When Parked. In gear or not?

[Timewaster]

I get in so much trouble for this!Where I used work, there were vans lurching alover the yard where I'd been....At another job I would do it to the customers...Lately I've caught the Mrs. loads of times, I even yell "Its in gear!" as she goes out the door...30 seconds later *LURCH* followed by her swearing and me chuckling!I was always taught to leave the car in gear, plus shite rarely has a working handbrake.What do you do?

[Guest greenvanman]

shite rarely has a working handbrake.

My sentiments exactly, so leave it in gear!

[Heep]

In gear with handbrake on. Two levels of "stay-puttedness."Almost all cars since the early-90s in North America will not start unless the clutch pedal is depressed. Not sure why, probably to protect the incompetent!

[retrogeezer]

Yep - always in gear (ask Mr Welfare about this!)It's good practice to start the car with the clutch depressed anyway, much less wear on components and less energy needed to turn the engine over.

[Pete-M]

I leave all mine in Park, with the handbrake on.When I own manuals, I tend to just use the handbrake unless I'm parking on a steepish hill. Handbrakes aren't hard to fix, people. Not even on shite.

[Ratdat]

When my cars are parked at home then they are in gear with no handbrake applied. It's flat and level here so where are they gonna go? I never know how long they might be parked up for so by not applying the handbrake I can be sure of no stuck brakes when they next get moved. I ALWAYS check a car is in neutral before starting it so cars parked in gear are a non issue to me.

[Mr Lobster]

On my daily stuff, that always gets left in gear. A legacy of dodge handbrakes I guess but I do it out of habit. The R4 stays in the garage with handbrake off and out of gear so no stuck brake issues. Mrs L's Suzuki has to be left out of gear for the sake of matrimonial harmony...

[Richard]

Handbrake on, in gear and wheels turned towards the kerb. I've had cars so clapped-out that even the handbrake AND 1st gear doesn't hold them.

[andrew e]

As anyone who has been squashed between two cars will tell you OUT OF GEAR! Why do you think they fit a handbrake?

[Richard]

I always check the car is in neutral before I start then engine. It surprises me that everybody doesn't.

[aled]

Yep - always in gear (ask Mr Welfare about this!)It's good practice to start the car with the clutch depressed anyway, much less wear on components and less energy needed to turn the engine over.

if you start the car with your foot on the cluch you are disengaging said cluch plate and causing drag AND WEAR OF THE CLUCH- thus causing MORE cranking power and more strain on the starter.i also leave my works van in gear and tell the wife to leave the car in gear, but on the driving test now they tell the learners to leave the car in neutral when parked.

[Ratdat]

I always check the car is in neutral before I start then engine. It surprises me that everybody doesn't.

Exactly. Don't driving instructors teach this any more? Why would you start a car without checking if it's in gear?

[Pete-M]

I always check if a car is in gear, but I've seen more than a few near misses caused by people leaving stuff in gear. Seen a few cars damaged by being started in gear as well.Doesn't make sense to me leaving stuff in gear when parked unless it absolutely has to be.Even after having the Jensen crashed into by a runaway car, I still prefer to use the handbrake.

[aled]

I always check the car is in neutral before I start then engine. It surprises me that everybody doesn't.

Exactly. Don't driving instructors teach this any more? Why would you start a car without checking if it's in gear?

i think that the more mature driver will always check the gearstick is in neutral without really knowing he/she has done it (next time you get in your car it will be nice to know how you go through your routine of starting your car/van/lorry) i think because i leave the van i 1st gear, the 1st thing i do is to flick it out of first, keys in start engine.

[Pete-M]

Problem is when someone who doesn't leave vehicles in gear goes to drive your car. I check to see if something is in gear, but not always as it's not something I like to do.If I have a car where the handbrake isn't good enough to do the job it's designed for, I fix the handbrake. Leaving it in gear irritates me.

[andrew e]

Ditto

[pogweasel]

Yes, in gear for me too... again as a result of old chod with duboius handbrakes, and again because it might not get used for a bit. Mrs_Pog curses me for it though, remember once she nearly put my old astra through a wall because she didn't check...

[Ratdat]

Again I ask, why would you start a car without checking it's in gear first? It must take all of half a second! Just seems like good practice and common sense to me.

[Guest greenvanman]

Yes, in gear for me too... again as a result of old chod with duboius handbrakes, and again because it might not get used for a bit.

Very true. If I leave the Astra with the handbrake on even for a couple of days it sticks.

Mrs_Pog curses me for it though, remember once she nearly put my old astra through a wall because she didn't check...

No such problems here, Mrs GVM flatly refuses to drive any of my disreputable shite

[retrogeezer]

if you start the car with your foot on the cluch you are engaging said cluch plate and causing drag AND WEAR OF THE CLUCH- thus causing MORE cranking power and more strain on the starter.

Really?? At the risk of sounding stupid, every car I have had seemed to turn over much easier with the clutch pedal depressed. They also roll better with the clutch depressed indicating to me that less components are 'engaged'I may well be wrong but I've never had an issue in 23 years of driving and thats how my bus driver dad told me to start a car.

[mk2_craig]

if you start the car with your foot on the cluch you are engaging said cluch plate and causing drag AND WEAR OF THE CLUCH- thus causing MORE cranking power and more strain on the starter.

Huh? I always, always depress the clutch when firing up the engine, as this way you're not turning the gearbox input shaft while cranking the starter motor. Sounds petty - but I feel it has made the difference between starting and not starting on occasions when the battery's been weak.EDIT - beaten to it

[retrogeezer]

Phew - thought I was going mad there....I think Aled is wrong, there is definitely more drag with the clutch engaged:

A shaft attached to the clutch plate enters the transmission. Whenever the clutch is engaged, if the engine is on, this shaft is turning. This shaft ends in a gear wheel that is meshed with the gear wheel at the end of the layshaft (the gear ratio here is 1:1). The layshaft is one long shaft that contains all the gears. Whenever the driveshaft is turning, the layshaft is turning, and all the gears are turning.Above the layshaft is a splined shaft that connects directly to the driveshaft through the differential to drive the wheels of the car. If the wheels are spinning, the splined shaft is spinning. On the splined shaft are gear wheels meshed with each of the gear wheels on the layshaft. The gear wheels on the splined shaft are mounted on bearings, so the splined shaft does not necessarily spin when they spin. These gear wheels are always meshed with the gear wheels on the layshaft. This means that if the engine is on and the clutch is engaged, all six gears are turning. However, since they are mounted on bearings, only the gear that is engaged is turning the wheels. If the car is in neutral, the splined shaft (and the wheels) can spin independently of the rest of the engine and transmission. Mounted on the splined shaft between every other pair of gears is a collar. Most gear shift knobs these days look like this:

And more importantly:

Starting a manualRemember, if the clutch is engaged and the car is in gear, when the engine is on the wheels turn. Therefore, it is suggested that you either start your car in neutral, or in 1st with the clutch down (modern cars wont let you start in any gear, neutral or otherwise, without the clutch down, so you might as well use the second method). Now, remember the clutch pad and the flywheel? The flywheel turns the clutch pad only through friction. This is important, because when the clutch is fully engaged and your foot is off the accelerator (and not on the brake), that will be the lowest speed in that gear - with the clutch fully engaged. To go slower (i.e., to start moving from a standing stop - no matter how fast you want to pull away, at some point between 0 and 10mph you'll still be doing 1mph) you must induce slippage by having the clutch pad half-pressed against the flywheel. This is called the biting point in Britain and the catch point in the States.

[Volksy]

In gear for me too, largly as others have noted due to dodgy handbrakes. But in the main from driving Saabs where you actually have to put it in reverse to take the key out.

[HillmanImp]

I would have thought starting the car with the clutch down would be harder as when you depress a clutch the revs dip. Would this not affect the cranking speed and strain the starter motor?

[wuvvum]

I usually park in neutral with the handbrake on, except when the car's likely to be stood for a while. A couple of my cars have rather poor handbrakes (especially the MR2), but living in north east Norfolk hills are not really an issue. Having said that, I always check that the car is out of gear before I start it - I do it without thinking now - cuz where I lived before was on a slope so anything with a poor handbrake had to be parked in gear. In fact my first XM, which had no parking brake at all, would not hold in first on the road outside my place, and would gradually creep down the hill until it parked itself across the road at the bottom. Needless to say this only happened once...

[Ratdat]

I would have thought it'd make bugger all real difference either way really. There is one possible reason for NOT pressing the clutch whilst cranking the engine though. The load the release arm applies to the cluch cover has the effect of pushing on the end of the crank which will load up the crank thrust washers at a time when there's no oil pressure to protect them.

[maximalist]

In gear with handbrake.

[aled]

:wink:ok everyone just read back through the posts and must eat humble pie, i forgot to put DIS in front of ENGAGE (bit like my brain before posting)sorry folks

[garycox]

Usually I just use the handbrake, I only leave it in gear if it's on a particularly steep slope.On my van I have a sort of mini white board thing from the pound shop on the inside of the sun visor so when I leave it in gear I flip it down and write 'IN GEAR' on it to remind me.

[binhoker668]

Yup yup.Always always in gear with H/B on. I've always been in the habit of clutch depression before starting.Anyone who does not conform to this methodology will be exterminated.This post will self destruct.(bang)