My taco almost got away

Reverse if your vehicle is pointed downhill. 1st if you're pointed uphill. Basically the opposite directional gear of the direction your vehicle is likely to roll.


Years ago my buddy parked his car in the front of my house when I lived on a long downhill street. We were chilling out in the living room and I looked out the window and didn't see his car. I asked where he parked and he said, "in front of the house." I said "your car isn't out front dude". We ran outside and found it down the street about 3 houses down with the front end smashed into a tree in the neighbor's yard with the parking brake still pulled up. It had enough momentum that it jumped the curb and rolled into their yard.

 

That makes no difference. First gear is lower so it will hold better but.... If you turn engine backwards you are very likely to damage things like Chain adjusters, VVTi and few other wierd items. Its in every Toyota manual. "DO NOT TURN ENGINE BACKWARD"

 

LOL Sounds like your truck was trying to run away from you. It can come stay at my house any time!

I'm generally parked on flat ground anyway, but I ALWAYS pull the ebrake. Just a habit. And it is always in gear. I tend to put it in the gear it needs to be in when I take off. I.E. If I pull up to the garage, I put it in reverse so when I go to leave it is going in the right direction. I dont want to have a big oops someday and go forward into the garage door.

While we are on the subject, how do you tighten the ebrake? Mine is just a little looser than I care for.

 

The transmission is a poor brake. Always use the parking brake on a incline. The parking brake should be adjusted to be able to hold a grade on its own. In fact, the Aamco guide recommends putting in Neutral, engaging the parking brake, then putting in Park, just so the weight of the vehicle is on the parking brake and not on the pins in the transmission.

 

Your engine won't turn backward if it's in reverse.

 

This happened to me once. Thankfully it was on a very gentle slope, and I caught it on time. I aways set the e-brake now. I experience has made me borderline paranoid...

 

Without the parking brake being properly engaged, gravities effect will overcome the compression in the cylinders. The steeper the slope, the greater the effect.

 

If you pointing downhill and have truck in R instead of first, and truck moves I would think this will rotate engine backward Unless manual in Toyota is different.

Engine can be turned either way and you can make adjustment within 10% I think when you setting TDC on crankshaft pulley. Beyond that It could be damaged atleast thats what Toyota says and knowing how parts are aligned inside I agree with them.

 

Nope, your engine will still turn the same way.

Your engine doesn't start turning the opposite direction if you put it in reverse while driving it.

The transmission input will always spin the same direction. engaging reverse just spins the driveshaft (output) the opposite direction. Hence why you can roll start a manual transmission if you're rolling backwards downhill by putting it in reverse and popping the clutch.

 

When you rolling backwards and you put in reverse then yes Engine is turning correct way. (right gear to right direction)
If you are in reverse and rolling forward then engine should be turning backwards. (Aka wrong way and damage way it won't run but it can be turned)

 

What he's saying is that you can't pop start the truck by using reverse while rolling forward.

More to the point, he's positing that putting a downhill facing truck in reverse runs the risk of spinning the engine backwards potentially damaging it if the truck should roll.

I don't know that he's right - that damage will ensue in that case.

I remember the POS 3-on-the-tree ford I learned to drive stick on had to have the wheels chocked.

 

THx that was it...
Funny I check 1GR manual and it does not have usual warning so maybe 1GR does not care.
all it says "Turn the crankshaft pulley clockwise and align
its timing mark notch with the timing mark "0"."
I know my 99 truck had that, my LC had that. (on both I had to work on oil pump and front oil seal)

 

Oh wait...just thought about it for a second. I see where that could potentially happen...

However, don't you think the force required pointing down hill to overcome the wheels wanting to spin in an opposite direction (reverse) vs putting it in the direction the transmission will allow (1st) would be greater? I ALWAYS use the parking brake AND reverse when doing this AND point the wheels toward the curb if applicable.

 

I think it's because ours has a timing chain vs a belt. I know that with a timing belt, if spun in the opposite direction, it will cause the tensioner to loosen and could cause the belt to skip a tooth.

 

A guy i went to high school with had a fiero. Parked it on an incline by a lake and left to do whatever he was going to do. Came back, car was gone. A long tow line and out it came from the water.

 

The only difference in how much torque is needed is in gear ratio of reverse and 1st. I think second on 6 speed is closer to R. So putting in 1 st means it takes much more torque (as higher incline + more weight in the truck) to spin engine either direction. Then also there is difference between 4.10 and 3.73 in diff, and in the Tire diameter. Thats why for a lot of work I put my truck in 4L to have transfer case act as brake. Especially if I need to work on rear brakes.

 

never knew a turbo timer existed..i just sit in the car with the car running like a dork. i always send my wife in to find a table or whatever while i let the turbo car idle.

 

Turning the wheel, is an old parking insurance saver. Turn the wheel so that it will turn instead of rolling away. Downhill, turn the front wheel into the curb. Uphill, turn away from the curb. That, a gear and a brake will do it unless there's a quake.

 

Lol yeah they're great. People also give you funny looks when you get out of the car and start walking and your car is still running, then as soon as they say "hey you left your car running" it turns off

 

Never understood why a turbo timer is needed. While the engine is running, the turbo is in a steady state (heat in = heat out). As soon as the engine shuts off, there's no additional heat generated, so the turbo cannot increase in temperature.