I have a 1994 v6 manual. So i parked my car tonight and pulled up the ebrake. I heard a loud twang so i'm guessing its snapped since theres no more resistance when i pull up the lever. Is it bad to drive with this broken? I don't have time to go get it fixed right now. will the broken cable like ruin any other parts of my car? I have always put my car in 1st when i park but i always had the ebrake before. I dont have to worry about it rolling away with just 1st gear do i?

How much will this cost to fix and how long?

 

One of my old 4th gens used to do that once in a while, and it was from too much slack in the cable. While pulling the handle up, the cable would slip out of the channel on the brake handle, make a clunk and then no tension. You might want to take a look at that first. Cables are hard to break, but they can if badly rusted. You won't need an e-brake to park if you're on relatively flat ground, or with a tire against a curb. But a brake would still come in handy.

 

So when i went out this morning my ebrake worked again? like im 100% positive it didnt last night because i tried pulling forward alittle with the ebrake up and i could which i definitely can't normally do. soo umm im really confused....

 

With the e brakes, it's possible it slipped out of the little hook that it's on. I'm not sure about 94 manuals, but my 98 automatic is only held together by a spring and a hook...it's difficult to keep them together. I took my e brake handle off (started a project and didn't end up working out) and it was a pain to keep together. The only way of removing it was to drill out the rivet and the only way of keeping it together was to duct tape it back on (couldn't find a screw or rivet that would fit yet). I'm not sure if your year has a rivet or screw. But the hook gets hooked under a little plate which is what engages the brake. Again, I'm not sure if yours is like that, mine is, so maybe it just slipped off and then slipped back on? I personally never park without my e brake, there isn't much holding my car in its gears.

 

Go back to my first response, maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough...
The e-brake cable is attached to the upper portion of the lever. The cable then goes down and out the trans tunnel and attaches to two other cables that connect to your rear brakes. At the base of the e-brake lever is a curved part that has a channel in it. When you pull the lever up, the cable slides in that channel and tension is put on it. If there is too much slack in the cable, the cable can slip out of that channel.
How to fix it? The rear brakes are supposed to self-adjust, so they might not be adjusting like they should. Or, possibly the cable is binding in the housing somewhere forward of the brakes and not releasing all the way, leaving the slack inside the car. You need to inspect your rear brake operation, they may not be working right.

 

yeah i'm going to get it checked out tonight hopefully its nothing to bad :/