Starting/parking car - advice required

geek84

Hi Folks

When you park your car at (say) night time, do you leave the gear stick in the neutral position or 1st gear (if uphill) or reverse (if downhill).

What is the best position gear to leave the car in? Or does it depend on the make/model of car?

Also, when starting the car is it essential to put it in gear first, then press the clutch pedal, and then turn the car engine on? Do you folks do it any different?

Or again, does it depend on the make/model of car?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

daveyjp

I always put the car in gear when parking. With the scourge of electric handbrakes I would advise everyone to do similar. A friend has just had his 18 month old Vauxhall written off after the electric handbrake failed and rolled into his garage, a few seconds earlier and he would have been crushed.

No need to be in gear when starting. Many modern cars do however now require the clutch to be in before the car will start.

chrisw

Leave the car in gear when parked. Doesn't matter whether it's first or reverse as it's the engine resistance rather than direction which holds it.

Press clutch pedal down, start engine, put in gear. As mentioned, many modern cars require the clutch pressed anyway, but it also takes the gearbox load off the starter, particularly when the oil's cold.

BeenThroughItAll

I never leave the car in gear unless parking on a gradient, but I also always turn the wheels in away from the kerb (facing uphill) or toward the kerb (facing downhill).


It's worth starting and turning off most modern cars, particularly diesels, with the clutch pedal depressed, as this helps protect a DMF from significant forces which rapidly cause wear.

AdrianC

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

It's worth starting and turning off most modern cars, particularly diesels, with the clutch pedal depressed, as this helps protect a DMF from significant forces which rapidly cause wear.

No, it doesn't - the dual-mass flywheel is attached to the engine. All pressing the clutch does is reduce the drag on the engine from turning the input shaft in the gearbox. And that's minimal, as you can tell by pressing the clutch with the engine idling. If there was significant drag, the revs would rise briefly, then drop briefly when you release the clutch.

Some cars have a clutch switch which means you need to press the clutch to start. Apart from that, there's no benefit.

If you need to leave the car in gear parked on a hill, fix your handbrake - because it'll fail the MOT like that...

As for turning the wheels towards the kerb, a neighbour had his MX5 written off precisely because he did that. A car rolled away from up the hill (handbrake not on), hit his car, and - because the steering was turned - it mounted the kerb and hit the lamp post. If it'd been pointed straight, it'd just have been pushed down hill a bit.

If it's side-swiped whilst parked, there's also a much greater risk of steering and suspension damage if the steering's turned, presenting the tread of the tyre to be caught by the other vehicle.

Strider590

AdrianC wrote: »

If it's side-swiped whilst parked, there's also a much greater risk of steering and suspension damage if the steering's turned, presenting the tread of the tyre to be caught by the other vehicle.

On the other hand, parking with wheels turned makes it look as though you could be pulling out of a space. They'll pay more attention, they'll give it more room (good for your wing mirrors) and they'll probably slow down too.

The wheel won't protrude far enough for anyone to hit it and besides a track rod arm is cheaper than a respray down half the car.

BeenThroughItAll

AdrianC wrote: »

No, it doesn't - the dual-mass flywheel is attached to the engine. All pressing the clutch does is reduce the drag on the engine from turning the input shaft in the gearbox. And that's minimal, as you can tell by pressing the clutch with the engine idling. If there was significant drag, the revs would rise briefly, then drop briefly when you release the clutch.

Some cars have a clutch switch which means you need to press the clutch to start. Apart from that, there's no benefit.

If you need to leave the car in gear parked on a hill, fix your handbrake - because it'll fail the MOT like that...

As for turning the wheels towards the kerb, a neighbour had his MX5 written off precisely because he did that. A car rolled away from up the hill (handbrake not on), hit his car, and - because the steering was turned - it mounted the kerb and hit the lamp post. If it'd been pointed straight, it'd just have been pushed down hill a bit.

If it's side-swiped whilst parked, there's also a much greater risk of steering and suspension damage if the steering's turned, presenting the tread of the tyre to be caught by the other vehicle.

I know how the DMF works and where it's attached. I replaced one last Saturday.

Who said my handbrake doesn't work? As for the 'rights and wrongs' of turning wheels to or from the kerb, I'm not trying to protect my car from the impact of another, I'm trying to prevent it rolling off down a hill and causing impacts to another.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that depressing the clutch during startup/shutdown helps protect the DMF, as it allows the whole flywheel and clutch cover to rotate in much the manner of a SMF without the added drag of the gearbox making the DMF springs compress and extend during the unusual pulses associated with starting and stopping the engine. This is true especially where starting may have become lazy, the engine is not running 100% optimally, or there is already significant wear in the DMF.

End of the day, a DMF is there to absorb vibration and dampen oscillations, and anything which increases vibration or oscillation, such as the start/stop, increases wear rate. Isolating either 'side' of the DMF from the other reduces the load on the mechanism, and helps to reduce the impact.

Ebe_Scrooge

I always leave the car in gear when parking. Call me over cautious, but it's a "just in case the handbrake should fail for some bizarre reason" attitude.

And I always press the clutch down before starting. It means the starter motor / battery is only having to turn the engine over, not the gearbox as well. Probably makes the tiniest bit of difference, but particularly in winter when the engine is going to be more difficult to start anyway, and the battery is taking a hammering, every little helps.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

I have always kept my car in neutral, when parked and starting up.


For some reason my BIL car was fine when he parked it but during that time it was off a fault reared up with the clutch hydraulic slave cylinder, pressed the clutch in to start and emptied the fluid out of it that was remaining, hydraulic slave let go of the clutch and when it started in gear he effectively rear ended the car infront because it lurched forward. lesson learned he never leaves it in gear now.

JustinR1979

Maybe he could knock it out of gear before starting the engine, too simple?!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

JustinR1979 wrote: »

Maybe he could knock it out of gear before starting the engine, too simple?!

or just leave in neutral.