Parking Brake Cable Sparking...

[ml4x4]

So the parking brake came on along with the 3 amigos a couple of weeks ago on my 03 Disco and I haven't had the time to take it in to get the codes read yet.

Two days ago my wife called and said she smelled something like burning plastic and said the parking brake was so hot that she couldn't touch it.

When i tried to work the hand brake, it was stuck in the down position. Drove it a few blocks (sure enough it got really hot) and it finally broke free but felt weird and wouldn't drop freely. (the ding ding ding came on as well as I was pulling it up and down, you know the 3 amigos warning ding...)

I took the boot off of the console so I could see what the cable was doing from the top. The cable has melted black plastic on it and had burned a slit in the console. (ok burning smell found so far..)

Thinking the drum had seized up, i removed the rear drive shaft, attempted to remove the drum and couldn't. Even hit it with a BFH multiple times, no luck but did loosen it to the point where i thought if I drove the truck back and forth it would come off. I moved the truck forward and backward while pulling the hand brake lever up/down, etc.

While doing this I could see that there was a spark arching where the cable attaches the hand brake and sure enough it got hot as hell. I drove the truck maybe 10 ft so I knew it wasn't the drum causing the heat at this point. The headlights were also really dim so now I know I have some electrical nightmare going on.

Anyone else have a similar problem here? I've searched parking brake and read through just about every thread thus far.

Thanks in advance for any assistance...

 

[Roving Beetle]

The truck is grounding itself through the brake cable. Check your motor/chassis ground straps - not an uncommon problem. Search the forum archives and you will find a lot of posts on it.

Scary isn't it!! FIX IT NOW!! Do NOT drive it, in fact unhook the battery if you have not already.

Doug

 

[ml4x4]

Thanks man... I looked the truck over last night but it got dark, no time tonight. Figured I'd get some ideas to look at tomorrow.

I thought I may have messed something up with the grounds behind the battery tray when I removed the rack and took the grounds off the rack lights.

I did disconnect the battery after i saw the arch. Freaked me out, thought the whole truck would catch fire...

I'll report back with results for those that are interested.

 

[KyleT]

The truck is grounding itself through the brake cable. Check your motor/chassis ground straps - not an uncommon problem. Search the forum archives and you will find a lot of posts on it.

Scary isn't it!! FIX IT NOW!! Do NOT drive it, in fact unhook the battery if you have not already.

Doug

THIS. It has burned down several trucks. Saw one today that nearly went. (and a P38 that did go yesterday)

 

[ml4x4]

So i checked out the grounds just behind the battery box and sure enough I hadn't tightened them enough and they were loose.

I tightened them up and so far, no sparks, no heat from the cable.

The parking brake light is still on though so I'll have to research that issue. Brake fluid level is find but the cable is stuck in the up position due the the intense heat. Once I free it up I'll see if the light goes out.

Thanks for all the help guys, really appreciate it.

 

[Roving Beetle]

Check the motor to chassis and body ones too.

Glad you didn't burn her down.

Get a new/used cable from Will T, Paul G or Marty.

 

[ml4x4]

The ground from the battery to the front of the block is good and tight.

Thanks again.

 

[mbrummal]

there is also a ground strap from the left (drivers side) head to the firewall.

 

[gmookher]

I have run a wire using the JL Audio three wire batt terminal they sell on EE to create a new 2ga wire ground lead from battery to body, and battery to chassis fwiw

 

[Oreofudge]

Hi All,

This is a pretty old thread, but let's try to revive it.

I experienced a similar issue a couple years back with my 2002 Discovery S2 SE, that ended up being the grounding strap from rear left engine to firewall that was loose; so I tightened it up and issues (sudden limp mode, blinking dash lights, no power, hot parking lever, etc) went away.

Since then I'm not longer able to use the Parking brake, it seems to have soldered itself somewhere along the way; fortunately it happened in the off position, and I've been able to drive without parking brake. Nowadays I do feel the lever heat up occasionally -some times it gets pretty hot, so for sure I'm still having grounding issues somewhere. I've checked the strap that solved previous event, and it is tight in place., so need to look elsewhere.

A couple days ago I had to unplug the wire from the lever since something fell through the opening and I needed to retrieve it, so disengaged the cable from the lever to be able to lift it up completely, and noticed for the first time that when the wire hits the lever, sparks can been seen, like a lighter; I didn't see it before since the wire was always attached to the lever, and for sure the wire is the source for the lever to heat up as it does.

So besides the strap in rear left engine to firewall, what are the other grounding spots I should look at? I know there may be 2 or more, just not sure where/which these are.

Your help will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

[JUKE179r]

From the RAVE manual for earth/grounding points on a Disco 2:

 

[Oreofudge]

From the RAVE manual for earth/grounding points on a Disco 2:

Thanks JUKE179r ...to understand where exactly those codes reference to I must check the RAVE, correct? ...and here I was thinking there were only two I should be looking into (rear left engine block to firewall, and battery to front left engine). Thanks again.