Parking Brake Sticking in Warm Weather??

We have a parking brake sticking in cold weather thread, so figured I’d make one for warm weather. It was 85 degrees today and I was parking downhill. Pulled up while curbing the tires and set the parking brake/threw it in park. Leave the truck and come back five minutes later, go to kick the e-brake and it disengages at the pedal but not at the wheels. Brake sign was constantly illuminated on the dash. Drove to the bottom of the hill where it was flat and crawled underneath but couldn’t see anything at the wheels or along the line. Engage/disengage a half dozen times and then take a walk around the truck looking at it as if it’ll help. Hop back in the driver seat, give it a kick and the brakes released. Kinda stumped but I’m thinking it’s probably a hangup in the cable/sleeve but also wondering if it could be an issue with my rotors/improper adjustment (had them installed at a local shop that had a great reputation.. I had a different experience). I use my parking brake all the time out of habit so I was a little surprised when it happened. I do have quite a few wires near the brake mechanism (remote start/front camera) so maybe it got hung up. Just spitballing ideas here.. any suggestions?

 

Generally, parking brakes 'lock' when the vehicle force is to the front. As you no doubt know, it is to make them most useful in an emergency stop situation. So if they are locked, you can usually unlock e-brakes by backing up or otherwise taking the load off them from going forward. Doesn't sound as if you have a problem.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I’ll give that a try if it happens again

 

Should be fine. Good luck.

 

Look at the parking brake cable mechanism under the the truck on driver’s side passenger seat. It’s a cluster of a mechanism having multiple pivot points that can corrode and stick and hang up. On my 2010 it wouldn’t fully release The brake tension causing shaking. I discovered hot rear wheels due to the parking brake mechanism not releasing.

Under warranty I had the dealer fix it. They failed. I think they lightly oiled it which did little to free it up. I cleaned up the mechanism (lots of rust and corrosion on the mechanism. The underside elsewhere was pretty rust free) freeing it up and lubricating it. Annually I lubricated it and checked its operation to make it was free. I also started coating my undercarriage before winter with a good coat of fluid film which also helped. When it would stick you could hardly move the mechanism and the return spring could not pull it to off when released at the dash.

So I would check that especially if you don’t use your ebrake.