Has anyone ever had a short circuit on their parking brake?
After a long head gasket fix, we were ready to start our disco and once we tried to start, the parking brake began to smoke. We immediately disconnected the battery and opened up the middle section and saw that the electrical wire connected to the manual brake was completely burnt.

Can anyone help? What can be wrong?

 

I have heard of it twice before, can't remember the actual problem but know that you will need to trace the cable all the way down to the drum to find the shirt.
Wish I could be of more help.

 

main engine ground... the one that goes to the alt bracket, its not on, or its loose, your engine is starved for ground and finds it through chasis via your drive line, ie, brake cable

 

Thanks for the post. Two months later and we finally had time to look at it again. It was exactly that. We had missed the main engine ground when putting everything back together. Once we found the cable, hooked it up to where it belongs and voila! Disco is finally up and running again.

Thanks for all the help.