I'm impressed with how polite you guys are on this forum, it's refreshing. As for which gear to park in, First or Reverse. For those who are trying to hold one position or the other, simple test:

Go out your car in 1st gear, parking brake off. Try to push it.
Then, put it in 6th gear, parking brake off and try to push it again.

report back with your results. You'll be surprised.

 

This is Stupid. Go park on a hill in 6th and report back in the morning.

 

Its ok,,,,we can agree to disagree

 

When parking and leaving the car in gear you basically rely on the engine to provide a resistance against car movement. In order to accomplish that the engine relies on cylinder compression. Forward/backward car motion is converted to rotational motion which has to overcome compression to rotate. So if one full engine rotation in first moves the car 1 inch and 6 inches when in sixth gear than same thing happens when car is moved. A 1 inch car movement turns the engine six times when in first and only once in sixth gear. So in order to move 1 inch there are six times more compression cycles when left in first as opposed to sixth gear. More compression cycles = more force to overcome the engine compression = more holding power. Obviously I used the inch/rotation numbers as an example but that is basically how it works. Cylinders will leak down pressure so this is not a long term solution for holding, only a back up to mechanical brake and really meant to slow down movement when first fails. Reverse or first are the best gear to park you car in, only when you add spark do things change.


As to OP question, I agree with others that said no damage should have accrued. Question is what was the angle of grade and length of time it took the car to roll. I suspect very week pressure plate caused the clutch to slip and should be inspected. By the time you remove everything to properly inspect it you might as well replace it with labor cost and all. Good luck.

 

It would take a very steep hill to overcome engine drag in 1st gear, especially in a Vette where the engine is large compared to the weight of the vehicle. 1st and reverse are basically in the same ball park ratio wise, so it really would not make much difference which one you used.

Park in 5th or 6th and all bets are off. I am old enough (and was poor enough) to have owned cars where push starting was not very unusual. Believe me, you get it rolling, jump in, and let the clutch out in a high gear, otherwise it just stops dead.

 

I read an article years ago in motor trend or car and driver that suggested leaving your car in 2nd gear instead of 1st. They said 2nd gear, if damaged by an accident while parked, can much easier survive and be used after than 1st gear. Something about wear and tear on the gears.
I'm not a transmission expert and maybe someone can chime in and shed some light on the idea.
I've always parked my manual trans cars in 2nd because of that, but if the manual states the Vette should be parked in reverse, I would do that. And ALWAYS use your parking brake. Back in the day before fuel injection, you always had a good parking brake, just in case you had to cold start on a hill! LOL!!!

 

No, you can't agree to disagree on math. Math is math and is either right or wrong. Gear multiplication makes your engine perform more work for a given speed (increasing torque to the wheels), meaning that the reverse will also be true (more torque is required at the wheels to turn the engine). This is a fact, whether you want to ignore it or not; parking in reverse gives the most mechanical resistance because reverse is the lowest gear, followed by first.

That said, I often park in whichever gear (1st or reverse) I will use to leave the parking space; if I'm on a hill, I angle the tires into the curb and set the parking brake to stop the car in case of rolling.

 

This is also not true......and I don;t know where you get this from, being a long time motorcyclist I have pushed-started many motorcycles, and believe me I have never wasted my time and energy push-starting a 400lb-700lb motorcycle in 5th or 6th gear, you would need too much forward speed for it to work, whereas the rotation of the rear wheel in 1st gear turns the engine the multiple times needed to start with the small effort afforded by a mere human.

What you are saying is there is less resistance when selecting a higher gear, this is true, and that is why it is foolish to try to use a high gear to resist an unwanted rolling of a vehicle.

Sorry, as zjwz28 states, it isn't a case of agreeing or disagreeing, it is a simple case of physics, engineering and math

Thank you, absolutely............if you can find your runaway vehicle!

Couldn't agree more.


I don't think I would be too surprised, I probably wouldn't be able to move the car if it was in first, probably easily move it in 6th.

Yes, it is a matter of fact not opinion. The lower the gear ratio the harder it is to for the vehicle to overcome the resistance to roll against engine resistance/compression.


I was not looking for conflict with my reply to forum member obnoxus regarding this thread, and I truly appreciate his/her respectful disagreement reply, but I have been surprised with the misunderstanding of so many of the forum member's posts. I'm not sure where some people's "facts" come from, but they obviously cannot be based on true experience. You just cannot argue or disprove physics with opinions.

Thankfully I have an automatic transmission and can rely on parking pawls, as well as my fully functioning parking brake. (even though I think it is an over-complex, engineeringly inefficient design).




.






.

 

Stated perfectly. No one is saying first gear shouldn't hold the car on a small incline but it does require more energy to initially move the car in a higher gear ratio than it does in first or reverse. This is the same law of physics that makes for an easier start off the line in first gear. Number of engine rotations is irrelevant to the argument. The idea is the engine shouldn't be rotating at all and the best way to prevent that from happening is to park it in a higher gear that amplifies the engine's resistance to an initial roll.

The reason people push start a car in 2nd or 3rd is because a walking speed in first gear translates to an extremely slow engine rotation making it difficult to start.

 

To answer the original message........

Read your owners manual?

I'm guessing you need to review the emergency brake information about resetting the emergency brake as well as the parking your car on a hill section.

 

I cannot imagine that the oil pump liked being spun backwards. Not real surprised that it was making some noise when you started it.

 

I cannot believe people are debating the laws of physics on this forum. What the hell is wrong with you people? There is no "respectfully disagreeing" with this stuff. It's like saying that you respectfully disagree with the forces of gravity or magnetism.

You park in 1st or reverse because they are the two lowest gears the transmission has.

The friction of the piston rings is what holes the engine still. This, coupled with the massive mechanical advantage of the 1st or reverse gear ratio is what holds the car.

The mechanical advantage that the engine has in 1st gear to get the car moving is the same advantage that keeps it still when the engine is off.

In order to push the car, even at a slow speed, the engine would be turning very, very quickly. This is a ton of friction and momentum that would have to be overcome. Try to push your car in a parking lot in 1st gear. It will be very difficult. Then put it in 6th. It will still be difficult, but will be easier than 1st.

You don't bump start a car by leaving it in gear and pushing. You push the clutch in, push the car (which is now decoupled from the engine), and then let the clutch out in 1st gear. The momentum of the car spins the engine very quickly and it fires to life. Trying to do this with a higher gear only means you'd have to push the car faster before you let the clutch out.

The laws of physics are not up for debate. You park your car in 1st or Reverse if you don't want it moving on a hill.

 

Cracks me up, I printed TWICE the paragraph from the owners manual stating to use reverse.

 

and set the brake!

 

Might want to have a compression test done..
What year, how many miles, normal driving or rode hard and put up wet?
Park on hills all the time or occasionally?

 

Hey professor, I think a lot of us have bump started a few vehicles in our time so we're pretty much down with how it's done, but if someone is pushing to get you rolling, you sure don't want to use first gear if you're on level ground. Second or third is much easier. Now if a bunch of guys are pushing where you can build up some speed, then first will work.

 

Why the **** are you pushing a car that is already in gear? That would literally be the hardest possible method of doing that. The only thing harder would be doing it uphill. Do you do that as well?

 

I don't think that he means that it's in gear. He means get it rolling then pop the clutch! Hahahahah

 

Funny, you push start a car in neutral then pop it into gear after it's rolling Think someone need to go back to "school" .

SO, for the 3rd time in this thread, YOUR OWNERS MANUAL SAYS:


Parking Your Vehicle
(Manual Transmission Models Only)

Before you get out of your vehicle, move the shift lever
into REVERSE (R) and firmly apply the parking brake.
Once the shift lever has been placed into REVERSE (R)
with the clutch pedal pressed in, you can turn the ignition
key to OFF, remove the key and release the clutch.

 

Heck no that's not what I said. You have someone sitting in the car, they push the clutch in, then, the person starts pushing the car, then they pop the clutch out to start the engine!! Geeze how easy. But this has nothing to do with leaving it in gear to set the parking brake..