Hi all,
This morning when I went out to my car, I noticed it was acting a little strange. It was taking alot of throttle to get it moving at alland as soon as I let off, it would quickly stop instead of coasting. I only moved it from one end of the lot to the other and then changed cars. It seems to me like the handbrake isn'tcompletely disnengagingor that possibly the brakes are remaining not releasing. It's REALLY cold this morning so I don't know if that could have anything to do with it. I'm going to go and let it warm up for a while and try again but I thought I'd see if anyone else has had a similar problem.
Thanks!

 

I was going to say to check your parking brake, as I once drove my pickup about 5 miles not realizing that it was engaged. But if you've already disengaged the brake, then I have no idea.

 

the parking brake issue is a known problem for which a TSB has been issued. if you search the forums you'll find many others reporting the same problem. your local dealership will resolve the issue under warranty, but a good rule of thumb would be to avoid using the parking brake at all if the weather is extremely cold if possible.

 

Thanks! Do you think I can drive it to the dealer or am I going to have to have them come out and tow it?

 

i suppose that depends on how far away the dealership is - the brake might release itself if it warms up, but it's unlikely. i know one member talked about spraying the ebrake line with hot water to some success. if you have aaa though, i might just call a towtruck to be safe. other members might be able to better say whether or not driving would be damaging to the car, though; i'm not sure, tbh.

 

My parking brake froze a couple of times, it took about 20 mins for the thing to unfreeze. I warmed up the car, even drove around for a bit and then kept yanking on the damn thing until it finally let go. From then on, I never use the parking break in the cold!

 

Thanks everyone. I should have searched. I apologize. Was just in a bit of a panic. It should warm up here so I'll check it again later. If it releases on it's own, I'll drive it to the dealer.
Thanks again.

 

i definitley would not drive it unless the brake comes loose

 

I don't reccomend driving it with the e-brake just to be safe...

BUT, once my friend drove from Providence, RI all the way to Boston with the e-brake on the WHOLE TIME without noticing it. And he was going like up to 80 on the freeways and stuff. It was a Toyota Corolla and it seemed to suffer no repercussions from it short term or long term.

So if you're feelin' risky...

(Again, that was a Corolla... wouldn't do it in a Mustang GT but that's just me.)