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Parking Brake Pedal NOT locking in engaged (down) position...
I press on the parking brake pedal in my 2015 E350 Wagon and it does not engage. I press on the pedal and the locking ratchet clocks, but the pedal comes right back up.
Also, the plastic release handle is sticking out about 3/4" from its seated position. When I press on the parking brake foot pedal I hear the ratchet clicking, but it seems that the pawl that would engage to hold the ratchet does not engage.
It has a pretty good description of how to remove but no real description of how to fix this problem. I think the foot pedal assembly needs to be removed to figure out why the ratchet pawl is not engaging.
Has anyone else had this problem and actually corrected it? if so, am I headed in the right direction?
have you noticed how sometimes it's hard to understand your very own problems ?
The ratchet is not locking because the handle is pulled and stuck in the release position.
I am not 100% positive why your handle is jammed. The standard failure is the pedal sticking and being extra slow to release. MB uses lubricants that are often short lived.
You can try giving this mechanism a good lube job with you favorite spray can... you may be breathing the propellant + pretroleum vapors for a while ... DON'T use smelly WD40!
have you noticed how sometimes it's hard to understand your very own problems ?
The ratchet is not locking because the handle is pulled and stuck in the release position.
I am not 100% positive why your handle is jammed. The standard failure is the pedal sticking and being extra slow to release. MB uses lubricants that are often short lived.
You can try giving this mechanism a good lube job with you favorite spray can... you may be breathing the propellant + pretroleum vapors for a while ... DON'T use smelly WD40!
I agree with your identification of the problem. That is, the release cable/pawl is stuck in one position and not operating freely. I have looked at the videos. I have looked at the shop manual information. I have looked at my car and the very difficult to get at lubrication points that may need to be cleaned and re-lubricated. It seems, as much as I don't want to do it, that the emergency brake pedal assembly should be removed and given a good cleaning and re-lubrication. And, then reinstall to fix the problem.
So, soon I will become the resident expert in emergency brake pedal removal and installation for the W212 Mercedes-Benz variation....
I have seen a similar issue in reverse. The pedal does not come up completely when releasing the parking brake, and I had to manually raise it to remove the cluster message about the parking brake still engaged.
The first time (<20K miles) the dealer lubricated "the mechanism", the second time (yep twice) they replaced the mechanism and it is working without issues since, now at 70K+ miles.
You may need to check every articulation from the release handle all the way to the ratchet ones.
You could also check if the pedal pin is not broken
Common issue... seen it countless times on customer cars. Boils down to most nobody uses the parking brake on cars with automatic transmission. In the NE, usually the parking brake cable/s and mechanism underneath the car start to freeze up due to corrosion.
This just happened to me last night when setting the brake to do my rotors. The release cable came unseated from the handle....when you push the pedal repeatedly the handle will pop out. I just reset the cable, used chocks and will never likely touch the parking brake again.
Just recall to turn the wheel towards the curb such as the car does not run on its own if the park lock breaks on an inclined street.
Recall MB cars parts are designed with failure points, like plastic, or finite number of cycles.
I always used the parking/hand brake. Old habits die hard. In my childhood, I was in the car when the gear jumped, and the car started running downhill until it stopped at someone else's bumper. So, by Murphy's law, it is bound to happen.
Needle apply a dry graphite lubricant in the cable as a first attempt. When you look at the diagram you can see this is the friction largest and longest friction point. This keeps the handle out. Once the handle goes back in the pedal should reengage.
the pedal slow to move up is a spring pressure thing for the pedal that a rapid (not forcefull) pull usually solves. That clockspring could be tacky.
11-28-2021, 04:49 PM
