best gear to park on a steep driveway? car rolled while in 1st

jimbote said:

reverse has the lowest ratio in the trans, so engine compression has the greatest advantage over driveline rotation... if your parallel parking by a curb turn your wheels full lock so it carves an imaginary arc INTO the curb

Click to expand...

even when rolling backwards? I figured that reverse is a lot faster than 1st max speed that it would have a higher ratio and less strength.

2nd gear, set the parking brake with your foot on the brake, car running. If its no holding, try 4th.

It’s different than that video. Took these screws out but it seems my whole center console has to come off now. im scared to break plastic.

https://www.myturbodiesel.com/wiki/center-console-removal-on-mk4-vw-golf-jetta/

and yes, im going to detail it this week!

Has nothing to do with compression. Compression leaks out.

It's all friction.

As was said, use the "lowest" gear, highest numerically. It's been stated here that that's reverse and I have no reason to doubt it.

Since you're relying on friction it doesn't matter if the car is pointed uphill or down. Use
reverse.

This is simple physics. The gear that's easiest for the engine to turn the wheels is the gear that's hardest for the wheels to turn the engine.

You know, like a lever? You have a long pry bar and you can move a big weight. Now look at it from the weight's point of view. The big weight with the short lever can't resist the force applied by the little human.

The parking brakes are absolute pain in butt to fix on older Jettas.

Yeah, most of the plastic tabs will either be cracked, broken or will be by the time you get the console out and back in place. I've used JB Weld on a few of them.

As KLXD said, pushing on the brake pedal while setting the park brake is the best procedure.

Which gear to use is simple.... as Jimbote stated, reverse is best, followed by 1st.

To clarify in your mind (all readers), on a hill, in a safe place, try different gears and see for yourself.

ok, I got it all figured out. kind of. tightened the 10mm nut quite a bit... it must of went nearly an inch down the shaft. and one cable seems to be longer than the other. the handle doesnt come up very much, tightens quick, but the e brakes still arent the best. it doesnt seem to bit every hard, but it is a bit stronger than before when I had nothing.


I probably need new cables and to jack the rear end of the car up and take a look at whats going on. if I have to make an order soon I will add e brake cables to the list.




question: will this center console piece with the cup holder from a 2004 Jetta fit into a 2003 Jetta? they sure seem to be different regarding the rear ashtray part and cup holder part but if I can swap the entire thing over from the 04 into my new daily driver (03) I would be very happy. the 03 doesnt have a cup holder by the e brake which boggles my mind.

I changed the cables on mine and not much difference.
I suspect the primary problem is at the caliper end?

it could be. I dont have the jack at home right now to check but can tonight. I will report back.

The calipers on your 04 are toast, this is typical signs on a mkiv that the e-brake portion is sticking.

You can put the cup holder center console in the 03, it mounts the same, just remove the rear pieces and youll see. You should move the e-brake bracket as well, or just manually move(bend) the lever over a tad to make it work. 99-early03 didn't have these cup holders, only the later 2003's ended up getting that center console.

fouillard13 said:

ok, I got it all figured out. kind of. tightened the 10mm nut quite a bit... it must of went nearly an inch down the shaft. and one cable seems to be longer than the other. the handle doesnt come up very much, tightens quick, but the e brakes still arent the best. it doesnt seem to bit every hard, but it is a bit stronger than before when I had nothing.


I probably need new cables and to jack the rear end of the car up and take a look at whats going on. if I have to make an order soon I will add e brake cables to the list.




question: will this center console piece with the cup holder from a 2004 Jetta fit into a 2003 Jetta? they sure seem to be different regarding the rear ashtray part and cup holder part but if I can swap the entire thing over from the 04 into my new daily driver (03) I would be very happy. the 03 doesnt have a cup holder by the e brake which boggles my mind.

Click to expand...

One of your calipers isn't releasing all the way or one of the tubes that the ebrake cable rides is is collapsed on the end.



The center section will swap over no problem. Most MK4 interior parts will swap between models and years 99-05.


https://www.idparts.com/emergency-parking-brake-cable-guide-tubes-a4-p-4510.html


You can buy them individually, right or left.

Awesome. Thanks for the tips guys. Swapping e brake levers and center cup holder pieces right now and will figure out the cables/calipers tonight when I can get under the car

Wasn't me on standing on the brakes when setting the hand brake though I agree. I said to pull on it till it's holding, don't just yank on it.

From the photo looks like one of the cables is hanging up. Pretty common.

If you don’t have jack just get some wooden boards to drive back wheels onto for more clearance and a couple more to chock front wheels. It doesn’t take much room to check them out, unless replacing.
I think if brake is hanging up on tube it’ll hit full caliper stop on only one side when releasing cable, but could also be caliper carrier not working.
My brake takes three clicks to hold car fine. My equalizer apparatus is almost as crooked after readjusting the nut for stretch.

What tends to happen when the cables are like they are in the pic is the short cable pops out of the equalizer and then you have no ebrake.

yeah my cables are rough... one is wayyy longer than the other and I got very little e brake in the 04.

the 03, on the steep driveway, holds the car like an anchor with just 2-3 clicks. its impressive honestly.

just got done wrenchin'... been a long day. swapped the center console cup holder and e brake from both vehicles, then removed the drivers seats from both vehicles, totally detailed the cars interior with a vacuum and microfibre rags, then swapped the seats around so the 03 has the best of everything aka un ripped drivers seat.

going to swap the candy cane tail lights into the 03 tomorrow and jack the 04 up to see whats going on the the e brake cables, then shes ready for kijiji!!!

curious to see what it looks like under there so I got a better understanding of how it works and how it failed.

Those aluminum tubes that the ebrake cable threads into will sometimes breakdown on the ends where the cable repeatedly pulls against them. Post a pic of where the cables disappear into those tubes.

Or one of the brake calipers is not releasing all the way to the stop.

You have the tool for resetting the parking brake mechanism when you replaced your brakes?

1st gear when facing down hill
Reverse when facing up hill.

I’ve heard of some people jumping teeth on their timing belt after their car rolled in the opposite direction in gear. You are spinning the engine backwards.

Can't refute the logic in that but I would argue that the load on the belt turning the valve train and pump backward isn't so great as to pull so enough slack out of the tensioner that the belt skips.

But better safe than sorry.

Next time I have the timing cover off I'll have to turn the crank backwards and observe the tensioner.

On a side note I have seen what happens when you try to rotate the engine using the cam and in that case the tensioner definitely does give and allow slack between the cam and crank.

The problem is not the cables per se.... it is the tubes they are in. The tubes on the car are robust, but I suppose they can succumb to salt/rust. Every set of cables I've replaced is due to the tubes collapsing like an accordion as I previously stated.

KLXD said:

what happens when you try to rotate the engine using the cam

Click to expand...

that has bad idea written all over it. be carefull, VERY CAREFULL, you may end up redoing a TB for no reason other than curiosity.

no I dont have the tool. been a busy week tinkering with other things in the cars. detailing and perfecting the small things. still havnt gotten to the underside of the car yet to inspect the cables/housings.

I will def post some pics.

Mongler98 said:

that has bad idea written all over it. be carefull, VERY CAREFULL, you may end up redoing a TB for no reason other than curiosity.

Click to expand...

Huh?

You quote part of my STATEMENT to make it look like I was asking a question?

I wasn't recommending that. It is recommended in instructions on this site and my comment on the practice was the first argument against it I've seen here.

LOL thats funny stuff.