parking brake on a C4
 

So does this brake pull in all 4 brakes, when applied? Dont rip me too bad, new C4 owner here. And yea i did read the owners manual, on how to apply brake. But it was different than what my dealer told me.....:ack:

It pulls on two small drum type shoes in each wheel on the rear only. They're mounted on the inward part of the rear discs.

Depends
Early cars had separate park brakes inside the rotor
Late cars used the rear calipers as the park brakes

huh, so even tho you apply the pedal, which hits all 4 brakes, then work the lever, it only pulls in a cable to hold the rears in? I cant imagine that it has seperate park brakes on the rotor, since you apply the pedal first, then pull the lever.

Pretty much all vehicle parking brakes work like that.

Modern automobiles have hydraulic braking systems.
But the parking brake still relies on a cable actuated brake separate from the main braking system.

I believe some of the newer cars are going to an electrically actuated parking brake system though.

The parking brake is mechanical and cable driven, partly so that when you set the brake and walk away and fluid leaks out, or hose leaks, or m/c fails, etc the brake will still be on and your car won't roll away.

Understand that. My GMC truck has a seperate pedal i push down hard, and applies mechanical brake drums installed on the inside of the rear disc rotors. My little cavalier has a hand brake lever, in center of console, that applies the cable to rear drum brakes.

But on my '90C4, manual says to push the main brake pedal down, then pull lever on left side up hard, then just let it go down easy. Exit the car. To release, put foot on pedal, pull lever, push button let go slowly.
Granted, i have not pulled a wheel yet on this car, to visually look at what i got. Good discussion, tho1

Your C4 parking brake works the exact same way as your other two GM vehicles. :thumbs:

The earlier cars have a drum brake inside the rear rotors.

Later cars have a lever that presses against the back of the caliper pad. That's why they tell you to step on the brake pedal and then pull up the brake lever. The brake lever by itself doesn't have enough leverage to apply the brake firmly enough to hold the car.

Think again
The C5's and later have a similar internal rotor / drum park setup


http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u...Diff/early.jpg

Thanks, now that makes sense! Today the lever was a little finicky...ok to apply, but getting it off was tricky. Since i have 6speed, i need to use it, and make sure it works. Sooner or later i will get the wheels off this car, and look things over. Which somewhat leads me to another Q, what is the best way to jack up a C4? They have these jacking points marked on the side underneath, but i think those are for the jack that comes with car, for spare tire.