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.