heartless Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 the new to us Forester has been going along pretty well... except for the one brake locking up from time to time.. usually only happens after being stopped for a little bit - start car again, put in gear (does not matter if forward or reverse) and the darn thing wont move.. jab the brake pedal a few times in quick succession, and it will usually release ok.. if it does not release the first time, do it again.. until it does release, then everything is fine.. does not do it while driving, only after being parked, and usually when parked for less than an hour. Was told the left front brake caliper was replaced shortly before we bought it due to the slide pins being seized up - and we were told about it "locking" like this periodically, so not entirely unexpected... Have checked the brakes over, and everything looks to be in order.. slide pins are moving easily, pads look pretty good, caliper is obviously pretty new.. brake fluid is at proper level... hard lines look good.. flex line looks ok.. but I also aware the inside could be at issue? at a loss as to what could be causing it to lock up like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Your hill holder valve is sticking. Could be the valve or the cable. For the time being just disconnect the cable and rotate the valve to the open position. You can likely get a replacement valve or possibly the rebuild kit still from Subaru. I bet it's a rusty mess. You're most welcome. We even see this in Oregon where there's no rust so I'm about 101% certain this is your problem. GD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 Hill holder. Or, Ive only seen this on non-Subaru vehicles. But the rubber brake line at the hub/wheel can collapse internally. When letting off the brake the fluid doesn’t return back up the line because the internal collapse is acting like a one way valve. MC and booster give ample pressure to push through it but they’re a one way street so there’s no pressure pushing back up to the MC when brakes are let off. So it retains pressure on the caliper. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 10 hours ago, GeneralDisorder said: Your hill holder valve is sticking. OMG.. been so long since i have driven a manual Subaru, I had completely forgotten about that option. Will look into that asap. THANK YOU! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret54 Posted December 28, 2021 Share Posted December 28, 2021 (edited) If it is the Hillholder, it has it's own cable from the clutch pedal thru the firewall to the valve mounted just below the master cylinder. Since the clutch is hydraulic, it has it's own cable, Usually the return spring becomes weak or breaks off. many times you will not see the spring after it breaks as it just falls off and gets lost. To the best of my knowledge, there was no rebuild kits ( at least from Subaru ) and no individual parts. The valve was the only p/n in the Subaru system. I would try a junkyard, ebay etc. Quick fix or permanent fix to disable it, as GD suggested, Disconnect the cable, rotate it to the OPEN position then wire tie it open to prevent it from closing again. Edited December 28, 2021 by Ferret54 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted December 28, 2021 Author Share Posted December 28, 2021 yeah, i will probably just disable the hill holder completely and be done with it.. don't have that big of hills here, LOL, and I do know how to handle what we do have without the hill holder setup had an old 67 Ford pickup that was a manual.. no fancy hill holder gadgets on that. LOL just been a while since i drove a stick.. the last manual Subaru I had was the old 89 GL wagon that got retired in 2007 or so.. and sold the old truck in 2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 7, 2022 Author Share Posted April 7, 2022 interestingly enough, once the cold weather settled in, there were pretty much no problems with "locking up" of brakes... now that things are starting to warm up, the demon has returned.. and with a vengance. Went to an appointment yesterday... started to pull into a parking space, realized i was going to be crooked, backed up a little to straighten out, and when i tried to go forward again it was not moving... had to do some fancy revving to force it forward into the space.. did not want to leave it hanging half out in the drive area Never did get around to disconnecting the hill holder cable.. and at this point, still not 100% positive that is going to solve the issue.. tried moving the valve to the fully open position, and still could not move the car when in neutral and parking brake off. other half is going to try disconnecting that this evening, see if he can get it to move. If not, it is going to have to be towed out of the clinic parking lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 I'm sure I could find nice rust free on in CO and send it your way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 8, 2022 Author Share Posted April 8, 2022 8 minutes ago, lmdew said: I'm sure I could find nice rust free on in CO and send it your way. rust free what, Larry? LOL if you could find me a nice, clean 1995 Legacy with sunroof for around $2k, i would probably be all over it.. I miss the 95 i had hill holder, not interested.. sure they are nice when they work, but not a necessity for me. I can quite happily handle driving without one. Other half got the hill holder disconnected and zip tied the valve open last night.. still wont move... will be getting it towed to a shop we trust in town this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 31 minutes ago, heartless said: Other half got the hill holder disconnected and zip tied the valve open last night.. still wont move... will be getting it towed to a shop we trust in town this morning. It's probably a front wheel flexible brake line. You could check it real quick by doing nothing but jacking the front wheels up. Jack up the front and turn each wheel by hand - one will feel locked. Replace the flexible line to that wheel. If you jack it up and neither is locked, press the pedal and check again. Press the pedal and check again until one wheel locks up and the other doesn't. If one is locked you can go one step further and pry the caliper back with a screw driver between the pad and caliper - don't eve have to remove it just wedge it in there and give it a little back pressure. It doesn't take much. Then press brake pedal and feel it lock up again. The brake hose collapses internally and acts like a valve. You press the brakes, the fluid pressed the pads tight. Let off the brakes and the fluid pressure should ease. But the collapsed hose doesn't allow the fluid pressure to "go backwards" up the line so to speak. I've never heard of this happening to Subaru, just American cars, makes me wonder if yours were replaced before with aftermarket or maybe it can happen to Subaru. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 turns out the rear brakes were completely shot.. broken springs, worn out shoes, things got misaligned and locked up the works so, after tow, complete rear brake job - new shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware kits and drums turned - it is good to go again - total cost was $516 & change - and all done in one day (after being told they were booking out to the 19th already) I am going to call it a win in this situation. need to get fronts taken care of next.. tomorrow hopefully - weather cooperating. and it never fails.. nobody seems to know how to properly bleed a Subaru brake system, LOL - pedal is kind of soft - functional, but softer than it should be. Will take care of that after we get fronts sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 I swapped over to rear disk brakes, drums went to the recycler on my Impreza. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 oh, i would love to swap it over to disc, but funds are pretty limited for much of anything these days... the bill for this was paid for with tax refund money. Plus, i am not doing the best physically anymore... lower back and neck problems causing nerve/muscle problems. I am afraid that my days of working on my own vehicle are pretty limited. i can still do a few things, with help, but not like i used to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 9, 2022 Author Share Posted April 9, 2022 and the fronts are done.. had one slider pin that was gummed up a bit, but got it free, cleaned up, cleaned out and regreased so should be good for a while now. next time we need to do brakes it will be getting new stuff up front... rotors are ok for now, but next round they get replaced.. one caliper had been replaced before we got the car, but the piston boots are looking a bit rough.. so both calipers will get replaced as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 Here you go. A new hood and you should be good. https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/arvada-1995-subaru-legacy/7469232186.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 10, 2022 Author Share Posted April 10, 2022 51 minutes ago, lmdew said: Here you go. A new hood and you should be good. https://denver.craigslist.org/cto/d/arvada-1995-subaru-legacy/7469232186.html i guess i forgot to mention i want a wagon, not a sedan, LOL =P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NV Zeno Posted April 10, 2022 Share Posted April 10, 2022 On 4/8/2022 at 5:33 AM, idosubaru said: It's probably a front wheel flexible brake line. You could check it real quick by doing nothing but jacking the front wheels up. Jack up the front and turn each wheel by hand - one will feel locked. Replace the flexible line to that wheel. If you jack it up and neither is locked, press the pedal and check again. Press the pedal and check again until one wheel locks up and the other doesn't. If one is locked you can go one step further and pry the caliper back with a screw driver between the pad and caliper - don't eve have to remove it just wedge it in there and give it a little back pressure. It doesn't take much. Then press brake pedal and feel it lock up again. The brake hose collapses internally and acts like a valve. You press the brakes, the fluid pressed the pads tight. Let off the brakes and the fluid pressure should ease. But the collapsed hose doesn't allow the fluid pressure to "go backwards" up the line so to speak. I've never heard of this happening to Subaru, just American cars, makes me wonder if yours were replaced before with aftermarket or maybe it can happen to Subaru. Exactly what I was thinking. Happened to me on two separate, quite old Subarus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heartless Posted April 11, 2022 Author Share Posted April 11, 2022 22 hours ago, NV Zeno said: Exactly what I was thinking. Happened to me on two separate, quite old Subarus. well, i know 2004 is no spring chicken anymore, but i wouldnt call it "quite old" either.. lol but, if you had read the entire thread, you would have found out it was the rear brakes that failed and locked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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