noise while shifting gear from P to R, starting from a slope park

Hi everyone,

I am driving a honda accord and lately noticed a noise when I shift
gear from P to R. This only happens when I start the car from a steep
parking area. The gear feels very heavy and a big noise comes out while
shifting. It's not a problem when the car is parked in flat place. I am
not sure if it's a problem that I should do anything about it or it's
just normal. Thanks in advance for any helps.

John

 

Don't put in P until you've put the handbrake on good and solid.
You shouldn't depend only on the Park Pin on a steep hill.
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Thanks for the reply. I do put in P after thehandbrake. But sometime,
the car will slide down a just little bit and whenever this happens,
the noise explained above will be very loud. This is what I worried.
Anyway, do you think this will hurt the car in any way?

John

 

You need to make sure that the Handbrake is holding the Car before you
put it in Park.
Park is not designed to hold the car on a Steep hill.
The Handbrake works better when car is pointing downhill than Uphill.
If necessary, point the front tire against the Curb to hold it as well.
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When arriving, you need to release the foot brake and be sure the park
brake is holding, THEN slip it into Park. When leaving, start it up, put
in drive or reverse, foot on brake, then release the park brake.

It IS noisy if you get the order wrong.

'Curly'

 

It's binding of the Parking Pawl in the transmission. While it's not the
best thing to do,
I have never seen a failure attributed to doing this.
Most Automatic Transmissions will release with a "Bang" when you do this on
a hill...

 

Thanks, Curly,

Here is what I am doing at arriving at the hill parking lot:
1. stop the car using foot break and keep the foot on the break.
2. slip to P and do the hand break (the order is reversed sometime).
3. release foot break (sometime the car will go back slightly at this
point).

You are syaing I should do at arriving:
1. stop the car using foot break.
2. do the hand break.
3. release the foot break.
4. slip to the P (but car could be moving...?)

Is this true?

John

 

If the car goes back slightly, it means you are parking with the front
of the car going uphill, try backing into your parking place so the car
is facing downhill, the hand brake might hold better then.
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Exactly. You want to be sure the park brake is the only thing holding
the car (except possibly the curb or parking block) before you put it
into park. If the hand brake isn't holding correctly, it could be (1)
dirty / rusty from not being used enough, (2) in need of adjustment, (3)
too steep hill.

I like my park brake to lock on 5 or 6 clicks, although many honda
manuals say 3 or 4 should do it. I like the handle to come up a bit
higher for better body mechanics (I'm tall).

'Curly'