Parking Brake Not Working, So I Thought?
 

Well, the parking brake hasn't been working for some time now so I decided to try and tighten the cable. I tried but nothing was resolved and there is still no tension.

I brought it to Mazda for them to look at it while they were looking at a few other things. What they found shocked me! Both rear calipers have seized on the rotors and the brake pads are badly burnt. So, for an estimated $700, I need new calipers, brake pads, rotors machined and possibily a new emergency brake cable.

What pisses me off is that I just had new pads and rotors installed last year.

So, for all those protege owners who have a non-functioning e-brake, get it checked out ASAP before you run into major problems.....

Are you mechanically, ehh, able? If so and you do all the work youself, you could probably do all of the work (parts included) for less than a quarter of what they're asking. Brakes are very easy to do. Just get new rotors, rebuilt calipers, new pads, and off ya go. Perhaps there's still enough life left in your rotors to be able to get them turned instead of replaced. That'd save ya even more money.

damn..my ebrake is useless basically...also my car doesnt seem to stop very well...i think my brakes need to be bleed though...im gonna try bleeding the brakes and then see if maybe i have the same issue as you do...thanx for the tip

I found out once while I was replacing the rear pads that the one of the calipers wasn't doing a return and a non-mazda mechanic had to sledgehammer it and grease the piston to get it working properly. I'm gonna try to get the rotors for looks and so they whed water better. I've been told that they work the same unless you're going from 110MPH to 20 in 70 feet but who cares? I'm hoping the slots and holes will shed water quicker so I my brakes don't fail when wet.

Oh and my e-brake doesn't work for emergencies but it does work for parking.