Parking hill

[StevePil]

All
Asked about parking on hill the other day, thought would test it today, so parked on brothers drive, facing up towards his house, so the car is facing backwards down the drive, hope that makes sense
Put the gear in 1st when engine off, released the brake and the car rolled, so quickly broke again and then put the handbrake on, I still left it in first but thought would this make any difference if handbrake failed, am I doing something wrong? did also try reverse and it done same thing?
Im not sure if it would always roll a bit until it even locks into gear as soon as the car startred to roll bakwards I broke, as above, engine was off
Thanks,
Steve

[woolleysheep]

had you let the clutch out

[StevePil]

Yes, well I think I had, cant remember now... any other ideas?

[BillyBB]

It will move quite a bit before stopping. Use third.

[StevePil]

Tested it again, and it did work, must have had the clutch down or engine running, so stupid
does it cause any damage if I have done this test, just left it in gear, no handbreak on a hill, only for couple mins to test it, much more relieved knowing it did work...
thanks

[pug100]

Leaving your car in gear will not cause any damage to it whilst parked . Just remember to take it out of gear before starting the engine. I always waggle the gear lever to make sure it's in neutral before starting up.
What you are doing by putting the car in gear is ensuring that should the handbrake fail, the car would have to have enough momentum to roll itself and be able to turn the engine to gain speed (remember it's connected via the gearbox and clutch) Using third or second insted of frist makes it more difficult for the car to roll away.
If you're really keen to test how much more effort is needed to roll a car in gear, then find an empty road or car park and get a friend to sit in the car to steer. Now try to push the car whilst in neutral, next try it with the car in first gear and so on. You'll find it's really difficult in first compared to neutral and almost impossible with the higher gears.

[Panic Button]

Get in the habit of starting with the clutch depressed, so it doesn't matter if you forget to select neutral.

[derekpara]

Good advice, Panic, for starting in any situation.

[phizzy]

yup - this is something i have always done - i think it turns car over better as not turning the fly wheel - is this correct ?

[Doc Spock]

Panic Button, that is rubbish advice. You will cause excess wear on the thrust bearing.

In the same way as waiting at lights, eg, in 1st gear with clutch depressed.

Also Pug you can push a car in the higher gears, 1st almost impossible. This is why you jump start in 3rd.

[Doc Spock]

Phizzy, no.. The flywheel turns with the crankshaft, otherwise how would the starter work which drives the flywheel.

[Panic Button]

Doc, the clutch is designed to be used.

How can pressing it while staring the engine cause excessive wear?

I have always done it, as I was taught, and never had a clutch problem.

[Panic Button]

I have asked this on a specialist motoring website and the two answers so far have said there is no problem holding the clutch down for starting.

One says the design and build of cars has improved so much that such wear is no longer a worry.

The other says what I thought already, that particularly on cold mornings it is positively beneficial. It reduces the load on the starter as it doesn't have to turn any part of the gearbox while cranking the engine.

[derekpara]

Doc, the object is to stop the car jolting forward if you forget to check for neutral. (And we all do it occasionally )

The clutch is only held down for a second or two and therefore can have no detrimental effect , considering the number of times it is used during a journey.