handbrake won't release!

[Jason Douglas <jdouglas@luna.mitre.org>]

Help -

The left parking brake won't release on my '86 5000S, and the cable seems 
to be the problem.  

The right one works
fine.  I can release the left one with by prying the lever at the brake 
itself.  The spring seems about the same as the right one, and the cable 
seems to bind.  I disconected it from the brake and tried to clean the 
cable where it exits the sheath (on both ends of the sheath) using 
wd-40.  No luck.

Weather seems to be a factor - it was slushy the day before, then the temps
dropped to about the low 20s (-5? for our metric friends).  Is ice the 
likely culprit? Does the car need a new cable, or will the problem 
disappear when it warms up, never to reappear?

Thanks in advance.

Jason Douglas
Lead Engineer, Networking and Communications Systems
MITRE Corporation