a question about parking in gear

Hello,

My drive is quite steep and slopes down, i.e. the road-end is the highest end. Sometimes I reverse onto the drive and drive off it forwards, but most of the time I drive onto the drive and reverse off it. Due to the gradient of the drive, I always park my car in first gear or reverse depending which way the car is facing. Today I had reversed onto the drive and I put the car into first gear after I had stopped.

I should have kept my mouth shut, but I found myself explaining why I had put the car into gear to my son. I took the handbrake off to demonstrate, only to find that the car rolled back slightly. There was a sploshing noise as the diesel sploshed round in the tank. Then the car jolted back a little more, accompanied by more sploshing, then the car jolted back a bit more; the car moved back down the gradient of the drive in a series of small jolts, so I quickly put the handbrake back on!

What is causing this? Does this mean that the clutch is slipping? I have recently had a new clutch fitted, so it should be in perfect condition. That said, after having the new clutch, I found that whether I drove off the drive forward or in reverse, I had a horrible burnt clutch smell the fist few times. It does seem to have stopped now, but was that just driver error, with me not adjusting to the new clutch, or was it the clutch wearing in, or something else?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
Loading thread data ...

No. It's simple. If a hill is steep enough the torque generated by the wheels will be high enough to overcome engine compression. You have a steep drive so the wheels are driving the engine.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Yep, even a land rover in low will creep away down a hill over time. Turning the steering so that movement will take a wheel to a large block is a good way to avoid a runaway.

Reply to
MrCheerful

Steep drive? Clutch fails? Worried about a run-away?

You sir need an auto!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I ALWAYS park my car in gear. However, I'm wary when I'm driving someone else's car, as I have had bad experiences of the owners not following this practice, and when they tried to start their car, they simply turned the ignition key. At least one event resulted in a well-jammed starter motor, and it took lots of to-and-fro rocking to get it to disengage. The lady owner well-and-truly blamed me!

As for choosing 1st or reverse (depending on if the car is facing uphill or downhill), does it really matter? If anything, it should probably always be reverse, as this is normally lower-geared than 1st.

Reply to
Ian Jackson

I always leave my own cars in gear, but never leave customers cars in gear, it seems that few people check for neutral after their driving lessons, I found that out around the early 80s, before that it was not a problem, people, in general, did leave cars in gear or they checked before starting. Either way I know that if there is anything more than a slight hill leaving it in gear is certainly not enough on its own. A fat block is far safer, even the highway code advises on leaving the wheels on an angle if parking on a hill. In the USA it is actually a legal requirement (IIRC)

Reply to
MrCheerful

ISTR hearing about an engine with a spring tensioned timing belt (or even chain). If the engine was turned backwards the tension would slacken off and the timing would be lost when the belt jumped the teeth om a sprocket.

Reply to
D A Stocks

Don't most modern cars have an interlock to prevent the starter operating in gear with the clutch pedal up?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Very few in the UK, some Jap ones do, but it is certainly not common. I drove 10 miles once to a newly bought car that would not start, turned out it needed the clutch pedal dowm. My neighbour bought a Corolla auto and could not understand why he had to press the manual shift release to get into drive, I had to tell him he needed to press the brake first, he had been an HGV driver for over thirty years and always had auto cars in the past, so I was a little surprised that foot on the brake was not a subconscious action for him.

Reply to
MrCheerful

I read that somehwere but have never actually known it happen, I think it was a vauxhall model, BICBW

Reply to
MrCheerful
[...]

Conversely, I NEVER park my car in gear on the basis that, as the OP has discovered, it won't actually prevent your car from moving.

If I found that the handbrake wouldn't hold, I'd get it repaired.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Have you ever tried pushing a car when the driver is trying to bump-start a car in 1st gear?

Parking with the engine in gear is, of course, an addition to setting the handbrake, and can be a darn site more reliable than simply relying on the handbrake. Obviously, if the compression is pretty knackered, the engine will turn over - but it will certainly slow things down.

>
Reply to
Ian Jackson

It also means you are not over stressing the handbrake and cable on a regular basis , in the past it wasnt uncommon for them to bind on in the freezing weather either especially when some ham fisted gorilla put the brake on.

Reply to
steve robinson

No. Have you ever tried pushing a car when a properly operating handbrake is applied?

Reliable in what way? If the handbrake is working properly, and is applied properly, the car won't move. Any additional measure to prevent its movement is superfluous.

In the dim, distant past, a badly-maintained car might have a handbrake cable snap, or the ratchet strip. That doesn't happen to anything vaguely recent.

The practice of routinely leaving a car parked in gear belongs to an age where drivers were taught to slow the car down using the gears, to avoid wearing the brakes out!

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan
[...]

That might have been true in the 1960's, but has no relevance to any vaguely modern vehicle.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

I think your confidence in modern technology is rather worrying. Unless the handbrake actually locks the transmission, I would have thought that the effectiveness of your handbrake depends a lot on how hard it is applied.

I have been led to believe that the reason for not changing down through the gears these days is not just that brakes are easily renewed, and gearbox replacement is expensive, but also that changing down gives you the least warning if your brakes have failed!

>
Reply to
Ian Jackson

In the absence of a convenient block, I used to turn the steering in an appropriate direction WRT the kerb, and leave the tyre touching the kerb.

This way, any intervening pedestrians would lessen impact with walls. ;-)

Reply to
Gordon H

Right. I don't drive many new cars these days. My mate's Audi does though. It's about 5 years old. I sort of assumed it might be regs these days.

Yes. Same as the Audi.

My BMW auto is the same. You have to press the brake pedal to select drive. Makes sense, really. The other one is you can't remove the key from the lock unless in park or neutral.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

:-) I remember it well..

Reply to
Gordon H

It will on all but the steepest hill. I've personally never had a car move on a hill when in 1st gear, so it must have been pretty steep to overcome the friction in the engine, etc. Put it this way - you'd find it hard to bump start a car using first.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.