RAY MAGLIOZZI

Dear Car Talk: Two mechanics couldn’t find anything wrong with my non-functional parking brake.

It’s a floor-pedal type that does ratchet. Do I just need a shorter cable? — Kent

Well, congratulations, Kent. You’ve just written to a third mechanic who can’t find anything wrong with it.

But I’ll give you a few ideas for your fourth mechanic.

I’m going to assume that your previous mechanics applied the foot brake, saw the cable moving at the rear wheels, and yet, with the car on the lift, were still able to spin the wheels.

It’s possible, but unlikely, that your cables are stretched. If they are, you’d need to replace them. But before you do that, here are some more likely issues:

There are two types of parking brakes. One is a drum brake — and even if you have disc brakes on the rear wheels, you can still have a drum-brake parking brake.

If you have a drum-style parking brake, it’s likely that the lever that actuates the brake — the one that the cable pulls on — is rusted and locked up. If it’s stuck, he can try to work it free and lubricate it.

If the lever is moving freely, then the shoes may be worn out, or may have worn out to the point where they need to be adjusted. Adjusting the brakes just moves the starting point of the brake shoes closer to the drum. It’s sort of like shortening the cable.

If you have the other type of parking brake, a disc brake-caliper arrangement, the most common problem with those is a stuck caliper.

Again, your mechanic can test that by trying to actuate the caliper manually. If it doesn’t move freely, that’s the problem.

There are other possibilities, but those are the most common issues we see at the shop. An interested mechanic, willing to spend a little time on this, should be able to figure out what’s not moving and fix this for you, Kent. After all, parking brakes are not brain surgery. Thank goodness for that. I’d hate to have to scrub in for every brake job.

Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 300 W. 57th St., 41st Floor, New York, NY 10019, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.