Hello everyone!
I have a 2000 GT 5spd.
A while back I started to notice that my car would roll a bit with my parking brake engaged. I didn't think too much of it and kept going on. One day, I left it in neutral and it gave out entirely causing my car to roll down a HUGE ASS hill for about 200 yards. The car made it out OK. I had my cables replaced but the lever was extremely hard to pull (only 4 clicks MAX with brute force). I didn't argue with the mechanic because it wasn't rolling and I was happy. Sure enough, my car started to roll again. Luckily I keep it in gear now when parked, but it bothers me knowing my parking brake doesn't work. I noticed AM now sells these cables and thought about trying to replace them myself the right way. I just wanted to get your opinions on a few things:
1. Should the lever be that hard to pull (remember 4 -5 clicks MAX)?
2. My entire braking system, front and rear, is no more than a year old.
3. Is it normal for parking brake cables to freeze in winter?
4. Is it normal for the parking brake to just become loose after hours of sitting? It works when I first park the car, then it has loosened up after hours of sitting.

I have heard my year Stang had a parking brake lever recall and it may have never been changed. Could this be part of the problem?

Thanks for all of your help guys!

An often over look cause for poor parking brake performance is rear caliper pin galling. Galled slid pins not only reduces clamping force but causes uneven pad and rotor wear.

I know this post is old, but for whoever may search this thread in the future:
I fixed ALL issues with my parking brake! I cannot believe all of this can be fixed with something so simple, but...WD-40! I finally took off my center console last week and inspected the assembly. It was looking a little dry and rusty so I stuck a towel under and around the mechanism, and sprayed the crap out of that thing. First try and the think was working perfectly! I was getting about 5-6 clicks, but I still wasn't done. I followed the parking brake cables to where they engage at the brakes and sprayed some WD-40 on that moving part as well. If you do this, be careful not to get any on the pads or rotor!
I believe my problem with the car rolling with the parking brake engaged was due to me only engaging it about 1 click. It was never fully "braking" so it just rolled after a bit.
The final result was about 7 or 8 clicks at full engagement of the parking brake.

Thank you !!!!!

I have been screwing with my weak parking brake issue for almost a year. I tried everyting thing but oil. I looked for hours online about every possible thing it could be but this is the first post about the most basic of things that I overlooked. thanks again