Hey everyone i have a question. My wife and i were at my parents house eating and visiting for about 1.5 hours. their driveway is flat then the last 3-4 feet before the actual street, it slopes down pretty good. the back half of my car was on the slop and the front half was on the flat area. when we got there, i took it out of gear, pulled the e brake, turn the car off, put it in first, then put the e brake down and went inside. I then came back out and my car had apparently rolled down this little slope until the back tire rested where the driveway meets the road and it gets level again. How on earth did my car roll backwards while it was in first gear??? Is there a major problem? am i losing my mind or what??

 

Just curious but is there a reason why you put the car in neutral then shut the car and THEN put it in gear? And why release the parking brake after all of that? I leave my car in gear(1st or reverse) and the parking brake always as piece of mind. Even customers cars unless i'm in the process of working on it. The only thing i can think of why it may have rolled back is your 1st gear synchro may be wearing by you putting it in gear after the fact of shutting the car down. I would stop doing that and start using the parking brake

 

I would assume the weight of the car on a sharp incline overcame the compression of the engine.

 

Ok well i guess that makes sense. i always thought that it was mechanically impossible for a manual car to roll backwards while in first gear. guess i was wrong. Heres another question, My car has the problem with the freezing E brake in the winter. For example, if its really cold in the moring or during any part of the day (40*F<), and i try and pull the e brake it will either be stiff or pull very little (and this is all happening without introducing the cables to any water) and may be slow to release after i have put the lever down so i usually rely on the first gear thing. Also i hardly ever ever park on any kind of slope. how can i fix the freezing e brake thing?

 

I believe the TSB lists the parts required to resolve the issue.

 

http://themustangsource.com/galaxie/tsb/tsb06_05_04.pdf

 

Not to be crude, but learn how to properly park a manual on an incline. This applies to ANY manual vehicle. They used to teach that kind of stuff in 'drivers education' years ago, but with automatics being used, no one learns the little tricks of parking a manual on slopes.
In your case, the parking brake should have been used to hold the car in place, as well as putting it in 1st gear. If when getting out, there was any detection of possible roll, you should have noticed and change how it is parked. It may mean that you back it up and leave it in reverse instead.

A vehicle in gear can still roll, as the tires will turn the engine as the car is moved.

Learn from this situation and be glad no one was hurt, this time.

 

The only problems I see are

1) the slope was too steep for the available engine compression in 1st

2) you unintentionally selected 3rd instead of 1st and didn't notice

I rarely use the P-brake on any of my cars (all have manual transmission) mostly because of the icing possibility you mentioned later. Old (New England) habits die very slowly. Had one car roll a few feet once, probably as compression in the cylinder with the greatest pressure leaked down, followed by the cylinder with the 2nd highest compression, etc. This is a normal thing that may take a little time to happen.


Norm

 

Not a good idea to ever park a MT car without using the parking brake - even on level ground. If you've ever push started or seen a car push started you would know that it's possible for the weight of the car to turn the engine over. Good thing there was a gutter there or your car might have rolled away. BTW, if your car rolls away and causes property damage (cars/houses) or worse an injury, it's going to be your fault and your nickel.

Gotta agree with tx zstang - please learn how to properly park before someone gets hurt!

 

It's easy to develop a fairly rigid "you must use the P-brake every time" attitude once you don't have to be concerned with icing. Having a car you can't move when you need to go somewhere has a way of making you a lot more flexible about this particular matter.

I assume you don't mind having to do some occasional P-brake cable adjustment (or pay to have it done).


Norm