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Old 18th January 2008, 09:40   #31
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I always park the vehicle in 1st gear in a uphill and in reverse gear in slope inclines with ofcourse the handbrake applied.
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Old 18th January 2008, 10:33   #32
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Slightly OT but how long should a car be kept with handbrakes engaged? Take for example, my car is parked in my building's designated and covered parking bay on level ground. I go on frequent trips for around 2 weeks at a time. Sometimes I can feel the handbrake 'sticking' when I release it after returning. Is this bad in the long run and should I simply engage first and put some bricks wedged under the tyres?

Remember, my car's on level ground so no one panic :-)!
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Old 18th January 2008, 16:47   #33
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kerb your wheels

'kerb your wheels‘ is another way to reduce the load on the handbrake and gearbox. It requires you to turn the wheels away from the kerb on an incline such that the left front wheel is wedged against the kerb and prevents the car from rolling down. Vice-versa on a downhill. But then, here in India how often does one even park even close to the kerb/sidewalk???
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Old 18th January 2008, 21:25   #34
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I wouldn't worry about leaving the handbrake on for two weeks.

I left my car parked for six months when I was first setting up a home, but not yet based, here. (OT.... I should have thought of disconnecting the battery; luckily my friend had a charger handy)

I was away in London for five weeks last year and didn't give a second thought to the Swift, except to cover it.
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Old 19th January 2008, 00:08   #35
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Always leave your car in gear with the hand brake on.
I always do this......but for some reason i forgot to engage the gear yesterday when i parked the Bolero on a slight incline. I had the hand brake on though. But when i came back after an hour i found the car had rolled back a few meters.

I i didn't have the hand brake on, it would've reached the other street.



Need to get the hand brake tightened.

-- Torqy
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Old 19th January 2008, 00:11   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rehaan View Post
Which is always a good practise, and in addition to that it apparently reduces load on your battery / starter motor to the extent that battery life increases. (I read this somewhere...but cannot confirm)

Is it true even for MPFI enngines . AS i read that you should not use clutch or accelator while starting ..

Regard.. Kat
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Old 19th January 2008, 01:53   #37
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Monkeys

Troups of monkeys playing rough on your car and taps from other vehicles can dislodge a vehicle and send it down a slope. These things happen too often around here where I live. Park it in a low gear.
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Old 19th January 2008, 02:23   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kARTIK IYER View Post
Is it true even for MPFI enngines . AS i read that you should not use clutch or accelator while starting
Newer cars have an interlock which requires the clutch to be depressed before the engine can be started.

The accelerator should not be pressed because a computer controls fuel flow to the engine. By pressing it you're just increasing fuel flow, leading to a waste of fuel.
In a carburetted engine, you generally have to press the accelerator while starting up.
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Old 19th January 2008, 06:24   #39
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While parking your car u shold always pull ur handbrakes.Shifting to the first gear or second is adviced in case the car is parked in an slope(uphill) road and it should be put into reverse while parking your car in a downhill. only shifting into grears can also do the same thing but that increases the stress in ur gearbox incase the road is a bit inclined.
And when the car is put into first , 2nd or reverse it helps in case the handbrakes fail.

so in uphill -> handbrakes + 1st or 2nd gear
Downhill-> Handbrakes + Reverse ....
In flat surface -> Only Handbrakes ....but can shift into 1st or 2nd coz..its always better to be on the safer side.
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Old 23rd May 2010, 19:18   #40
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The safest way to park the vehicle is apply handbrakes and block rear tyre with the big stone (the truck driver way ....!!)

Now no problem even if your handbrake, gear and everything else fails. This is the most basic and crude method ...hehehe

To be supersafe, turn wheels such that even if your car crush the stone (unlikely) it will not go down the slope but just bang against something and stop
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Old 24th May 2010, 14:15   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by abhaybakshi View Post
The safest way to park the vehicle is apply handbrakes and block rear tyre with the big stone (the truck driver way ....!!)
Maybe in the Padmini & Ambassadors of yesteryear, but hardly required in the super-reliable modern cars of today. Best way to park on is keep the front wheels turned such that, if the car rolls, it does so into the edge of the footpath.
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Old 25th May 2010, 08:43   #42
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom View Post
I wouldn't worry about leaving the handbrake on for two weeks.

I left my car parked for six months when I was first setting up a home, but not yet based, here. (OT.... I should have thought of disconnecting the battery; luckily my friend had a charger handy)

I was away in London for five weeks last year and didn't give a second thought to the Swift, except to cover it.
Thad,

Not all cars suffer from sticking handbrakes. In my Swift petrol the hand brake never stuck, even after being idle for a week at max. But in my Ford Mondeo and my uncle's Fiesta. They stick even on parking the car overnight. In my uncle's car the hand brake once got so badly stuck that we had call the Ford sevice and they came over and had to literally pry them apart. The car had been idle for 4 days when this happened.

In my Mondeo too, when I park the car overnight and release the hand brake in the morning it lets go with a clunk sound which is quite disconcerting at times. So I have personally stopped using the hand brake on level ground. Just slot it into first. When parking on a slope the hand brake is engaged. Better safe than sorry.

Cheers.

Last edited by vikram_d : 25th May 2010 at 08:45.
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Old 25th May 2010, 09:24   #43
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In my garage, I used to do long-term parking of my previous vehicles, Maruti Suzuki Omni/Versa with handbrake applied and reverse gear engaged for 18 years.

But now, Fiat Linea owner's handbook specifically advises me against engaging handbrake for long-term. So, I started using the wooden wedges presented by my late father a decade back in addition to engaging reverse gear for long-term parking of my Fiat Linea in the garage without applying handbrake. Of course, for short-term parking outside my home, I resort to gear and handbrake combination without wooden wedges.
Attached Thumbnails
Switch off / Park in first gear or neutral?-1232.jpg  


Last edited by J.Ravi : 25th May 2010 at 09:27.
 
Old 25th May 2010, 10:07   #44
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Best method for parking car is to engage handbrake first , put 1st gear, then turnoff engine.
If needed Press clutch again to make sure cars weight is on handbrake and not on gears.
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Old 29th August 2013, 23:00   #45
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Re: Switch off / Park in first gear or neutral?

Is it normal for the car when parked in Gear to roll down the slope in jerks, the reason I ask is I parked the Embera crdi a few weeks back and went out of station and my neighbor stated it rolled down a bit and hence he had to place some stones to hold the wheels, he says it touched his gypsy parked in front.

The car was in reverse gear, front facing downwards and the parking brake was (accidentally) partly engaged. I intentionally engaged the opposite gear to hold it from rolling forwards in addition to the parking brake. Normal practice I engage parking fully and then slip into gear.

This slope is about 20 degrees. After I came back I tried this again to check by engaging the reverse gear on a downward slope and the car does roll forward in jerks, I never have experienced this in any other car, so is it normal, or is there something I need clarity on.

I always assumed in reverse the car should not roll forwards, in fact people advice that you should always leave the car in the opposite gear from the direction of the slope, it doubles up as a safety precaution and reverse gearing should not allow forward motion.

Does this indicate something. The car has done about 80k kms and is from mid 2008. The car gives about 12-13 kmpl which I think is little low as other owners report 15+kmpl.

Also about the clutch, the mechanic tells me that it is weak but safely usable for another 10-15k kms without damaging other mechanicals hence I don't think it is that bad to let the car roll when parked in gear.

While driving I don't get the burning smell of the clutch slipping, also it tackles inclines in 1st or 'R' gear even if you stop and start again, acceleration is there but again I haven't compared with another if better or same.

Please let me know. Appreciate all help.

Last edited by s_pphilip : 29th August 2013 at 23:06.
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