Rear Brakes Frozen

[bbm1959]

96 ES 300, kid puts on the parking brake and then backs out of driveway. As he attempts to pull away in forward he recognizes the brake is on and releases it Notices burning smell and grinding noise during 5 mile drive. Afterwards I'm told "Hey Dad, something's wrong with the Lexus". Nice.

Car moves in reverse, no problem. When moving forward, front wheels turn, but rear tires alternate getting locked up. Rears may make half a rotation then freeze.

Car spends it's nights outside in freezing temps. We had an ice storm last night. The brake issue occurs 20 minutes after the car was started for the first time today.

Beside teaching the teen to park it when he's got a problem like this, any one have any suggestions, and if so is it a DIY solution?

Thanks

bbm

[gbhrps]

I'd be willing to bet that the emergency brake has very seldomly been used on this car since it was new, and now it is 12 years old. It sounds to me that because of years of lack of use, and corrosion, and the freezing temperatures, that the emergency brake shoes and its mechanism have seized in the locked on position, even though the brake lever has been released. The rear brake rotor has a drum brake system built into it for use as the emergency brake. If you are mechanically inclined, have the tools and the space to work on the car, it usually is an easy DIY job. In this case you may well have a very difficult time removing the rear brake rotors because the shoes are in the locked position. You may not be able to unlock them, and may do damage to the rotors getting them off. Maybe the emergency brake cable to each rear wheel as well. The brake shoes are very small and only have about 3 mm of braking material on them. If driven for any distance at all with the shoes locked on its quite possible that the shoes will need to be replaced because they will be worn through. It really will be impossible to tell until the rear wheels are off the car and you start at it. You might get lucky and be able to free everything up without a great deal of expense, or be looking at new E brake cables, springs, adjusters, shoes and rotors. Good Luck!

[carlexes330]

I'd be willing to bet that the emergency brake has very seldomly been used on this car since it was new, and now it is 12 years old. It sounds to me that because of years of lack of use, and corrosion, and the freezing temperatures, that the emergency brake shoes and its mechanism have seized in the locked on position, even though the brake lever has been released. The rear brake rotor has a drum brake system built into it for use as the emergency brake. If you are mechanically inclined, have the tools and the space to work on the car, it usually is an easy DIY job. In this case you may well have a very difficult time removing the rear brake rotors because the shoes are in the locked position. You may not be able to unlock them, and may do damage to the rotors getting them off. Maybe the emergency brake cable to each rear wheel as well. The brake shoes are very small and only have about 3 mm of braking material on them. If driven for any distance at all with the shoes locked on its quite possible that the shoes will need to be replaced because they will be worn through. It really will be impossible to tell until the rear wheels are off the car and you start at it. You might get lucky and be able to free everything up without a great deal of expense, or be looking at new E brake cables, springs, adjusters, shoes and rotors. Good Luck!

I have the same problem but it would seem that the rear emergency brake is rubbing on the drivers side rear and no amount of pressing the emergency brake pedal will stop the re occurring squeaking of the pad rubbing on the drum? It is not the normal rear brake pads as they are 90% new. How do you replace these small pads and isn't there an auto adjust mechanism once pads are installed? I could see the cable at the rear brake mechanism but couldn't figure how to release everything to take of the dic/drum combo . Help

[carlexes330]

96 ES 300, kid puts on the parking brake and then backs out of driveway. As he attempts to pull away in forward he recognizes the brake is on and releases it Notices burning smell and grinding noise during 5 mile drive. Afterwards I'm told "Hey Dad, something's wrong with the Lexus". Nice.

Car moves in reverse, no problem. When moving forward, front wheels turn, but rear tires alternate getting locked up. Rears may make half a rotation then freeze.

Car spends it's nights outside in freezing temps. We had an ice storm last night. The brake issue occurs 20 minutes after the car was started for the first time today.

Beside teaching the teen to park it when he's got a problem like this, any one have any suggestions, and if so is it a DIY solution?

Thanks

bbm

Heres some info about removing and replacing the rear disc/drum combo and adjustment

"The rear brakes have the emergency brake pads on the INSIDE of the Rotor.

Once you remove the caliper and the brake pads the Rotor is easily accessable.

However in my case the rotor would NOT COME OFF.

REMEMBER the old fashion REAR DRUM BRAKES where the shoes push out against the drum when you pressed on the brake pedal ???The ES emergency brake is the same setup but its on the INSIDE of the Rotor.

The little brake shoes push out against the inside of the rotor when you pull the emercengy brake.(Never did find a good supplier of those tiny emergency brake pads?)

On the Rotor where the lug nut posts come thru look for a HOLE about the size you can put a screwdriver in. Usually a rubber slotted bung is in that hole.

ROTATE the rotor so this hole is at the BOTTOM of the rotor.

Take a flash light and in the hole you should see a little cog type adjustment which you can adjust with a

flat blade screw driver. If you do not see it right away move the rotor left or right until you do.

Take a flat blade screw driver and move the adjustment up or down to MOVE the Brake shoes inside the rotor IN or OUT.

I forget which way moves in or out but you can tell as the Rotor will LOCK up and you cannot turn it when you are moving the brake shoes OUT, or it will turn freely when you are moving the shoes AWAY from the Rotor walls.

Keep adjusting it until the Rotor can be pulled off, then put on the new Rotor and adjust the shoes back out

until the Rotor will not turn then back them off a bit until the rotor turns freely.

Put the new pads and the caliper back on and you are done. "

I'll be adjusting mine this morning :)