Mr knowitall seems to have given a good answer to some one elses question. I think you have correctly diagnosed a sticking rear brake by observing it not turning in slush. The next step is to jack up the rear of the car and see if either or both rear wheels spin freely by hand without the e brake on. Assuming you verify that one or both are not spinning freely, Be sure you have a safety jack stand in place, remove the wheel and the brake drum. If you don't know how to do that, you probably also won't be able to proceed with the next step which is examining the brakes to find out if they are rusted in place or the e brake cable is holding them on. Given your apparent lack of experience, a better idea might be to take it to a muffler brake shop for one of their free brake check ups and have them tell you what is wrong and what they would charge you to fix it. And you do need to fix it, as you are wasting lots of gas and some hot day when you are driving at highway speeds the brakes will heat up enough to start on fire likely taking your car with them. Good luck.My emergency brake is acting up, what could be the problem?
Replace your rear brakes.
Oh, check your master cylinder, I'll bet it's low on fluid.
NEVER ADD BRAKE FLUID!!
The brake master cylinder is designed to hold just the right amount of brake fluid for your brake system.
There are two things to note.
1) As the brake pads wear out, the calipers piston has to move farther out to press on the brake pads. As the piston moves farther out, the area behind the piston becomes filled with more fluid from the master cylinder, and the level of fluid in the master cylinder goes down.
When the fluid level in the master cylinder gets too low, a light should come on indicating that your brake fluid is low.
That does NOT mean you need to add brake fluid. It means your brake pads are VERY close to being worn out.
2) If you add brake fluid today, and have your brakes done tomorrow, when the mechanic compresses the caliper piston ALL the excess brake fluid is going to spill out of the master cylinder all over the engine compartment and make a huge mess. Not to mention ruining your car.
Just a note: Brake fluid does not evaporate. So, unless you have a leak, NEVER add brake fluid.
Have your brakes serviced.My emergency brake is acting up, what could be the problem?
Jack the car up and pull the wheel. You should see the problem immediately. The hub could be ruined if the wheel is not turning. The e-brake could of come out of adjustment and is now hung up (past the point of no return). My chevy started to give me problems because the e-brake was out of adjustment.My emergency brake is acting up, what could be the problem?
It sounds like the parking brake is not releasing completely. This could be as a result of poor and/or lack of maintenance. Even though the hydraulic part of the braking system maybe working properly, the e-brake should be diagnose and fixed the right way.
My opinion is that the brake system is the most important system on any car. No matter how fast, loud, good paint job and all the many of like about cars, if it won't stop, the safety of the driver of such car, their passenger's other drivers and pedestrians will be compromised.
Have a professional inspected since it doesn't sound like this car was Winter-ready.
This may help you learn about this issue as well:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts
Best wishes to you.
JMMy emergency brake is acting up, what could be the problem?
Quit writing stories about your car and take it in for the brake job it probably needed 2,000 miles ago. Now the pistons are sticking out of the calipers so far they are seized and you have metal to metal rubbing. The brake light is on because the brake fluid is so low from the caliper pistons being extended.
