Greetings,

I wanted to get some advice before I go any further with my car.

The other day when I started the car and attempted to back it out of the garage, it appeared that the brakes were stuck.

When I put the car in neutral or reverse or first, I got no movement. So shifting the gears was no problem. I also noticed that the shifter levers were in the position they should be when I shifted gears. The parking brake was also off. So my gut feel is that something is going on with the rear brakes.

This may or may not be of value to know. But prior to parking the gar in the garage I had made a round trip from Maryland to Pennsylvania (about 250 miles). On the way back to Maryland, it was raining cats and dogs for 2 hours. So I was wondering if the severe rain had anything to do with the brakes locking up.

If anyone has any ideas about this, please let me know. I would prefer to resolve this on my own as opposed to having the car towed to the shop since I need to clean up some current debt due to the recent purchase of another car.

Thanks in advance!

So it was very wet when you parked? How cold did it get. If you set the parking brake and it got cold enough in your garage to freeze the parking brake might not release. It will be OK when it thaws. Were you involved in the Blizzard of '09? Beater

Beater could be right. Give it some time to warm up in the garage. Do you have a small portable heater? If they don't unlock you may nedd to back the shoes off a little bit to move the car.Just follow a shop manual guideline.

Dear Elane;

You may have debris in there as well.
Be sure all are 'running free' before
you drive it again.

Raise each (one at a time) with the
others blocked and spin (by hand) to
make sure.

Should turn easy W/O noise/grinding sound.

Good luck.

Shoulda remembered that one too. I once had a tiny pebble inside a brake drum that really messed it up.

Thanks to everyone for the responses.

Beater raises a good point. When I tried starting the car the other day, it was cold. And it was the same day we got hit with the 2.5 feet of snow. Now I tried starting the car earlier in the day before the snow. But it was cold in my garage. I would say that it was in the low 30s.

I do have portable oil heaters. I will place them near the wheels and see what happens. But still that coldness in the garage is not helping. Last night it got down to 32 degrees here.

Eddie Lane

Be careful with the heater in a closed space. Electric is fine if it is dry. Don't put it too close. If you can get it up to the high 30s-low 40s for a few hours the ice will melt and run out. Watch the heater then, don't let it get wet. I hope that is all it is. Let us know. Merry Christmas! Beater

Thank you all. I incorporated everything everyone said. The portable electric heater and the rise in temperature did the trick. The brakes got unlocked.

Even though we had freezing rain last night, and this morning, it got warm enough for me to get things rolling today. I was so thrilled that I took the car out for a spin. It ran okay.

EL

EL, that is why we hang out here! If someone is driving their vintage inline hundreds of miles through the freezing rain and snow we want them to be able to do it again the next day! Happy New Year! Beater