Proper way to park?

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Boston Fit
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by Boston Fit »


OK thanks. Come to think of it, the one time I do park in neutral is when valet parking. I'm afraid the valet will accidentally stall the engine if I leave it in gear.
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Re: Proper way to park?

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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by Shadow »

Boston Fit wrote:
SonicHKS wrote: You want to idle the engine for at least few seconds before turning it off, to let it stabilize and circulate coolant.
I put it in 1st (with clutch in) before pulling the e-brake and turning off the engine. Does that mean it is not stabilizing and circulating coolant? Is that bad?
Your car doesn't have a turbocharger, so you have no worries regardless of how you turn it off. Just shut it off any way or any time and it will have no negative impact at all.
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by DKaz »

Yup, SonicHKS's ride has a 1.4L turbo engine, he should actually idle for at least 30 seconds before shutting off.
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Boston Fit
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by Boston Fit »


Good to know; thanks guys.
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SonicHKS
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by SonicHKS »

DKaz wrote:Yup, SonicHKS's ride has a 1.4L turbo engine, he should actually idle for at least 30 seconds before shutting off.

Actually, no.

The turbo in the Sonic is watercooled, and apparently there's a pump that cools it after you turn the car off.

I idle cars before turning them off to let the engine stabilize for a few seconds. I also turn off all power accessories. Neither is really necessary but I figure its smart and helps the engine and other components last longer. I've never grenaded an engine or transmission. I've got friends who've gone through multiple engines in a year.
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by Shadow »

SonicHKS wrote:
DKaz wrote:Yup, SonicHKS's ride has a 1.4L turbo engine, he should actually idle for at least 30 seconds before shutting off.

Actually, no.

The turbo in the Sonic is watercooled, and apparently there's a pump that cools it after you turn the car off.
I think that's fairly common on newer turbo cars. Mine also circulates coolant through the turbocharger housing after the engine is shut down, but only when necessary.
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by theholycow »

SonicHKS wrote:let the engine stabilize
Can you elaborate? I can't say I know what this means.
I also turn off all power accessories.
In an old car, it is a good idea to turn off major accessories before starting (but doesn't matter if they're on when you shut it off). Modern cars tend to do this automatically regardless of how you set the controls. It's still a good practice anyway; there's nothing like getting in your car with a headache, firing it up, and everything suddenly comes on full blast...
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by SonicHKS »

theholycow wrote:
SonicHKS wrote:let the engine stabilize
Can you elaborate? I can't say I know what this means.
I also turn off all power accessories.
In an old car, it is a good idea to turn off major accessories before starting (but doesn't matter if they're on when you shut it off). Modern cars tend to do this automatically regardless of how you set the controls. It's still a good practice anyway; there's nothing like getting in your car with a headache, firing it up, and everything suddenly comes on full blast...

On my Fiero certain things don't turn to the off position unless the car is on, like the HVAC fan, so I usually make sure to turn stuff like that off before turning the car off.

Stabilizing the engine is just letting it reach and maintain a steady idle. I don't idle it for 30s-1min like I'd do with my MR2, just 5-10 seconds while I prepare to disembark. For one thing it gives you an idea of whether or not the car will start up again and idle :lol: I'm used to driving cars that're like that. Too many people treat cars like appliances and just use them at their leisure without much respect for the car. Like they drive it pull to a stop and immediately turn it off without turning off the a/c or anything :roll:. My Dad is like that, he spent $50 and "ruined" his engine all because he didn't like his car shuddering at idle or on startup. I drove the car and pointed out that he could avoid it by just turning the a/c off when he's about to park, but no :lol:.

Edit: best way I can put it is, idle is the "resting state" for the loop that is engine operation. More-so than shutting the car off, since it gives it opportunity to circulate oil and coolant and disbribute heat away from hotspots, etc. For one thing, if I'm driving the Fiero in summer and park it and shut the engine off, and go to restart it pretty quickly, the engine will be very hot. Hotter than if I sat there for a minute with the radiator fan on letting it cool down before shutting it off.
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Re: Proper way to park?

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:roll: :lol:
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Re: Proper way to park?

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Shadow wrote: :roll: :lol:
:roll: :lol:
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by stickicivi »

There is a lot of stuff floating around this thread and almost all of it new to me. I never put my car in gear while parking before, though my dad does and says it doesn't matter. I live in FL where it is flat so it probably doesn't matter but I want to develop good habits early on anyway. I have rear drum brakes so should I worry about "clamping down" on a hot drum? Second is it enough to put the car in gear after pulling the ebrake, or should I load the car on the transmission, I was kind of confused on the consensus there. From now on I will definitely let the engine idle a few seconds as I realize i'm not very good at that.

edit: You can imagine the surprise I got when I lent my car to my dad. Took me a second to figure out why I stalled my car just by starting it!
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by theholycow »

There's no need to worry about a hot drum. Even rear disc brakes without drum-in-hat parking brake are fine unless you've just come off an aggressive braking event and didn't drive the last half mile with normal braking. On the issue of loading the drivetrain vs. resting on the brake, very good logic was proposed for loading the drivetrain first and I now support that strategy...though I'm having trouble breaking my old habit.
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by ashowofhands »

I'm admittedly careless about how I park on level ground -- usually with the handbrake pulled, but sometimes not, and I typically leave it in whatever gear it was in when I pulled in (which is usually 1, 2, or R, and occasionally neutral). When parking on a hill, however, I'm careful to park in gear with the handbrake engaged as well. I think I usually pull the handbrake first, but I honestly don't pay enough attention to know for sure.
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Re: Proper way to park?

Post by comawhite »

I've always pulled the e-brake then put it into 1st gear then turn off the engine. Afaik I never had to put it into reverse to park. I still sometimes forget it's not an automatic and let go of the clutch just to have the car jump forward and cut off. xD But that's rare.
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