legacycentral bbs

I didn't know whether to put this in the brake or the drive train forum, so misc it is. Here’s the deal, I’ve parked on a slope a few times in the last couple of days, and when I go to back out of the spot-the hill holder seems to be engaged. If you aren’t familiar, the hill holder is supposed to engage when you are on a hill and have the car in 1st and the clutch and brake in. It then holds the brakes so you don’t have to take the time to move your foot from the brake to the clutch, letting you just pull away up a hill. So when I’m parked on a hill in 1st, I put clutch and brake in when I start it-turning the holder on. So then when I put it into reverse the hill holder is supposed to release, but it isn’t. I think the hill holder unit is by the steering column on the inner fender, there is a cable that goes from the clutch fork to it and what look like brake lines coming out of it…Is this right. What can go wrong with this, is there a good way to just disable it? I can probably do without it, but don’t want to worry about it acting funny.

The Hill-Holder valve simply holds the brakes until you release the clutch. It has nothing to do with what gear you're in. If the car is in Neutral, and have the brakes on, and still keep the clutch in, you can let off the brakes without the car going anywhere. Once you engage that clutch though, it will release the brakes.

If you want to disable it, simply disconnect the cable from the clutch fork. But there's nothing wrong with yours, so just leave it.

I vaguely remember reading a TSB or an article from Subaru or something about this. It said something like, "If you park on a slope and start in reverse, the hill holder may hold the brakes momentarily. This is normal behavior."

So, yeah, like subyluvr2212 says, it doesn't look like anything's wrong with your hill holder.

Even if I double clutch it into reverse the brakes stay engaged. I usually put the car in neutral and let the clutch out, and then into reverse. The brakes don't seem to let off unitl I finish backing up and drive forward a few feet. I still think something isn't right.

Is it the hill holder or is your parking brake sticking? The shoes might be grabbing when the tire rotates backward. If the hill holder releases in forward then I think it's likely OK - as suby said, it doesn't know what gear you're in. Its just a very simple, but clever device that holds the brakes on an incline until the clutch is engaged.

Steve

But it's only happening when the car has been parked on a hill, I can't see why that could make the parking brake stick. And I've tried to move with the parking brake on before, it's a different feeling than fighting the HH. Aaah, forget about it...I'm back in ND anyway-no hills to park on.

Same thing happens in my wagon. It is against normal driving practice but you have to put the car in neutral and let the clutch all the way out and let it roll backwards. It's quite akward since it's something you normally would never do.