I have been having trouble shiftig out of "park" when parked on an incline. Lately, I have found myself setting the parking brake when shifing into park to avoid this problem. Does anyone know if this is something I should worry about?? Has anyone else noticed this on their Max??

Damn the automagics.....

 

Never noticed this myself.

 

I've never really had this problem! umm ... so when your shifting out of park you have to put on the parking brake?!?! I'm not sure but i'll ask my mechanic to see what he says! I'll reply to you in a couple of days!

 

That seems normal....When on an incline, the weight is placed on the tranny, so it will be a little tougher to shift out of park. Try this the next time: when you are about to park on the incline, set the parking brake nice and tight before actually sticking it into park. That should put the weight on the parking brake and not the tranny.

 

yep UMD_MaxSE is correct, everytime i park in a place with any sort of incline i put first the emergency break then i move it to park. but when i am on a flat surface i don't use the emergency brake at all.

 

yeah, i think my dad has the same problem. our driveway is sorta sloped (is that how u spell it? lol) and whenever he takes me to skool i see him struggle to shift into reverse. the tranny doesnt seem to want to shift at all, like its stuck in park or something. he does what UMD_Max recommended but the same problem...

 

try maybe to pull the emergency brake harder so it will hold the car in place, you know more then like 4+ clicks, then the car will stay in its same place before you move it into P so the tranny will be "free"

 

Exactly what UMD said! No fault of your tranny.

Mark

 

I experience the same when the nose is up or down: the transmission is more difficult to get out of gear.

 

so smart

 

I always put the ebrake on, whether or not I'm on a hill. I do it on the hill to save the stress on the tranny and I do it on the flats out of habit.

 

That's good advice UMD_MaxSE. I do that too.

 

I've never used my e-brake on the car, other then when I replaced my shift **** assembly and had to maneuver the e-brake handle out of the way to get the center console out of the vehicle. I should probably set it more often.

 

Yup, it's a good habit to get into. I figured anything to take some load off the tranny is a benefit.

 

after i shift into park, what seems to work for me is keeping the foot brake depressed while setting the parking brake. it's kinda hard to shift outta park if, when parking, i release the foot brake prior to setting the parking brake . . .

So after shifting your car into park, don't release the foot brake until you've set your parking brake. . .

Similar to UMD's suggestion, different order i guess.
bottom line is that the foot brake is still depressed as you pull up your parking brake. . .

did that make sense? aww shoot nevermind...
bp

 

I do the exact same thing - early on in my days in this forum we had a discussion about this and someone said that the little movement you feel after your car is in park when you get in or out is all the wieght of the car resting on the tranny. I think the genereal consensus was that putting on the parking brake before shifting into park no matter if it is an incline or flat reduces the stress on the tranny as punkdork has stated and can help keep the tranny out of getting bound.

 

If you're parked by a curb, you can turn your wheels into it and take some of the stress of of the emergency brake, and most if not all of the transmission.

For instance, if you're parallel parking uphill on the right-hand side of the street, as you're backing in, turn your wheels to the left, and ease back until the rear of your tire stops against the curb.

 

Depending on the incline, etc., even after setting the brake it can move slightly. Here's the trick - With your foot on the brake, shift into neutral and set the parking brake. Then let your foot off the brake and the car will move slightly. Then put your foot back on the brake and shift into park. This will leave no pressure at all on the transmission, and should make it very easy to get out of park.

 

I just keep my foot on the brake while i shift into park then while my foot is still on the brake i pull the e-brake

 

Hey, thank god I am not the only one...I have the same exact problem too. In the morning, when I leave for work, I have to force the shift out of park, just to reverse out of my driveway, which by the way is also an incline. I think because of that, I hear a grinding sound when I shift to reverse in the morning. The sound seems to be gone during the day, I guess because the tranny has warmed up, and the car is on level ground. I never thought about using the energency brake before I switch to park, I gotta try that.

 

i have had this problem, thanks for telling about the e-brake.

 

I have this problem too, but like others, I've noticed using the e-brake has helped a lot.

 

Like everyone says, this is a normal thing with automagics. This is how it works AFAIK. Park is accomplished by inserting a pin into a ring or gear (don't know which). The pin prevents the ring/gear from moving. When you're on an incline, the car will roll as far as the free play in the system allows until it hits the point in the gear which the pin is inserted. This is why you feel the car roll a bit then suddenly stop abruptly sometimes. The added stress on the pin from the force of gravity trying to pull the car down the hill may or may not hurt the transmission, I don't really know. I use the parking brake to avoid it just in case.

 

I am going to have to show this to my girlfriend, so she will stop asking me everytime I put the car in park, why I put the e-brake on...thanks guys

 

does it put alot of stress on the e-brake or is that what its for, and how much would it cost to repair the e-brake or if it ever wears out.

 

The e-brake consists of just a cable that applies the rear brakes to the car. The only thing that could wear out is the cable, and that can be tightened again.

 

They don't call them emergency brakes anymore. That implies there might be an emergency... Don't want that.

Same with suicide doors and roll bars.

We need fewer lawyers.

Oh, and to remain on topic to the thread, my last ford (or mighta been GM) said that if you don't apply the parking brake and the incline was bad enough, you may have to get another car to push your car forward a bit to be able to get the trans out of park. Heh.

Good habit to get into anyway. All you need to do is get out of an MTX car without setting the brake on a hill once...

 

All of our Infinitis have foot-pedal parking brakes, that must be released with your hand! How on earth someone is supposed to use that to stop the car I don't know! At least all of our cars have the foot brake, so I don't get thrown off when driving a different car.