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WHat I believe is the hillholder locking the car up.

Car's been parked on an incline for almost a year...since April anyway. Finally got all the brake pieces in, discovered rotted brake lines and completed replacing them today. Bled everything out, charged the battery and started it up and it was like driving with the e brake on. I got to the top of the little "hill" my driveway is on, shifted into reverse and the car rooled perfectly. Got to the bottom, put it in first, and could barely move the car. It got easier as I got to the top of the driveway and then I doscovered the Hillholder feature. I had heard of it so figuring out the operation wasn't too taxing. It works pretty well, except it won't fully release trying to get back up the hill. I turned the car around and was backing up the hill, and then rolling back down was just fine.

I finally found some info on the system and found where the valve was. It is a bit rusty but the valve turns freely, right now I am not too worried about adjustment because it engages and releases as it is supposed to...almost. If I back down the driveway, use the parking brake, get out and move the valve about 1/4" to fully open and then press the clutch and release the parking brake the car rolls forward with no resistance. However, sometimes backing up the hill offeres some resistance, but from what I understand I don't think the PHV should be operating in reverse. Not sure.

Anyway, I have heard of two or three methods of disabling the device: remove/cut the cable, adjust it so it never works, or remove the PHV entirely and bypass it with a brakeline "jumper".

The spring is way old and rusty, and I think it's not quite up to the task of returning the valve to where it should be. I have some parking brake return springs I might try, or it also looks something like a clutch return spring in design. I'm thinking just about any good, strong spring might work. I'm going to try this tomorrow.

Any other suggestions?

BTW, I also have a rythmic clunking from the rear of the car, and what sounds like a collapsed HLA but we'll get to those another day.

Reply to
hachiroku
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How much is a replacement valve?

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

You could disconnect the linkage at either end. Move the valve to fully open position. That will disable the system. The valve could be clogged but my guess is that your calipers are sticking. Jack the front wheels up and make sure that the brakes are not binding. If they are not, apply the brakes hard several times and then check for binding. If they are binding you're going to have to figure out if the calipers need to be replaced or if the the valve has a restriction.

Reply to
dsi1

Good luck with the hill holder feature. I had one with a - '95 4wd turbo and loved it. Don't know how they work.

A thought on the clunking noise from the rear. I had a '86 GL wagon that was making a clunking from the rear on vacation and I stopped into the local Subie dealer. They simply retorqued the rear wheel bearings and I was on my way without any further problems.

Reply to
Tim Conway

duh, that was an '85 4wd turbo.

Reply to
Tim Conway

That's what I was thinking. Either that or a worn shock. THey were replaced not long before the car was parked, but that was ~5 years ago.

Reply to
hachiroku

Everything is new, and when I installed then I cleaned the pins with emory cloth and got whatever rust was on them off, then polished them and used the correct grease.

Some of the pads went on REALLY tight, and it will take some driving to wear them down and seat them properly, but the car is not registered yet.

I put a heavier spring on, and that relieved the issue a bit, but then when the car stalled out under what I consider a normal start from a full stop, I removed the cable and put the spring on to hold the valve wide open. It's a nice feature, but...

The car rolls a lot easier now.

Reply to
hachiroku

$400 less than I paid for the car! ;) (MSRP $194, list $152)

Reply to
hachiroku

It might not be adjusted properly. With the clutch out, you should have some play on the cable end that goes to the brake pressure retention valve and the arm on the valve should be fully open. If it's not, you have it adjusted too tightly.

Reply to
dsi1

The cable was just loose when the clutch was out. The function was working properly, the valve was not returning to full open and not allowing the fluid to flow properly. Putting on a new spring helped a bit, but after a couple of acuations the car would get sluggish again. I paid $600 for the car, the best price I found from a S00b dealer was $159. Not bad, but I can live without the hillholder. I've been driving MTs for 38 years...

I have bigger fish to fry. There's the clunking, and this thing feels like it's bogged down, but that may be the brakes needing to be worn in. The clunking is the most worrisome; the rear suspension seems fine; I got under and gave everything a hard tug, so it might wither be a shock or a spring or perhaps a bearing causing the noise.

One of the rear calipers went on real tight with the new pads and rotors, and the car sat for a month and the rotors got all rusted up. Have to get it registered and drive it a bit.

I had a '97 Legacy L with an AT that drove quite nicely, but had a blown head gasket. I only got to drive it 5 times.

Reply to
hachiroku

suspension clunking - don't forget to check for worn bushings and broken sway bar mounts/links and broken springs(hard to spot at times). (along with typical problems)

drivetrain clunking - if it isn't torque bind, be sure to check u- joints and carrier bearing and for unseated stub axles.(along with the typical problems)

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

I would remove the cable and spring and move the valve arm by hand. Check for binding. If there is, you could either replace it or disable the system.

You should jack up the tires and confirm that the wheels are binding. It sure sounds like it is. My guess is that's what's causing the clunking noise. If it is, fixing the problem shouldn't be hard to fix.

On my old Subaru, the hand brake was on the front wheels and you have to crank the pistons in to retract them. There's something wrong if the pads are dragging.

Reply to
dsi1

I don't know what the issue was. The pin slid well, the caliper was rebuilt and worked fine, the pistons retracted no probs, but when I put the pads on and slid the caliper over them it was a tight fit. All the rest were ok.

The previous owner was complaining about the clunking, but when I pulled the rotors off the rear the shoes for the e brake were floating (the pins rusted and the springs were in the bottom of the drum) so I figured that was it.

The arm on the PHV moves freely. Now, when the car was at his house we tried to move the car and it and it would not budge. I had forgotten about S00Bs having hillholders because the two I had were automatics. The arm for the PHV had fresh oil on it, so I'm thinking when they put the car on the trailer the guy who moved it knew about this and lubed it. It moves just fine.

Reply to
hachiroku

I can't tell right now what it is, because it's not registered and I can only drive it about 50 feet at a time. Sometimes the clunking is rythmic, and sometimes just happens on a bump. I did notice a bolt on the center bearing of the driveshaft looks loose. I chacked out the sway bar in the rear and all the linkages, and the bushing look aged but intact. Nothing moves easily, and the sway bar linkages and bushings look OK. Not fantastic, but OK.

Reply to
hachiroku

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