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I have a 1996 xldt and I parked on a steep hill the other day at traffic lights (would have held it on clutch but people in the car were asking about hill starts). Upon putting the handbrake on the car rolled backwards and i got un-nerved by this so i gave her some revvs and let off the handbrake and went back to holding it on the clutch. It was admittedly raining but i had my brakes on all the way down the other side of the hill (its kinda U shaped if that makes sense!) so surely they wouldnt be wet? Its done this before on a hill to the garage when I took it to get the central locking unit sorted (needed a complete rewiring as peugeot have changed it - done under warranty thankfully!) Is this dangerous/any ideas of how its fixed? Finally your info and site is invaluable to many peugeot users!It helped me identify the problems that our other 306 was having starting. Thank you very much for your time and any info you can give me. Sorry for being so stupid when it comes to this but its my first car so I am not all knowledged up yet, though your group messages are helping me lots!
Let me quote from my Haynes manual:
"The rear suspension is of the independent trailing arm type, which consists of two trailing arms, linked by a tubular crossmember."
I don't know whether you were aware of that but a characteristic of this type of suspension is that when the car is stopped facing up a hill and the handbrake is applied, as the footbrake is released the car body rides-up over the rear wheels. This can give the feeling that the car is moving backwards but actually the wheels will not be moving. The trailing arms however will be extending.
It is a weird feeling when first experienced but there's nothing wrong going on here. Eventually the trailing arms come to the end of their extension and the "movement" stops.
I'd check this on a quiet hill making sure there's
no-one behind you. Apply the handbrake, slowly release
the footbrake and wait for the "movement" to
stop. Obviously, if you see lampposts whizzing by, you're
obviously moving and so take it to the nearest garage and
let
them fix it pronto!
