Two bad things

[GrahamClark_60-68]

So just when I started getting lulled into thinking I had escaped most of the bad things, two bad things happened in the last two weeks. One of them we've heard of, just don't know if it's been resolved, and one maybe not. A couple of weeks ago I encountered the "full throttle at start up" issue that I can remember a forum member posting about some time ago (don't remember who it was). First start of the morning, clutch in, foot NOT on the gas, in neutral. Engine revs to the redline and comes back down to idle. Not fun, nor funny. Anyone else experience this? But more importantly, solve this? It hasn't recurred for me luckily but it's only been a week and I don't really believe it will never happen again, unless I get to the root of this issue.
Second bad thing happened today: decided to go for a morning drive (because this weekend AND British Car day at Exotics at Redmond will be rained out). The car had not been driven for about a week and a half, was stored in my garage, and I was itching to get out. Started the car up, released the parking brake, put it into 1st and tried to pull forward out of my garage. Nope, not budging. Re-engaged the parking brake and disengaged it, tried to pull away again, still not budging. Ramped up a little more power, still no go. Tried one more cycle on the parking brake before I concluded it wasn't the electrics' fault (parking brake indicator seemed to be working properly), the damn parking brakes were just stuck. So what to do? Probably if I had been smarter, had a lift, better tools, and a lot more time, a few things come to mind. But since I was determined to go for a drive and had a limited window, I decided to gradually ramp up the power to see if I could break it free. And I did eventually. But with a loud, excruciating BANG!

Taking a look at the rear rotors, I saw some light surface rust, but no more than I would expect after sitting a week and a half. And it appeared that the parking brake pads were still in place and not in pieces after the bang. So I decided to do the drive. During my hourlong drive, I noticed no ill-effects braking-wise and upon my return, the rotors were clean. I took a few photos, but had difficulty viewing the parking brake pads from all sides to inspect for damage. I did manage to capture this photo which seems to have captured the location the parking brake was "glued" to the rotor.

So some questions for the forum:
1. Is there a need for a shop visit to fully inspect the parking brakes to make sure I didn't do any harm?
2. If this ever happens again, what is the best solution?
2. And for the future, what are the best practices for parking the car? In gear, with no parking brake? In neutral, with the parking brake? Gear and parking brake? And is the answer different depending on the duration the car will be parked? This certainly has me thinking twice about ever using the parking brake again, unless I'm on a steep hill and it's applied for only a short while.

 

[Climber]

Use the car more often, this happens to my Porsche after a wash it and let it sit. The higher the humidity in the ambient environment the great the chance the parking brake sticks. Time & Humidity are only things I have fount to cause brakes locking.

 

[MPD]

So just when I started getting lulled into thinking I had escaped most of the bad things, two bad things happened in the last two weeks. One of them we've heard of, just don't know if it's been resolved, and one maybe not. A couple of weeks ago I encountered the "full throttle at start up" issue that I can remember a forum member posting about some time ago (don't remember who it was). First start of the morning, clutch in, foot NOT on the gas, in neutral. Engine revs to the redline and comes back down to idle. Not fun, nor funny. Anyone else experience this? But more importantly, solve this? It hasn't recurred for me luckily but it's only been a week and I don't really believe it will never happen again, unless I get to the root of this issue.
Second bad thing happened today: decided to go for a morning drive (because this weekend AND British Car day at Exotics at Redmond will be rained out). The car had not been driven for about a week and a half, was stored in my garage, and I was itching to get out. Started the car up, released the parking brake, put it into 1st and tried to pull forward out of my garage. Nope, not budging. Re-engaged the parking brake and disengaged it, tried to pull away again, still not budging. Ramped up a little more power, still no go. Tried one more cycle on the parking brake before I concluded it wasn't the electrics' fault (parking brake indicator seemed to be working properly), the damn parking brakes were just stuck. So what to do? Probably if I had been smarter, had a lift, better tools, and a lot more time, a few things come to mind. But since I was determined to go for a drive and had a limited window, I decided to gradually ramp up the power to see if I could break it free. And I did eventually. But with a loud, excruciating BANG!

Taking a look at the rear rotors, I saw some light surface rust, but no more than I would expect after sitting a week and a half. And it appeared that the parking brake pads were still in place and not in pieces after the bang. So I decided to do the drive. During my hourlong drive, I noticed no ill-effects braking-wise and upon my return, the rotors were clean. I took a few photos, but had difficulty viewing the parking brake pads from all sides to inspect for damage. I did manage to capture this photo which seems to have captured the location the parking brake was "glued" to the rotor. View attachment 51451

So some questions for the forum:
1. Is there a need for a shop visit to fully inspect the parking brakes to make sure I didn't do any harm?
2. If this ever happens again, what is the best solution?
2. And for the future, what are the best practices for parking the car? In gear, with no parking brake? In neutral, with the parking brake? Gear and parking brake? And is the answer different depending on the duration the car will be parked? This certainly has me thinking twice about ever using the parking brake again, unless I'm on a steep hill and it's applied for only a short while.

I park two of my manual cars in first with no parking brake because of this issue. If it was dry when you put away then I'm really surprised this happened after such a short time

 

[seriously]

Doesn’t the parking brake automatically engage when you shut the car off? I wasn’t aware that you could disengage the brake.

Unlike other cars I simply don’t pay any attention to it. I turn the car off parking brake engages. Next time I turn it on the parking brake is engaged and I just into reverse and it automatically disengages. I only use the parking brake when the car is on in neutral and I need to get out of the car. Otherwise I don’t touch it.

 

[Whitey]

You can set the pb so that it doesn’t auto engage when you turn off engine, which is what I do. Never put car away with wet brakes after a wash as all 4 wheels can get stuck, l just do a mile down road to clear the water off mine. I manually use the pb whenever I park anywhere, except for in my garage.

 

[Andy H]

I've also had this with the Emira and other cars with big brake discs. I've always managed to unstick them by applying sufficient force but it is a bit dicey when you're parked inside a tight garage. Be ready to brake if it budges suddenly! And yes - the unstick BANG is terrifying. I was convinced I'd broken something the first time it happened.

As others have said, it's caused by leaving the car for a period of time after washing. Quick drive after the wash or thorough drying of the discs are the only solutions I think.

 

[Beachbum]

You can set the pb so that it doesn’t auto engage when you turn off engine, which is what I do. Never put car away with wet brakes after a wash as all 4 wheels can get stuck, l just do a mile down road to clear the water off mine. I manually use the pb whenever I park anywhere, except for in my garage.

How do you set the PB to manual ?

 

[Whitey]

How do you set the PB to manual ?

From centre screen, tap the settings wheel button, click General, click electric pb and then choose deactivation.
It’s in the handbook, if you have one.

 

[eclat2emira]

Use the car more often, this happens to my Porsche after a wash it and let it sit. The higher the humidity in the ambient environment the great the chance the parking brake sticks. Time & Humidity are only things I have fount to cause brakes locking.

Yep, this happens with my 996 C4S too - and they are big brakes! As stated elsewhere on this forum GrahamClark_60-68 , take the car for a short (or long!) drive after washing (I do this with the 911 and Emira) - and use it more often!

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Thanks everyone, that's why I LOVE this forum and all of you! Many of you have hit on why the parking brake issue occurred for me. I DID wash the car (in prep for Brit Day in Redmond), and then because of the late hour, put it away in the garage and didn't drive it for a week and a half. So, lesson learned. However, in my 40+ years driving manual cars, I've never encountered this EVER. 17 years with my 84 Z-28 from new, and going on 29 years with my 93 300ZX TT bought in 1995. But both of these have handbrakes. Does this somehow make a difference in them getting stuck on the rotors?

I've had in my brain for a long time when parking a manual: leave it in gear (I use 1st), and pull the parking brake. (But, now that the ZX is in longer term storage and up on race ramps, I'm no longer pulling the parking brake). With that in mind, I taught myself a different method on the Emira and not sure why (leave in neutral, and set the parking brake). So for the Emira specifically, which is more recommended?

Also on my Emira, I never touched any of the settings in this regard since I took delivery. In my car currently, if you don't set the parking brake manually, it doesn't get set. The car will roll in neutral as expected. Up to this point, I didn't know there was a setting to automatically set it. And lastly, a new set of questions:

What are you all recommending for parking in the garage for longer periods of time? No parking brake? In this case, is leaving it in gear still ok, or do I need to put it in neutral and chock the wheels?

Or.....dry the brakes after washing (with a short drive) before putting away. Then use the parking brake?

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

I've also had this with the Emira and other cars with big brake discs. I've always managed to unstick them by applying sufficient force but it is a bit dicey when you're parked inside a tight garage. Be ready to brake if it budges suddenly! And yes - the unstick BANG is terrifying. I was convinced I'd broken something the first time it happened.

As others have said, it's caused by leaving the car for a period of time after washing. Quick drive after the wash or thorough drying of the discs are the only solutions I think.

the unstick BANG is terrifying. I was convinced I'd broken something the first time it happened.

Yes it was awful and very concerning hearing that. I imagine this could cause damage, maybe to the pad or something else, but have you had or heard of any occurrences of damage while unsticking? If so, is there a better remedy if this ever occurs again?

 

[scc.131.fe]

The Z28 and ZX will have parking brake shoes that are inside the rotor hat. They typically don't get wet while washing and there's a spring that pulls them back when you drop the handbrake. The Emira style brake, when disengages, removes pressure from the parking brake pads but I don't think that pulls the pads back - they probably stay essentially flush. That's what allows some rotor/pad corrosion to form the bond that requires rotation to break.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

The Z28 and ZX will have parking brake shoes that are inside the rotor hat. They typically don't get wet while washing and there's a spring that pulls them back when you drop the handbrake. The Emira style brake, when disengages, removes pressure from the parking brake pads but I don't think that pulls the pads back - they probably stay essentially flush. That's what allows some rotor/pad corrosion to form the bond that requires rotation to break.

Thanks, that explains some things I was thinking already (that the hand brake has a spring that pulls them back from the rotor whereas the Emira probably doesn't).

 

[allenyao09]

The parking brake got stuck on my Supra before, so I don't apply parking brake unless at a steep slope. I leave the car in gear to stop it from moving. This is also what the dealership has been doing.

 

[GrahamClark_60-68]

Ok, so it's been established for me: 1. Dry the brakes before putting the car away for more than a few days to avoid the parking brake getting stuck on the rotors. 2. For longer term storage, put in gear with no parking brake.

But my other issue is still open. That's the "full throttle at start up" issue. Anyone else here experience this? If so did it recur? (only once for me so far). And, has anyone determined what the issue is, and the solution?

 

[Rupes]

Try rocking it a little if it happens again - a little gas in first, then switch to a little gas in reverse. This has happened to me on other cars, and I’ve found one direction often works better and can release the pads with less pressure.

If you’re in a tight spot, this is obviously harder to pull off.

 

[pcarguy]

Slightly off topic, but in the same Car Config menu, where you choose to auto-engage the parking break (I chose this), you can also choose to dip the side mirrors automatically in reverse. Mine was delivered with these deactivated, and I chose to activate them both.

Good point though about parking brake when wet - I always park the car in 1st gear, so will try to remember to release the parking brake if wet. The only reason I want auto-engage is because (a) electric parking brakes are fiddly and (b) the set/unset button is the complete opposite of the Cayman, and I'd never figured out which way is which before I got the Emira, and there is no way I'm gonna remember which way is which in two cars. (Though I do recall the Porsche one is logically backwards).

 

[CHEESE]

Doesn’t the parking brake automatically engage when you shut the car off? I wasn’t aware that you could disengage the brake.

Unlike other cars I simply don’t pay any attention to it. I turn the car off parking brake engages. Next time I turn it on the parking brake is engaged and I just into reverse and it automatically disengages. I only use the parking brake when the car is on in neutral and I need to get out of the car. Otherwise I don’t touch it.

There's a setting to have it automatically engage or not