My house has a inclined driveway(nothng drastic(, so I give it a good pull on the hand and slowly release my foot from the brake pedal the car rolls back and continues to roll until i press on the brake again I have to pull it unitl i hear 1-2 more clicks then it holds. The last 1-2 clicks you have to pull on it with some decent force. Is this normal? Ive heard of stories where people pull up their handbrakes only to come out to find their ca had rollen into the street cause the brakes cool down and the disk contracted and the handbrake wasnt pulled up hard enough to hold the car so I leave the car in gear now.

 

Good idea, I'd leave the car in 1st gear too if I was you...on top of the hand brake if you wish but leave it in gear...don't listen to the gear damage theory...your car leaving the driveway is much worse...heard something a long while back about weak handbrakes but can't remember...

 

When my garage is full and I have to park to Z in the driveway (on an incline) I always do the following..

1.) Put car in first gear (Or reverse, depending if I drove in or backed in)

2.) With my foot still engaging the clutch, apply the hand brake. (Make sure you engage it fully!)

3.) Take my foot off the BRAKE and the car will move SLIGHTLY but will stop and then be secure.

4.) Now remove my foot off the clutch.

This assures that I have no pressure or strain on the transmission.

 

Good list 03 Z for ME. I also but a brick under the rear wheel. Over the past 15 years, three of our cars have rolled down the hill and crashed into the stone wall across the street. Even if the odds of rolling down the hill are 1 in 1000, my car will roll down the hill every two years or so. The brick improves my odds.

Also the 350 has a small drum for emergency brake. The disc isn't part of the EB. The nice thing about this is that the EB can be used safely even when the brakes are really hot. No need to worry about warpage of rotor.

 

i also noticed when i took the manual for a test drive that i had to really yank on the parking brake in order to keep the car from rolling... and that was only on a slight incline. i read of people on this forum taking the car in to the dealer to have the hand brake adjusted. dont remember the outcome.

 

Yes, my parking brake is virtually worthless (unless you really yard on it!).

I always use the transmission to keep the car in place on all but completely flat ground.

 

I noticed my hand brake was weak from day one.........looks like I am not alone. I think I will see if it needs adjustment next time I am in for service.

 

unless your on a totally flat surface... leave the car in First goin up hill... reverse going down hill...

 

Mine works fine, but you have to pull it all the way up, it will hold on any incline. I asked my mechanic to adjust it but he ordered some new parts for the p brake system instead, some new design, I'm not sure what parts.

 

Yup mine has the same problem. I got the dealer to adjust on first service, no difference. Again at 5,000kms and now its slightly better.

My '03 has all the same issues you guys in the US are having except tire feathering at this stage.

Everytime I use a TSB you guys kindly supply, Nissan Australia tell me the cars are different and they TSB is not applicable. Suprise suprise they have no fixes here for anything!

Go figure....

 

I had the same issue with my handbrake. After I had a dream about the car rolling back down a hill into another car, I decided to fix it. Here's how:

1. put the car in gear to stop in moving of course

2. pull out the ashtray in the center console.

3. release the handbrake about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way down.

4. You should see a silver nut on the end of a long threaded bolt.

5. Using a deep socket 10mm (I think) turn the nut clockwise to increase the action of the handbrake. I had to turn mine about 15 half turns before I got it where I wanted.

Just watch out for glowing rotors and smoke. You want to make sure that you haven't over done it and caused the brakes to drag. Although, this should be very hard to do.

Fly

 

yeah, i had that problem with mine. the dealership blamed the vcd. they said the vcd chews through your rear brake pads like crazy so that effects how the e-brake works. he then looked at me like that was the end of the discussion.
i told him well, for whatever reason, it's now out of adjustment. i'd suggest you fix it. they did.

moral: yes, it's common. yes, your dealer will warranty it. and yes, you're gonna have to make sure they do it.

 

Some days I would rather gnaw my own leg off than go visit the dealer for help.

Fly

 

You're not alone on this one. That's why I can't rely on the handbrake technique (for steep incline starts) as the handbrake just isn't dependable. Since I live in the Bay Area and deal with a lot of hills both in and out of SF, I have to rely on heel-toeing to get myself out of tight jams... not good for the clutch but better than scraping the bumper (which already happened once. Mustang driver left less than one inch space between me and him on a steep incline while parked. Minimal damage as I just ever so slightly knicked the bolt of his front license plate holder... but pissed the sh*t out of me that a hair could barely make it between the two of our cars.... ).

 

I think you missed 1 step that is "Turning off ignition before releasing the clutch"?

 

I've had the brake "pop" and partiallly release before too on a few occasions. Luckily I always have the car in gear. Has anyone ever figured out what causes the pop and release? I figured it was just a bad button mechanism, but I once heard it outside of my car while I was washing it. It was very loud in the rear wheel well when it let go. Almost makes me think something is happening in the wheel area.

I think Ares lost his car down a hill and busted his rear bumper with that same emergency brake "pop" (right after he parked after a different wreck). So there are now at least a few people that have this problem. I think this problem might be different than the "e-brake isn't strong enough problem."
--
Jeff

 

amen to that. too bad it's that way