1999 Honda Accord EX, when the parking brake is released, the brakes do not fully release. There is extra play in the cable so it is not too tight. The spring lever on the caliper seems to be stuck, happened on both rear brakes. When I push the spring lever with my finger, it snaps back into place and fully releases. Are the springs loosing tension or is there something worse happening? They seem to get stuck half way to fully releasing and with a little help, fully release. What do I need to do so I don't need to crawl under my car to fully release the parking brakes?

 

Spray them with pentrating oil and keep working the parking break. Do that a few times. See if that helps any. If not your springs might be loosing tension. I would also tighten the cables going to the level as they do stretch quite a bit.

 

I've had that happen after dragging breaks caused high temperature in the rear calipers. It seemed to be a combination of corrosion in the shaft that turns to work the handbrake cams inside the caliper, along with the spring weakened by the heat. I ended up replacing the caliipers.

Other times, I've had limited success taking off the springs & stretching them. Put one end in a bench vise & grab the other end with a visegrip pliers.

When the spring is off, work the lever to see if it's sticky.

 

I've put oil on them and worked them back and forth, but there seems to be a sticky spot that needs to be pushed through. When pushed, the lever snaps back to the proper location. I'm going to try to replace the springs if I can find them, otherwise I'll have to replace the whole assembly I guess.

 

For a 4 cylinder EX:

The right lever spring is Honda part number 43246-S84-A12; list for $5.13.

The left lever spring is Honda part number 43266-S84-A12, list for $5.13.

V6 has different part numbers.