Hi!


This morning when I tried to leave for work, my car started up like normal. I put it in reverse, but could not go anywhere-it felt like I had a snowbank behind me! I then tried it in drive, and nothing. My driveway is on a hill, so I put in neutral to see if that would do anything, but it still didn't move. I was not applying the brakes at all. I just used my car yesterday with no problems!! My husband did notice that the emergency brake wire is hanging from the car, but not loosely-just sort of like it was bolted up, and came down (if that makes sense). Everything else is fine-I just can't drive it!! Please any ideas as to what is going on? Also, any ideas on how to fix it? It is a 2001 S80.
Thanks in advance!!

 

Is your car AWD or FWD? Its possible the emergency brake shoes have locked up one of the rear wheels. Can the car roll in neutral with the engine off? next is to jack up the car and see if the rear wheel can spin freely (FWD cars rear wheels should be easy to move by hand). If no easy spin, I'd check for a stuck caliper by using a screw driver to press back the pads slightly. If still stuck then you need to try and remove the hub to get at the emergency brake shoes - that may be a chore if they are locked and pressing on the hub - I believe there's a small hole to adjust/ratchet the shoes back some. I'm not sure if this is a brake thing as most engines can overpower emergency brakes - did the check engine or TRACs light come on? If the rears can spin its not the ebrake so you'd then need to check the front - does anything look out of place with axles? Its possible the axle shaft could have popped out of the transmssion and no power is getting to the drive wheel.