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How To: E-brake Adjust (w/ Pics)

21K views 27 replies 15 participants last post by  MarkL 
#1 ·
After months and months of having my e-brake come up ~30 clicks I finally got around to adjusting it. It was very easy to do. The only problem I ran into was that my adjustment nut is tightened to the bottom of the nut. There will be no future adjustments to it. It now only takes 8 clicks to engage the e-brake. Nissan recommends 6-7.

Now onto the process:

You will first need to remove the plastic piece that surrounds the rear cupholders. (Highlighted in Red) Simply get a firm grip and pull toward the rear of the car. Be careful to not break the clips.


After that piece is removed there are two screws at the rear base of the console. Remove these.


Now you will need to move the the covered screw which is located just under the tip of the e-brake when released. Pop the cover off with a flathead screwdriver and remove the screw.



You will now need to pull out the shift surround. Get a grip on the area closest to the rear of the car and pull up and out (toward the dome light). Once it is loose remove the shift knob and pull the surround off. It will still be connected by a harness that feeds the cig lighter. Push in on the white tab (pointed to by blue arrow) and pull out.


There is another harness that will need to be disconnected. It feeds the second cig lighter. Simply push the white clip in and release. It will make things a little easier if you also remove the ash tray.


Under the HVAC Controls there will be a plastic piece that surrounds your storage area. Grab the front corners (Pointed to by Red arrow) and pull out firmly. The piece will pop out. Just sit it aside.


On each side of the center console there are two screws. Remove these. You will also need to remove the plastic extension pieces (Highlighted in Red). Just grab them and pull toward the cars doors. They are very easy to remove.



The console is now loose from the car. Do what you can to get it out. it will take some maneuvering but will eventually come out.


The adjustment nut is located just under the e-brake handle. Tighten it down while the e-brake is disengaged. Test it every few turns to see how many clicks it allows you to pull up. Nissan recommends 6-7.



Now put it all back together and be happy you have now recovered every pieces that has fallen into your e-brake hole. I found a bunch of pens and a key.

 
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#7 ·
hmmmm, thats alot of work

I did mine without taking any of the interior out

I used a deep well socket and bent the plastic guard back to reach it

You dont really need to take it all apart to get it adjusted
 
#9 ·
piknockout said:
Why did you paint your interior panels red? Looks pretty ugly IMO, but nice write up!
yea you did a great job painting them... :D jk i know you did it to the pictures so they would make it easier to follow directions. I'm going to do this today, my ebrake handle is stupid so i need to get to a respectable 6-7-8 clicks. Thanks for the great write-up
 
#10 ·
minnspecV said:
hmmmm, thats alot of work

I did mine without taking any of the interior out

I used a deep well socket and bent the plastic guard back to reach it

You dont really need to take it all apart to get it adjusted
I agree here. It is so simple to just pull the e-brake up a little, get the deep well in there, let the handle down, and adjust away. IMO you went thru way to much work for that.
 
#11 ·
Nissan's FSM suggests to do it this way. I had also spilled soda into the console so I took advantage of it being apart to clean it. I had to turn the nut until it would turn no more. This made the bolt was too long for me to even fit a deep socket over it. I needed to use a wrench. There is no way to do this without taking it apart.
 
#12 ·
Yeah, a lot of work but still a great writeup Scott.

And I was joking about "painting" the interior. I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid! :D But I like the highlighting idea, makes it very easy to see what you're talking about.
 
#13 ·
Right, there is no more adjustability by taking the damn thing apart. Like JP said, all you have to do is: lower the brake, tighten with deepwell, lower the brake more, tighten in more, etc etc. You can do this until the brake lever is starting to be functional even though its almost all the way down. I did this and turned the bolt until it couldnt go an further physicaly. It was at the end of the threads. I works wonders now.

But considering I went all the way to the threads, I would argue that taking the interior apart got someone a tighter ebrake. To the end of the threads is the end of the threads.

Unless you enjoy tinker toying around and taking stuff apart for the fun of it, you dont need to do the proceedure in this thread! Nice write up for future reference if someone needs to get into there for another reason though.
 
#16 ·
minnspecV said:
Right, there is no more adjustability by taking the damn thing apart. Like JP said, all you have to do is: lower the brake, tighten with deepwell, lower the brake more, tighten in more, etc etc. You can do this until the brake lever is starting to be functional even though its almost all the way down. I did this and turned the bolt until it couldnt go an further physicaly. It was at the end of the threads. I works wonders now.

But considering I went all the way to the threads, I would argue that taking the interior apart got someone a tighter ebrake. To the end of the threads is the end of the threads.

Unless you enjoy tinker toying around and taking stuff apart for the fun of it, you dont need to do the proceedure in this thread! Nice write up for future reference if someone needs to get into there for another reason though.
Like I said before the deep socket WOULD NOT WORK. It would not fit all the way down onto the nut. I was stuck at home with the snow and had the time to do it. I would have gone a bought a deeper socket had I not had time. Had I known people would have been d|cks I would not have wasted my time on this write-up. I was just trying to help people understand how things go together and come apart.

Almost everyone complains about their e-brake. I was offering them an option to fix it.
 
#28 ·
Yep. Djcks. Whether or not you can use the deep well, which is good additional information, does not diminish the value of the instructions for disassembling the console. My e-brake cable rusted, and I needed to know how to get this thing apart. The next gal or guy, may be fixing the wiring harness or retrieving a 1902 silver quarter. If you have a different solution to a problem, write it up, and post the link. Don't critsize the efforts that help others with a different problem, but need this exact solution.

Great job @sje0123, even after 15 years. Thank you.
 
#18 ·
sje0123 said:
Like I said before the deep socket WOULD NOT WORK. It would not fit all the way down onto the nut. I was stuck at home with the snow and had the time to do it. I would have gone a bought a deeper socket had I not had time. Had I known people would have been d|cks I would not have wasted my time on this write-up. I was just trying to help people understand how things go together and come apart.

Almost everyone complains about their e-brake. I was offering them an option to fix it.
I appreciate it.. They're just jealous because they broke their rear cupholders :D
 
#21 ·
neworleans_Spec said:
i did that the other day. got the nut as tight as it can go, still takes about 10 clicks to engage, and it still sucks...meaning i could put a bic pen on either side of the tire and it'll hold better that just the e-brake.
check your rear pads.
 
#22 ·
sje0123 said:
Like I said before the deep socket WOULD NOT WORK. It would not fit all the way down onto the nut. I was stuck at home with the snow and had the time to do it. I would have gone a bought a deeper socket had I not had time. Had I known people would have been d|cks I would not have wasted my time on this write-up. I was just trying to help people understand how things go together and come apart.

Almost everyone complains about their e-brake. I was offering them an option to fix it.
thanks for the writeup sje0123. i thought it was a great writeup. even though my e-brake is fine, i can refer to this if i ever need to take out my console.
 
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