Legacy wagon wont go forward after reverse or stop on hill

[iced2707]

I have a 98 Legacy 2.0 Estate, i have the following problem ! When i reverse the car and stop using the foot brake or handbrake, it refusues to pull away forward. when this started to happen it would pull away and then somthing would release and all was fine, now tho it taskes repeated pumping of the barkesand rocking to release whatever is stuck, I have replaced the back shoes but didnt seem to make much odds, any advice greatfully received

[Legacy777]

It's possible the parking brakes are sticking, or if you have a manual transmission and the hill holder....it may be sticking.

[iced2707]

OK Whats a hill holder ? the car is a manual transmission

[entirelyturbo]

Some Subarus have a Hill-Holder device that won't release the brakes until the clutch is engaged. This was designed to prevent the rollback on a hill.

The device can fail, and not engage the brakes on a hill at all, or it can fail, and not DISengage the brakes on a hill.

Check to see if you have one. If you do, it's going to be a small valve mounted on the frame just beneath the left front strut tower. It will have brake lines running to it, and a cable coming off the clutch fork.

[iced2707]

noticed when we done the clutch a second cable coming from the clutch mech, i will follow it and have a look see. i suppose i could bypass it right !!! or where could i get a replacement valve from !!

[Legacy777]

You could disconnect the cable and that should fix the problem. The system won't work....but you won't get stuck either.

[entirelyturbo]

Yep, that's the HH cable.

You can disconnect it as Josh said, expect your clutch pedal to feel really flimsy though.

There used to be a company affiliated with CCR that rebuilt HH valves, I think they were called RooRepair or something, but I can't find it anywhere now, so I guess they stopped, which was a shame because the prices were very reasonable.

If you want to do away with the whole thing altogether, then you can get a brake master cylinder off an automatic car and redo the brake lines accordingly.

[iced2707]

have disconnected the HH Cable and the sticking problem looks like it has been cured. What and how does the HH system work then, does it apply the brakes when the car is on a hill and you push the clutch ???? Bit odd really

[entirelyturbo]

How it works is when you apply pressure to the brakes, the HH valve retains that pressure even after you let off the brake pedal. Then, you can take your time moving your right foot over to the gas pedal without worrying about the car rolling back. Then once you let off the clutch pedal, the HH valve releases the brake pressure, and you drive away.

[greg donovan]

we had a similar problem in our 91 legacy sedan after we replaced the clutch.

you need to re adjust the HH cable and the problem should go away.

[justin the subie]

i miss having a hill holder.. there awesome to have if adjusted properly!

[gbianchi]

The hill holder valve is also the return spring for the clutch fork, if you have it disconnected your throwout bearing will see additonal wear. To adjust the hh just tighten the nut to the point where moving the fork freeplay causes the hh valve spring to move slightly. That will get you very close to correct, then fine tune it till it disengauges the brake at the slightest release of the clutch pedal, hope this helps.
g