Help 2017 MX - Parking Brake Failure

[tommytuna]

Hi - folks - my wife got the Parking Brake Failure warning this Am and car won’t move. Lots of snow/salt here so suspect something g seized.

She called Tesla and they said reboot and did some remote diag and said a flat bed tow would be needed

Tesla hinted that likely something seized / stuck and not a hard fix.

Question for the experts: what can I check at home quickly to try and remedy myself before going through expense and hassle of a tow (out of warranty and tow is super expensive).

I am willing to Jack it up and take the rear tires off and try a few things thank you!!

 

[tommytuna]

 

[brainhouston]

u can take the back wheels off, remove the park brake actuators manually n unwind calipers to free up the car to move
WARNING: chuck the wheels cause the car will roll after u do it. Your car will roll even in Park, so be careful but at least u can move it, maybe even drive it.

not sure if there's other checks car does to let u put it in drive with no parking brake working.

 

[tommytuna]

Is there possibility of greasing it and clearing debris to get it to free up?

 

[brainhouston]

Is there possibility of greasing it and clearing debris to get it to free up?

depends whats broken, if its the actuator motor that's dead, then its just not spinning n not releasing...
if the gears or caliper is stuck then possibly.. you can verify caliper if u can spin it manually

inside the circled part (3 screws) is like 3 or 4 gears...

also check plugs/wires in case something corroded/broken/rubbed thru
when my plugs were disconnected (for moving car around), i had 'parking brake degraded' alert

 

[tommytuna]

Very helpful - many thanks. Found a YouTube video showing how to remove and check. I think worst case I remove the actuator and it can be fixed but I can drive it to Tesla and save $500 on flatbed tow.

 

[brainhouston]

fyi, should be same on X

DIY repair: EPB_w053 - Parking brake did not release, EPB_w052 - Parking brake functions degraded

Hi all, I know it's been talked about a bunch over the past couple years, but I wasn't able to find a thread discussing the DIY repair method for these two errors. Recently my 2015 S 85 started reporting the above two errors. After having my wife stand outside the car and cycling the car...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[tommytuna]

Very bizarre - just got home from bus trip and looked at rear wheels quickly and I don’t have a seperate caliper like in the vids/pics. Possible it is all integrated into the main caliper?

 

[brainhouston]

Saw your other thread and remembered that there's other version, mando brakes. Never seen one in person though.

 

[Julian Hsu]

depends whats broken, if its the actuator motor that's dead, then its just not spinning n not releasing...
if the gears or caliper is stuck then possibly.. you can verify caliper if u can spin it manually

View attachment 912815

View attachment 912816
inside the circled part (3 screws) is like 3 or 4 gears...

also check plugs/wires in case something corroded/broken/rubbed thru
when my plugs were disconnected (for moving car around), i had 'parking brake degraded' alert

Hey brainhouston, good information! I tried, but the star nut is too tight to wind or unwind at all.. however my motor work completely fine.

 

[Retkimora]

I got the same issue with parking brake. MX 2017. Mine might be similar to tommytunas as there is only one brake caliper at the rear. Motor side has star-shaped nut that does not turn by hand/tools and car side has the opposite end. You can release parking brake by stuffing in 7mm flathead screwdriver bit and undoing the brake. Gets you going but car will complain about it. My motor is also fine when 12V is applied to pins and brake piston moves when turned manually. I wonder if the fault is somewhere else.

Did you get yours fixed?

 

[NewbyMaybe]

It's common for crusty brake pads to be the problem. Corrosion in small gaps where there should be grease. The friction causes the error.