Q: Local mechanic really messed up my car.
When the emergency brake is released the brake light stays on. Also, I couldn't get the automatic transmission to go into reverse. I took it to a mechanic who bypassed the ground on the solenoid so that I could get it into park and reverse. He also replaced the brake light switch. I was able to drive the car at that point. When I pressed on the gas pedal and then released it, the car would come to a hard stop with no drifting as all the brakes would lock up at this point. I started to smell something burning and eventually had to replace both of the front calipers, and all of the rotors and pads. I also noticed if I let the car sit overnight it drives fine for about a mile before locking up again. It feels like the mechanic did something wrong when he "Fixed" the parking brake, so that it is not releasing. I also have a problem with my battery draining now, and if I let it sit for a week, my battery completely drains. I even put a new battery in the car, and that one drained too.
The park brake has a little contact switch that opens when the lever is pulled, sometimes a sugary drink gets spilled into the center console and leaves the switch sticky - usually requiring replacement. Your transmission solenoid seems to be working if it can be bypassed to work, it tells me something else is contributing to the problem, probably something on the control side of the circuit, bypassing and making your own ground for the solenoid might be the cause for your battery draining so quickly (solenoid stays energized with key off draining power). From what your describing from your brake problem it sounds like you need a complete brake inspection just to be on the safe side. It could be that the parking brake was not properly adjusted or a hydraulic problem in the master cylinder. Have a mechanic from YourMechanic perform a complete vehicle inspection to help find the root causes of these problems.
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