Jeff,
You need to inspect the rear brakes. The most likely loser here is the wheel
cylinders. Also, it is a good idea to regularly use the hand brake so the
levers and cables do not get seized. It is common for unused hand brake
parts to get stuck that one time they are used.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Jeffrey Lubin
Sent: Monday, May 25, 2009 5:09 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: a Memorial Day e-brake memory problem

Last night, while visiting friends for Memorial Day weekend festivities,
I parked the van on a hill and set the e-brake, which I don't normally
do when parking in my driveway.
This morning, I forgot to release the brake before pulling out, and went
a few miles until:
a) I started to smell that horrible burning plastic/rubber smell and
b) The brake pedal went almost all the way to the floor before the
brakes would engage.
Evidently, I had boiled some brake fluid, but after I released the
e-brake and gave it a few minutes of cool-down, everything was back to
normal:  Brakes were working well, as they had been before the incident,
and the e-brake itself also worked fine when I tested it in an open
parking lot.

So the question is, what are the chances I did some permanent damage
somewhere, other than causing some premature wear on the rear brake pads?

By the way, I blame VW for this whole incident!  Due to poor instrument
panel design, the steering wheel completely obscures the brake light, at
least from my driving position.