Parking on a slope... it's a mystery!

[tvr si]

i always park my chim in gear when i leave it as i wouldn't trust the handbrake as far as i could pull it!

i was parked last night on a rather steep slope. when i went to my car this morning it had moved down the slope by about 3 feet! it hadn't thankfully rolled all the way down but how the hell could this happen??

is it that something is not quite right with the clutch or gearbox

or

some scallies were trying to nick it?

any ideas peeps?

thanks in advance!

tvr si

[petros]

If the slope is steep the car will roll.

[tahiti450]

Leaving it in gear wont stop it from moving, it'll just roll slower. All you are doing by putting it in gear is adding a big dollop of drag, like a sea achor on a ship. If you leave the car on a steep slope and just in gear it'll start to move - slowly turning the engine over whilst being retarded by cylinder compression and friction only. As the cylinders leak down the pistons will move up the bores, its exactly the same as the engine braking you get when you are driving and simply take your foot off the gas.
Try it on a hill but use 5th gear instead and see how little retardation you get! Its not the same as Park on an auto where there is a positively locking transmission brake (usually comprising a toothed wheel and pawl). The handbrake should work reasonably provided that its properly adjusted.
If I'm parked on a slope I leave the wheels turned either into the kerb or wall or whatever so that if the worst happens the front wheel will just dig in rather than the car careering down the hill.

[edtvr]

tahiti450 said:

If I'm parked on a slope I leave the wheels turned either into the kerb or wall or whatever so that if the worst happens the front wheel will just dig in rather than the car careering down the hill.

Ditto,
Best bit of advice you can get, I make this my std practice in all cars.

[tvr si]

thanks for the help and sound words of wisdom.

i especially like the inspired use of the word 'retarded'; and for once not aimed at the driver!

i shall soundly tonight.

cheers,

tvr si

[bigdods]

Well I really went for it and did the opposite - hand brake on not in gear (I was tired and forgot ok!) - roll up for a £200 bil to repair the damaged bumper. Came out a few hours after parking to find the Tiv parked against my front door !

The situation was not helped by her indoors spending the rest of the day giggling and making gearchange hand motions every time she saw me grrrrr

[WWESTY]

Same happened to me once outside the office......only knew when I was asked to move it to let someone else out!! Best thing was that when rolling it had missed some very unforgiving concrete posts by about 6"!!!!

Phew!!!

[victormeldrew]

bigdods said:

Well I really went for it and did the opposite - hand brake on not in gear (I was tired and forgot ok!) - roll up for a £200 bil to repair the damaged bumper. Came out a few hours after parking to find the Tiv parked against my front door ! The situation was not helped by her indoors spending the rest of the day giggling and making gearchange hand motions every time she saw me grrrrr

I did this when I first got my Chim and the car took half a brick out of the front of the house. Not a scratch on the car. TVR 1 MacLeans 0!