I changed my battery yesterday after the car had been laid up for the winter. I decided to take it for a short drive to make sure everything is still working properly and after startup saw that the parking brake wasn't engaging; I could freely lift the handle and it will drop down when let go. The brake light is on also. I did a search and didn't find a discussion on this. Has anyone else experienced it? Ideas on how I fix it?

 

It's a cable operated system with it's own calipers. If it were me, I'd start looking to see if the cable is frozen in place (and the calipers are stuck on) or if there is a damaged cable jacket somewhere.

 

Has the release button stuck inside the handle?

 

I'll check these. Where is the release button inside the handle? I used to have Porsche's and those things were a piece of cake to work on. Put together with a lot of plastic, kind of like Lego's. It seems like many things on this car are twice as hard to get to. Oh well I've been fortunate so far. Three years and this is the first thing that broke.

 

The plastic button on the end, sometimes they stick in the aluminum handle and stay in the always released position. The handle can slide outwards a few mm and cause a fault. Or as mentioned bad crimp on the cable will render it useless. You have a manual transmission so it probably has been used often.

 

I'll check, I bet it's the wire. The car only has 16k and while I use it occasionally usually I don't.

 

If the handle moves freely up and down and the brake light is on in the dash it means the parking brake is engaged. The handle drops down after you apply the parking brake to allow you to get in and out of the car.
Pull the handle up all the way until it clicks, press and hold the button, and put the handle down while holding the button. That's how you disengage it.

 

^^this

 

Some folks have trouble with left handed E-brake releases. If that's the case you can always sit on the sill area and use your right hand to get it.

 

Kalepsis, bingo! I'm glad it was so simple!

 

Yeah, having the parking brake between the seat and the door sill is pretty uncommon. Just gotta remember that's normal operation for these cars.

 

That was all it was? Had you never used the parking brake before?