Park in gear or neutral

This is only really applicable to manual drivers.

I've never understood why anyone would park their car in neutral. Would these people ever park an auto in neutral? Why would you when you've got Park which will actually hold it.

The only semi decent explanation I've heard for this is that it stops you from jumping forward if you start it in gear. I'm on the belief that you should always start with your foot on the clutch.

If you're in neutral, good, you're all set to put it in in 1st or reverse. If you're in gear, you've saved your front bar. Some new cars even have it so you need to have the clutch in whenever you start, even if you're in neutral.

One other explanation had to do with damage potentially caused to an engine if the car turns itself over. WTF. So turning half a revolution will damage the engine but turning at 3000 revolutions per minute won't?

Why be reliant on just a piece of wire holding 2 tonnes of metal in place when you can effectively lock in place?

--
edit: I've had one good explanation which I saw in the flesh. In Thailand they park in neutral without handbrake, regardlress of tranny. It's so cars can be shuffled about.

Try get out of a parallel spot with 1cm on either side, whilst triple parked in, without pushing a few cars out of the way.

So Thai's are excepted.

[Airmon]

My car doesn't weigh 2 tons, I usually park in Car parks (Flat areas), and always leave the car in Neutral with the handbrake on, The handbrake does the job, and I have no fear of the car flying away.

If i'm parked on an incline then yes I will park it in gear.

I have a habit of starting the car while I'm outside of it so neutral works.

I park my Auto in the driveway in Neutral on occasion and it doesn't bother me. Its a flat area and I dont see any chance of it moving.

Why park an auto in neutral though? You've got park which truly does a better job, with no real downside (unless two extra notches on the T bar urines you off).

I still don't understand, it's extra protection at no extra cost but a huge amount of benefit.

I do understand if you have remote start, but I honestly don't get why if you don't have a remote start.

Can anyone sell this to me?

[Joey_Falcon]

I drive an auto and I almost always park in neutral. Only time I actually shift it to park is when Im on a moderate to steep hill or if Im in a neighborhood where I want extra security.

Why? Its a habbit now, but my ba had a loose handbrake. When comming to stop to park I would; bring the car to a stop with my foot brake, Put it in nuetral and pull up the handbrake, let my foot off the brake, let the car rock a little (the difference between the foot brake to hand brake) and then put it in park. (most of the time I just leave it in neutral becouse im lazy)

Why? If I just came to a stop, put it straight in park then pull up hand brake then let off footbrake, the car would rock whilst in park, the next time I would jump in to drive it would go CLUNK into reverse.

So in summary I do this to save my auto transmittion.

I hope you all were able to understand what I wrote.

Originally Posted by Bunyip_Chaser

I drive an auto and I almost always park in neutral. Only time I actually shift it to park is when Im on a moderate to steep hill or if Im in a neighborhood where I want extra security.

Why? Its a habbit now, but my ba had a loose handbrake. When comming to stop to park I would; bring the car to a stop with my foot brake, Put it in nuetral and pull up the handbrake, let my foot off the brake, let the car rock a little (the difference between the foot brake to hand brake) and then put it in park.
Why? If I just came to a stop, put it straight in park then pull up hand brake then let off footbrake, the car would rock whilst in park, the next time I would jump in to drive it would go CLUNK into reverse.

So in summary I do this to save my auto transmittion.

I hope you all were able to understand what I wrote.

Believe it or not, I actually wasn't.

First you said you park your auto in neutral.

Then you go onto say, that your parking process involves putting it in neutral for a second and then putting it in park?

Or do you only do this process on hills?

How does parking an auto in park harm your transmission? That's what I really want to know.

[azaxr8]

if u let it bounce a bit it takes pressure off it making it easier to put it into reverse fom park and making no clunk what so ever, if its on a angle. It might not have a effect on the gearbox but the smoothness sure makes it feel alot better.

[bodes-sh]

well even parking an auto in park still partly stresses the driveline. i don't know if you've ever driven an auto, but as said above, if you just put it in park, then when you go back into gear it makes a wonderful clunk that is felt through the whole car. not to mention engine and gearbox mounts, especially when parked on bigger hills... then again, i guess this applies to manuals too

[Joey_Falcon]

Originally Posted by Shounak

Believe it or not, I actually wasn't.

First you said you park your auto in neutral.

Then you go onto say, that your parking process involves putting it in neutral for a second and then putting it in park?

Or do you only do this process on hills?

How does parking an auto in park harm your transmission? That's what I really want to know.

I do use park on hills. I added to my original post, I think you missed it when quoting it, - I rarely put it in park becouse Im lazy, It saves me 1 step in my parking process.

It harms the tranny by CLUNKING from park to reverse. How much harm I do not know - if any - but it is not a nice feeling.

[Suicidal Goldfish]

Because that piece of wire is connected to the handbrake which locks the two back wheels preventing them from spinning? Yknow, just a thought there :P

In all seriousness I do it because I often forget to put my foot on the clutch when I start and dont want to be lunging forward or backwards into something expensive. I do however put my car in 1st or reverse if I'm parked on a hill. Just added piece of mind and security. But tell me what the point of it is if the car is parked on flat ground?

[xy500]

i'm no expert, but from my experience with automatics i'm 99% sure that when you put the car in park, a pin is inserted into something (a gear or something directly connected to the output shaft) in order to stop the tail shaft turning.
I'm positive that when you take your car out of park whilst there has been some load on it, the clunk is simply the pin being pulled out of its lock position just like a steering column lock.
so this clunk pretty much shouldn't have any noticeable effects on your driveline or engine, as its simply a little recoil while the pin is removed, doubtful that little recoil would do anything like that of a 'd drop'.
i found all this out as my brother broke his park pin in his auto trans, thats what happens when you put your car in park at speed! the rest of the box was fine, but that little 3/8ths pin was snapped!

btw all you boys who park their car in neutral, you would fail a driving test these days because of that, you're putting others at risk for when your park break fails or wears out (which they do quite quickly from stretching) and your car rolls into something or someone, i've seen it happen and it doesn't take much of an incline at all for a tonne and a half hunk of steel to do some serious damage, a friend of myne was even run over by his own car while attempting to stop his rolling away (parked in neutral) vehicle. i'd consider this even more dangerous than some drivers, as when it happens it is silent and happens when people don't expect it.
People have died because of this, and thats why there's laws stating that your handbrake should be adjusted (3 clicks is it? to hold it in place on a hill?) and the car should be in first or reverse if manual or park if auto.

if its on your property fair enough, but have a thought for the others in public places next time.

Shifting a car from Park to Reverse/Drive really does damage? Maybe it'll reduce the life of the auto from 500,000km to 400,000km?

You're too lazy to shift from Park to Reverse, but you're willing to shift from Neutral to Reverse? Lol, am I missing something here?

The point of parking the car in gear on flat ground is that it's safe. If the handbrake lets go, isn't 100% adjusted (which isn't uncommon) the car won't move. You have two safety measures instead of one at no extra cost.

For the people who say it protects the auto, mounts. It just feels like trying to warm up your house by turning the lights on.

[ebxr8240]

I often drive trucks .. You MUST park them in gear and air brakes on..
You wouldn't pass a drivers test if you didn't..
If you or your car had an accident and it was found that it wasn't in gear..
Knowing what insurance companies are these days ??
Besides automatics are supposed to take slight stress..
We drive fleet vehicle that get treated very badly and up to 160,000 klrs there's been hardly any auto issues..You can still start an engine by remote if in park position..
I find pulling hand brake on hard enough prevents anyone driving while handbrake is on.. You should pull auto out of park BEFORE releasing handbrake also..
If handbrake does creep on auto? Then the handbrake needs some attention !!
Besides this thread was about manuals..
Should be left in gear...

[OLDFORDNUT]

some of these neutral comments are downright scary,
makes you wonder if they should be on the road with the rest of us.

[Trevor 57]

I will comment from my perspective as a long time driver trainer:

For a manual (when parking) the process should be:
Stop, car in neutral, park brake on, release foot brake to ensure park brake is holding, key off/out, then select 1st or reverse gear, get out.


For a automatic (when parking) the process should be:
Stop, car in neutral, park brake on, release foot brake to ensure park brake is holding, key off/out, then select park.
(you shouldn't park an auto in 'park', if you do this, you will notice that sometimes it is difficult to release from 'park', that is because you have loaded up the locking mechanism in the auto, and these are known to brake)

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by ebxr8240

I often drive trucks .. You MUST park them in gear and air brakes on.....

Parking a truck is very different to parking a car.

The reason behind a "diesel" not being parked in gear is because in the old days 'maxi' brakes weren't around and if the air released, the truck would roll away and sometimes these old bangers would jump start themselves.

Not parking a truck in gear these days is a lot about air shifts on gearboxes and clutches.

Maxi/Spring brakes are a fail safe system, they lock the brakes when air is lost or dumped (e.g. when you put the park brake on, there is a dump of air)

Truck brake boosters are in 2 parts, the bit closest to the axle is a booster for the brakes, the bit furtherest from the axle is a 'maxi' or 'spring' brake.

[DBourne]

just depends, mostly i put it in either 1st gear or if im facing downhill i put it in reverse. if its flat and i wont be long i leave it in neutral

[gz1]

Well on both territorys I've owned the handbrake was no more than decoration anyhow, so you have to park it park

[bathurst77]

I actually had a car roll across a car park and into my 3 week old el falcon many years ago.
The other driver was in the hand brake on - in neutral habit, and didnt notcie the hill or didnt think. habits are habits.
The incline didnt seem much, but by time it reached my car it did a lot of damage!

Now imagine if a little kid or something had of been standing there, not looking for a silent car?

Sometimes hills arent noticable and it might look flat at a quick glance (or do you check with a level?)
PARK IT IN GEAR IDIOTS!
Get in the habit of ALWAYS doing it!

Too LAZY? what else you too lazy to do, seat belts? indicate? check your mirrors? stop at stop signs etc? driving is not about being lazy. its about being as safe as possible. If u got a safetly item.. USE IT!

Save wear on your gears? as someone said yeh from 500,000 to 499,999 (gee maybe it will last a few more minutes) Why not put bricks under the wheels or park it pushed into walls, save your brakes? hook ahorse to teh front save yor engine..

Actually do me a favour and dont get in your car at all. Save your whole car.. and mine!

[outback_chick]

Wow... well what a topic...
my first car was a manual and I was taught on a manual.. I was always taught the first thing you do when you get into the car is put your clutch down then check the gear stick... once in neutral start car..put in gear..handbrake down then your off.... when parking car stop in neutral handbrake on turn off car.. put clutch down and put in gear 1st or reverse..(I used 1st) then get out..

With an auto.. I stop the car and put it all the way over to park.. I am not too familiar with autos so please tell me if I should definately be stopping in neutral and then parking after my keys are out of ignition like I just read about..
My fella has already picked me up on when I reverse in an auto and I'm not completely stopping the vehicle before I roll her into drive..is that also wrong? like I said I am not famliar with autos..and I miss my manual so much..

[Nostalgia]

P - PARK
R - REVERSE
N - NEUTRAL
D - DRIVE
2 - 2ND
1 - 1ST

What part of PARK don't some people understand ?

[Feathers]

In the BA I always park it in gear with the handbrake on and if it's on a hill, the front wheels turned into the kerb.

In my old auto XD it was always in park with the handbrake on.

[Dezza]

I park in gear with the handbrake on. Usually when I start the car, I knock it into neutral (I don't need the clutch to pull it into neutral from 1st when the car is switched off). I usually still use the clutch when I start it anyway though. My handbrake isn't impressive so I don't want to put all my faith in it. It's that bad that if I pull the handbrake on when the car's still moving, the most feedback I get is from the car beeping at me, telling me the handbrake's on while the car continues to roll forward :P

And to all the auto owners in the thread, take note of the first post

This is only really applicable to manual drivers.

[james22]

If Im parked on a perfectly flat section, I'll usually just use the handbrake. But in orange its preety hard to find a perfectly flat spot. So 95% of the time its parked in gear. Besides everyone know what AU handbrakes are like. If you rely solely on that, you probably deserve whats coming lol

[Vines5161]

The Territory is notorious for making a HUGE clunk when you pull it out of park - there have been threads on it in the T section.

For this reason, we always pull up, put it in neutral, pull on the handbrake (that works very well) and let it roll (ie take the pressure of the transmission) and then put it into park.

Must say, that I have got into the habit of putting my foot on the brake when I start the car, regardless of what gear it is in.

We have got into the habit and now don't get the horrible clunk when we take it back out of park. The noise can be really loud in the car, let alone outside.

Please don't forget that the T weighs over 2 tonne, much heavier than a falcon, and so the pressure on the transmission is that much more.

As for hubbies manual, we leave that in gear.

[Rodp]

Always in gear. My BA XR8 handbrake was shocking. There have been times I've parked on a steep incline with the car in gear and the handbrake on and the car was creaking and moved a few inches as I got out. I half expected the car to be at the bottom of the hill when I got back.

For those that don't put it in gear or park, that's just laziness. Hopefully the handbrake doesn't let go one day and your runaway car ploughs into something or someone ploughing into your parked car and have it propelled forward...

[xy500]

Originally Posted by Vines5161

Please don't forget that the T weighs over 2 tonne, much heavier than a falcon, and so the pressure on the transmission is that much more.

you should also not forget that being a heavier car, the driveline is built stronger to handle the extra weight!
though the new falcons are around 1700 kg or heavier, while the territory is 2000-2100 kg, thats not a huge difference anyway, bout the same as filling your car up with people

[nugget378]

Thank christ I found this thread,I just wouldnt have been able to sleep tonight wondering who parks in gear or neutral..

[GORDZ]

manual driver, leave it in manual unless i'm on a crazy big hill. i usually put the key in, turn the car on then get into the car... dunno why.

[|||]

i just leave it in whatever gear i was in when i stopped.

[Supercharged]

It is a worry there are people that use only the hand brake, what happens if the cable snaps.