I have a weird situation in which I've been told "that's impossible" by more than one person. For as long as I can remember, when I park my standard transmission 2002 Cavalier in gear (1st or reverse...doesn't make a difference), and don't apply the e-brake, the car will roll if it is on any sort of an incline. There is absolutely no resistance either, it feels like I might as well have left it in neutral. I have always parked my car with the e-brake fully engaged to prevent any rolling because of this.
Does anyone have any sort of explanation for this, or any idea how to fix it? I know the transmission should hold the car in place when it's in gear and parked, but it doesn't. The car only has 60,000km on it and I have been the only owner.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Are you able to "engine brake" during regular driving? i.e. does downshifting bring your revs up, and slow the car down? If so, does killing the engine at that point stop the car?
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If the clutch was slipping badly enough to provide "no resistance", the car would be un-driveable. Usually it will roll a few inches at most, until the backlash in the gears and motor mounts is taken up, at which point it will stop. In first or reverse, this resistance should be highest.
Try shutting the car off on a flat parking spot, leaving it in gear, then get out and try to push it. It will normally move maybe 3-4 inches back and forth, but that's about it. If it moves notably more than that before stopping, then I would check your motor mounts. If it appears to have "no resistance" as you say, and the clutch still seems to work normally when driving, then I really don't have an explanation for you...
Really, the parking brake is still the best way to keep it from moving. I leave it in gear as a secondary precaution as brakes have been known to slip now and then...
John
Is the car very slow??? It could have very little compression??? It not its the clutch
]:-> 287 TimeSlips In Hand. Car Still Runs Strong... 3 Differentials Later ]:->
Schnupper wrote:Is the car very slow??? It could have very little compression??? It not its the clutch
again, if the compression was low enough to allow this, i would imagine the car shouldn't run.... or rather, parking in gear would be the least of his problems.
Well considering that is about the only 2 things that can cause this...
My initial thought was a shot clutch too. Or perhaps @!#$ty hydraulics that aren't holding pressure unless you're in a driving scenario and pumping the pedal...
My old getrag did this then when i swapped it because it was a peice of crap the other one is perfect and doesn't do it no more. weird
The clutch has about 60k on it...still driveable without much issues...not slipping that much...the car's power is fine....feels the same as when it came from the factory...i could only think the problem is the clutch because it is getting up there in age, however, it doesn't make sense really because i can still drive the car no problem.
That is bizzare.I have ownd a manual for 21 yrs and never heard of this problem.Things to check or consider are these.Drive the car and run it in each gear as fast as it will go and see if the clutch slips at all in any or all gears.If it does then ur clutch may be worn even at that mileage.Second is either the slave cylinder is not engaging the the release arm in and out fully and therefore while driving it may be fine but,parked not applying proper pressure to engage it into any gear.Could be the release bearing is sticking (maybe) not sure on that idea.I would check ur slave cylder resevior for its fluid level and any leak around the trans bc if the slave is leaking it is throwing fluid on the flywheel and clutch and deterioating the surface making it slick as a possible.Motor mts could also be a strong possible in manuals.That is best suggestion I can offer with my exper of manual trans granted mines rwd a pickup but they work very similar overall to a degree.I say clutch,throw out bearing,slave clydr leak failure as things to consider.Hope this helps.
