Edit - nevermind I got it to work Thanks,
Jonny

 

I guess this may explain why so many of these brakes don't hold. If you drive enough miles with them on they won't bother you again.

 

put me on the list also, used to think it was busted. I still hate using it thinking it will stick

 

Add me to the list, seems like if the parking brake is pulled really hard you need to use the: pull up really hard, then press button and lower brake with button depressed, trick.

 

Hand brake OFF! Knowledge is power.....

K9

 

...was just about to crawl in under there with an assortment of spanners to "fix" the handbrake! 🙄

Thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Looks like a classic XK8 rookie mistake!

 

Add me. Right after I got it home, I set the brake before letting my daughter take it for a spin. I noticed that there was a smell after a short while, then recognized what it was ..... hot brakes!

She pulled over and I fumbled for a few minutes before realizing how the e-brake actually worked. No damage done except to kill some brake wear life.

Poor Liz thought she broke Daddy's new car!

 

I guess the reasons will be lost in history but I suspect the answer is more boring. If you paid north of £50k ($75US ish) for your car, you don't want to be impaled on the handbrake (that's what we call it ) when you try to get into your vehicle. So ...... Jaguar made sure it was well out of the way before anyone tried to slide over it to get into the driving seat. Just imagine the legal implications if it remained sticking up ??

 

I'm sure I read somewhere that that is the reason, and it does make sense.

Doubtless a hanging offence...

 

I love this forum!!! I have a 99 XK8 and thanks to you my car is moving again after experiencing a stuck hand brake.

 

OMG I feel like an idiot. Went to the car wash and for some reason they felt the need to pull the handle up. Got in saw the light on. Push the button and nothing. Thought it was stuck. Drove home and looked in the owners manual,no help. Searched here and 2 minutes later fixed. Thanks guys.🤦*♂️

 

Despite the unusual parking arrangement of our XK8s, this is NOT a flyoff handbrake. As you stated, the flyoff style handbrake was intended to be used as more than just a parking brake. My XK-150 had a flyoff handbrake and I loved it. In that arrangement, when you simply pull up the handbrake handle and release it, the brake releases. To SET the brake, you pull up and press the button to lock it. To release the set brake, you just tug upward on the handle and let go, without touching the button. In other words, the button has the opposite function of the ones on our XK8 levers.

 

Hi, I have a 1997 Jaguar xk8 my grandfather gave to me recently. It is in his garage. When I went to move it out the ebrake is stuck. I am aware that you have to lift it until there is significant tension, then press the button WHILE pulling up at the same time. Now lower the brake while keeping the button depressed. However, the button is stuck at halfway. The lever is freely moving however when I pull the lever all the way up and try to press the button it only goes down another quarter as if something is blocking it. The button is stuck in the halfway in any position. So when I try to press the button in any position it does not catch on to anything and I can have the button depressed from the halfway position and it will not catch anything. Do you know what to do to resolve it? Thank you.