broken e-brake cable

so I take my car in to get it inspected and halfway through the guy comes back in and tells me my car failed because the ebrake cable snapped during the test. WTF?? how hard did he pull the damn thing? its worked fine for me for 3 years. well a heated argument proceded from that point but I won't get in to that.I need to get this thing fixed in the next day or so since I work in coppell (cop hell) and I got busted friday but let off with a warning with the condition that I get the inspection taken care of. its barely out.anyone know where I can get a new cable for a decent price? is this thing hard to replace? I haven't had a chance to look under there to see what is broken as I was on the way to work. all I know is the handle still works and clicks, but isn't connected to anything.I tried searching but im posting from my cell phone and its not easy.thanks guys

forgive me for the almost unreadable post. im on my cellphone an looks like it lumped all my nice paragraphs into one big mess.

I'd go back and tell the ape he broke the cable he has to fix it at his cost. If not, talk to the manager, if he is the manager, talk to the owner.

I already went round and round with the idiots... their story is that the brake has to be strong enough to hold the vehicle yadda yadda yadda... and that my cable broke under normal tension. he's obviously lying but he already had alll his buddies backing him up at the shop. he says their mechanic is out of town anyway so they can't fix it...right...I don't feel like going back and fourth with them, my car is old, their not going to budge. plus I wouldn't want those jackasses doing anything else to my car.

I've never replaced a broken e-brake cable. Shoot a PM to Rogue and see what he has to say about it.

Keep your failed inspection report with you. That should prevent them from writing you a ticket until you get it fixed.

Where did you take it?

I didn't get a failed report. they broke the cable before it went on the machine. they hadn't drawn up the paperwork yet. in retrospect I should have gotten a report but I was late for work at this point, didn't pay them anything, and I was so pissed that I just left without thinking about it.

it was the KWIK KAR on harwood and main in euless.

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Originally Posted by Jiggerachi

it was the KWIK KAR on harwood and main in euless.

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Call their corporate office and tell them the story. Demand satisfaction.

http://www.kwikkaronline.com/company.asp

That's what I was thinking. Don't jack around with the local grease monkeys, always go to the top and work your way down.

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Originally Posted by sammm

Call their corporate office and tell them the story. Demand satisfaction.

http://www.kwikkaronline.com/company.asp

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and the Texas Dept. of Public Safety, Vehicle Inspection service. All complaints must be filed in writing at your local office.

There are two cables, which side broke?

I have not seen a broken E-cable on a Miata, sounds fishy.

I should have some of these cables.

If not, I do......

Ok so I pulled the part today at lunch. Here's what happened.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/P1020519.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/P1020518.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...i/P1020527.jpg

This is the part that splits the cable and ties it to the back wheels. The little cylinder is the part that terminates the cable and holds it in the bracket. The hole is where the cable is supposed to go. The cable just pulled clean out of it.


I talked to the owner and he was pretty cool. At first he sided with the employee, but wasn't an ass about it. I basically told him that I wasn't trying to get a freebe or get somebody fired ar anything like that, I just can't see how a cable can just randomly break like that. They should be liable for something.

We both agreed that there's really no way to tell what happened without looking at the car. He agreed to wait after hours (I get off work late) and inspect the damage. If there was any evidence of over pulling he would fix it. If there was evidence of a cable in bad shape then I would have to deal with it. Fair enough.

I went ahead and checked it out at lunch, pulled the part. Meanwhile Rogue has a cable and is nice enough to get it to me tomorrow.

I met the owner after work at the shop and we both concluded that there was no way to tell either way. Basically the part was probably faulty, and the employee probably pulled it too hard. Anyway, I told him I located another part and he offered to replace it. I told him I shouldn't have a problem, I was more concerned with getting my car inspected since I won't have time to replace it. He told me to come back tommorrow and he will do the inspection himself without worrying about the cable. That way I won't worry about getting a ticket while I figure out what to do with the cable.

The guy was really cool and in my oppinion the issue is taken care of. It wasn't really a big enough deal to start a war over. I could have had the guy been an ass, but he was cool.

I met the owner after work at the shop and we both concluded that there was no way to tell either way. Basically the part was probably faulty, and the employee probably pulled it too hard. Anyway, I told him I located another part and he offered to replace it. I told him I shouldn't have a problem, I was more concerned with getting my car inspected since I won't have time to replace it. He told me to come back tommorrow and he will do the inspection himself without worrying about the cable. That way I won't worry about getting a ticket while I figure out what to do with the cable.


There was no rust or corrosion in any of the three pictures posted.
The guy pulled your cable out of it's anchor. Glad you were able to get it resolved to your satisfaction.

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Originally Posted by Nails

I met the owner after work at the shop and we both concluded that there was no way to tell either way. Basically the part was probably faulty, and the employee probably pulled it too hard. Anyway, I told him I located another part and he offered to replace it. I told him I shouldn't have a problem, I was more concerned with getting my car inspected since I won't have time to replace it. He told me to come back tommorrow and he will do the inspection himself without worrying about the cable. That way I won't worry about getting a ticket while I figure out what to do with the cable.


There was no rust or corrosion in any of the three pictures posted.
The guy pulled your cable out of it's anchor. Glad you were able to get it resolved to your satisfaction.

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Basically I deduced that the part was designed to be very strong to be used in emergencies, and Ive abused the hell out of Ebrakes in other cars. You would have to try pretty damn hard to break it. Not saying he wasn't at fault, just that the cable was probably not in great shape to begin with. Im saying equal fault. And the owner pretty much met me in the middle.

For the record, he did offer to fix it on the house. Just didn't seem like something I couldn't do myself. If I run into problems i'll take im up on the offer.