[DROPTOP STANG]

last minute effort for dinner i roll down to HEB to grab some elbow macaroni.... the whole way there i smell a burning and have no clue what it is... my car isnt running hot and i figure it might be the stale texas air from a fire or something......


WELLLLLLLL


earlier today i vaccumed and cleaned out my car and to clean under my ebrake and set it..... (i never set it i have an auto).


so long story short my dumbass drove like 2 1/2 miles with my ebrake on!!!! will thios cause any harm to anything besides my ebrake??? i really dont have money to fix anything right now i sure hope i didnt screw anything up.

is it possible i may have?

[derklug]

You took a good deal of life out of your rear drums and shoes, but you should be ok if you don't hear anything grinding.

[domindart]

Youll be okay dude..::at on back:::

[MustDangRider]

Eh as long as your ABS light didnt come on youll be okay...

[93stangfutr5.0]

what absi know mine doesnt have it and i didnt think they did.

[05horse]

give it a manual inspection if you must... but 2 miles isn't bad.
considering the time you spend stopping...


my ram has 9 years of stopping, and the rear shoes still have a ton of life, then again thats not grinding and heating up, you should be fine

[Amscray88kr]

my mom rented a v6 vert and drove it around with the ebrake on the whole time........dont buy rentals....

you should be fine. easy fix.

my ebrake is so strong i left if on once and couldnt figure out why i couldnt move.

you should always put your ebrake on when you park. btw. doesnt it protect the trans from smashing into the engine if the car rolls forward? thats a terrible way of explaining it but you know what i mean.

[DROPTOP STANG]

either way.... my car feels normal and i drove about 50 miles or more today.. just hope one day i actually need my ebrake it works haha

[SM90Stanger]

you should always put your ebrake on when you park. btw. doesnt it protect the trans from smashing into the engine if the car rolls forward? thats a terrible way of explaining it but you know what i mean.

And yes, that was one of the worst explanations in the history of this site, lol and jk.

Okay, so I have been thinking about this and have decided on my opinion for whether or not leaving a car in gear is bad for the transmission/engine. Please correct me if I am wrong.

So if the car is on a slope and in gear, pressure is placed on the gears in the transmission so that the car does not move. If the car was on a steep enough slope, theoretically the engine would/could/might just turn over. Think about how pressure is placed on the gears of the transmission when you mash on that gas pedal (okay maybe not for the N/A 2.3's, but let's say the turbos). The engine is pulling the weight (when accelerating) of the vehicle forward and that load (due to acceleration) is being supported by the transmissions gears. There's "a lot" of stress on the transmission at these times and yet no one says "Don't floor it, you might break your transmission". So why do they say "You should always use the emergency brake, it's bad for your transmission"????

Unless the slope is vertical, then the tranny should be able to handle the weight of a sitting vehicle, right? This should not be bad for transmission, right?

Well anyway, thanks for 'listening'. Someone with some more knowledge, please comment.

[J. Rhapsody]

Uhh not an automatic. Which dont exactly have gears anyway. ALthough you could damage your parking pawl or after a bit of movement it would just be harder to shift from park. That wxplanation could be plausible with a car that has a standard and was left in gear, facing foward on a hill. These arent 2stroke diesel trucks that if given a chance to slightly roll downhill wil have 4 or 5 reverse speeds instead of 4 or 5 foward speeds.

[rix_five0]

I agree with raphsody, auto is very different than standard trans. But in my opinion E-brake shoul always be used in any car sitting on a steep slope, in standard to keep from rolling away and in automatic to keep from damaging your tranny. What i do with my five speed if facing down on a slope, i place gear on reverse with e-brake on, or facing backwards with first gear also with e-brake on. OH!!..... and dont forget to turn your wheels to the curb.

[b_chandler]

Originally Posted by J. Rhapsody

These arent 2stroke diesel trucks that if given a chance to slightly roll downhill wil have 4 or 5 reverse speeds instead of 4 or 5 foward speeds.

4 stroke diesels will do it too. I spun a 300 Mack backwards after bogging it down. It's weird watching smoke come out of the air cleaner



As for the rest of this nonsense.... It's just that, nonsense.

Put an automatic in park on a hill with no E-brake....no problem. Might be a little hard to get out of Park, but no harm done. 100+ thousand miles of commuting and parking on an inclined driveway can back that up.

As for the manual trans guys, throw it in 5th set the brake, and walk away confidently.

Here's another very important tip and the main reason the OP got away with this unharmed. Adjust your back brakes periodically. Sure their supposed to self adjust, but you may notice over time the e-brake handle comes up a little higher. It's not the e-brake mechanism, it's the back brakes wearing. add a couple of clicks to the star wheel when it gets that way and your handle will be right back down where it's supposed to be.