In my effort to fix some small things on this car before putting it on the market.

The parking brake cable doesn't stop the rear tires.
Is there a trick or an adjustment that can be made?

Also I noticed that the purple wire on the brake handle was dis connected.
I connected it but then the brake light on dash stays lit and beeps at me.

quote Originally posted by bthomas67wagon: In my effort to fix some small things on this car before putting it on the market. The parking brake cable doesn't stop the rear tires. Is there a trick or an adjustment that can be made? Also I noticed that the purple wire on the brake handle was dis connected. I connected it but then the brake light on dash stays lit and beeps at me.

I was going to offer some help, but my '88 is built somewhat differently than your '87. I still think that you might be able to jack up the car and look at the way the cables are connected in the cradle frame. There is a nut in there that allows for adjustment. If it's been a while, you may need to spray the adjusting nut with penetrating oil to free it up. I was able to adjust mine easily with two small crescent wrenches. The piece connected to the cable has a square spot on it that allows one to hold the cable from twisting while using the other wrench to tighten the adjusting nut. Make sure that the cables going to each rear wheel are installed correctly and that the lever pieces to which each cable is connected can be moved freely. You can put a pair of vise grips on each of them and make sure they will pivot. There will be spring tension against them. You will see the spring when you pull the rear tires and examine the system. Please be careful, putting jackstands in the right place and leaving the jack in place too as back up for safety. I have attached am image I got from someone in here (thank you) so you get an idea where it is safe to jack up your vehicle. Good luck...

Check the brake section in Ogre's Cave. Plenty of information there on adjustment of parking brakes. Bear in mind that you need to have working pistons in the rear brakes to have a reasonable chance of success. Also, it sounds like the parking brake switch is broken or out of adjustment. Check the archives for parking brake light switch and see what is said about adjusting it. You may have better luck replacing it with one from The Fiero Store.

quote Originally posted by bthomas67wagon: In my effort to fix some small things on this car before putting it on the market. The parking brake cable doesn't stop the rear tires. Is there a trick or an adjustment that can be made? Also I noticed that the purple wire on the brake handle was dis connected. I connected it but then the brake light on dash stays lit and beeps at me.

Yes, Start w/ See my Cave, Rear Brakes and rest of brake section.

Proper way to apply P-brake is Push the Pedal Then Pull the Level. GM put longer version in owners book. Maybe can find that online.
If you pull the handle only then often won't hold the car even on level ground and someone bump the car.

Light/chime On because P-brake "switch" needs some cable tension to shut that off.
In back, Pull cable to front while someone release the level. should turn off then.
Sometime the switch is broke or bent and need adjustment or fixing.

But...

That's assume cables and rear brake are there and even try to work.
cables and rear calipers have many problems and main highlights are in the cave.
Example: Wheel cable(s) may look ok until you pull/bend the jacket and find broken end where that meets the caliper bracket and/or frame of car. So If the cables need adjustment under the trans side of cradle... very likely the cables are bad making it look like that.
Worse many fools put front calipers on rear axle because their cheap or want some "brake upgrades" then rip out the cables etc.

⚠️ Warning: The P-brake "adjustment" for the calipers covered in the cave and here... know that most time it barely works and even then it's a short term "fix." If your selling a car and use this then expect to get sued when rear brakes fail. Often new owner will join PFF or other sites and find the problem and other data. F'ed rear pistons can fail and brake won't work to have a car fire.

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave