stuck?	Sign In

Well if you can push the car in neutral by yourself it doesn't sound like the brk is stuck on. If you are sure it the rears the smell is coming from, I would jack up the rear & take a look at the rear brks and see if you have a fluid leak getting onto the shoes. Also just barely loosen the lugnuts so you can get them off easily while it's in the air but leave them snug so you can see if the is any play in bearings by wiggling the the tire from top to bottom and then side to side......

Megatron78
New User

Dec 3, 2009, 11:37 PM

Post #3 of 4 (4828 views)

Re: Emergency brake stuck?	Sign In

Thanks for the reply!

I did some more research and found that the ebrake light coming on can also be a warning that brake fluid is low. Is this true on a cars?

Anyway, I checked my brake fluid level. The is a "max" line and a "min" line. My cars brake fluid was slightly below the "min" line.

Could this be the problem that is cause the loud humming sound and the smell? Also, I just thought that my car has been pulling the the left while driving.

Thanks for any further help!

Sidom
Veteran / Moderator
Sidom profile image

Dec 4, 2009, 12:36 AM

Post #4 of 4 (4827 views)

Re: Emergency brake stuck?	Sign In

Yes it sounds like there is a fluid leak and the low level will cause the light to come on.

You need to take the wheels off to find out where the leak is, this won't cause a humming noise. It's possible you may have a tire with a choppy tread pattern or a bearing going out causing the noise...........

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