Hillholder Hell, well almost.
 

Evening all,

2005 Forester 2.0X with a broken hill holder, brakes lock on after whilst stationary on the flat and only release after switching the car off for a few hours/days.

Have seen the helpful posts about how to adjust the hill holder but was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as to where to look for the mechanism so I can disable it myself.

Alternatively does anyone know of a clued up mobile Subaru mechanic in West London that might be able to make the adjustment for me. My local dealer in Kew has recently stopped serving Subarus.

Thanks In Advance.

On the LH side chassis rail

Attachment 73319

http://clarkdh.net23.net/NTL/Hillholder.JPG

Located on the passenger side inner wing/strut tower.
Inadvisable to disable it yourself as the system is linked into the brake hydraulics but the cable adjusting nut can be backed off a little if the brakes are locking up on the flat/ instead of a 3 degree + incline.
Are you sure the front brake caliper pistons are not seized and causing the problem ?

Mick

Many Thanks.

Very Useful.

Not sure if it is the front brake calliper pistons or the hill holder.

I guessed that hill holder was more likely as the brakes free up after leaving the car standing for a while, but then lock up if the brakes are engaged and car put into gear.

Keep us updated. I have issue with mine. I disconnected the cable as advised elsewhere, bu I found the holder would still come on, but without the cable, I had to get out to manually turn it off, which is obviously a pain. I connected the cable up again.

Will do.

If I can get to the mechanism I shall try to adjust it rather than disable it.

Better if you can do it yourself.
Kinghams in Croydon are still a Subaru dealer/mechanics etc.

Many Thanks for the help.

I found the hill-holder mechanism as directed by the pictures and diagrams and can see that the return spring has broken/missing in my old 2005 Forester.

I have heard it is possible to disable it buy disconnecting the cable from the clutch pedal side and the cable tying the hill holder mechanism so that it stays open, but am not 100% sure about fiddling with the clutch pedal and introducing more issues, so intend to disconnect the cable from mechanism and then cable tying as shown in the attached photo (found on another random forum).

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...23680eaa4b.png

Will keep the thread updated.

Thanks again for the help.

Many thanks, very useful.

By way of an update

I followed the advice, disconnected the cable from the clutch to the hill holder (by removing the 8mm and 14mm nuts) and cable tied the valve open. The brake no longer sticks.:)

The return spring on the hill holder had broken so I am hoping to get it replaced at some point.

Many thanks again for all the help.

Always good to have an update on an issue :thumb: