Greg88

After reading tons of posts regarding handbrake issues, I became more confused about where to look for resolving the strange problem I discovered. If I pull the handbrake straight up, it won't put any tension on the brake cable. If I push the handbrake slightly to the right while pulling it up, it grabs the cable every time.
I seem to recall that one poster said something about putting a slight side force on the handbrake while pulling it up. That's where I got the idea to try it. I really didn't expect it to make any difference. But it sure did.
It works every time if I push the handbrake slightly to the right before pulling it up. It fails to work every time if I don't put any side force on the handbrake before pulling it up.
This problem showed up at the same time we had a cold snap here in southern California. I'm guessing the original grease (12 years old) combined with the colder temperatures has somehow caused the mechanism to malfunction.
At some point I will have to pull the passenger seat out and dig into the center console to clean and re-grease the mechanism.
I don't recall where I saw the post that suggested putting a slight side force on the handbrake - otherwise I'd give proper credit for the idea.

striper

The grease gets old and thick, turns into something other than grease. It is worth the effort to remove the handle assembly and clean and regrease it. It made mine work so much better, like it was supposed to.

4DRUSH

How cold did it get, something crazy like 40*

Greg88

Well, for southern California it was cold...around 35 degrees F.