car starts without pushing in clutch
I remember when I was a little kid, my parents had an old dodge caravan. I got in and was going to turn the key for the electric something or another and turned it too far. The car was in gear, and it took off down the driveway. I freaked out and smashed the brake and the car stalled out just before getting into the street and oncoming traffic. Funny I still remember this, must have been 20 years ago...
Anyway, along the lines of leaving it in gear, is that a bad thing? When my brakes first started leaking, I noticed that it was when I had the E brake engaged. So, now I have to leave it down and the car in gear. Hopefully I'll be changing out the calipers next weekend...
Anyway, along the lines of leaving it in gear, is that a bad thing? When my brakes first started leaking, I noticed that it was when I had the E brake engaged. So, now I have to leave it down and the car in gear. Hopefully I'll be changing out the calipers next weekend...
2nd Gear
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,030
From: SLC, Utah
+1. I never park mine out of gear. I'll pop it to N to start (partly cuz the manual says so, partly cuz after I start it is when I scroll through my ipod for my music selection and let things warm up a tad before taking off and doing all of that while holding the clutch gets annoying). I once had a theory that parking it in R would be a good theft deterrent because if someone crawled under and cut the E-brake line and attempted to just push it somewhere, they'd have to do so in reverse. I've somewhat grown out of that philosophy, but its still a habit for me to throw it into R before getting out of the car.
Sooo, survey says, leave it in gear and use the E-brake. Got it. I think I've decided (with some nice reassurance from the wife) to keep the car even though I'm deploying. What's the best way to park it for a year? I'm nervous that leaving the e-brake pulled for a year will cause them to seize up, but I could be wrong... Other than the wife starting it every couple of weeks, it's not going anywhere, just sitting in the corner of the garage.
2nd Gear
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,465
From: Massachusetts
It actually can. Have her at least move it a little bit so that the tires don't flat spot too bad. Even moving it a few inches will be better than nothing. And have her disengage and reengage the e-brake several times at least monthly.
i.e. once or twice a month, she goes in the car, takes off the e-brake, moves it at least a little bit, then e-brake on e-brake off e-brake on e-brake off e-brake on, and leaves it running for a bit.
i.e. once or twice a month, she goes in the car, takes off the e-brake, moves it at least a little bit, then e-brake on e-brake off e-brake on e-brake off e-brake on, and leaves it running for a bit.
