Uphill / Downhill or does it make a difference

[ScubaDive]

I would think that being able to park your truck on a flat & level driveway is the ideal situation. But I have recently bought a house where the drive is on a slope, heading away from the house. I am only guessing and have no idea if this is even close to being right but my guess is its about a 20deg ish' slop and was wondering if it makes a difference if I park the truck with the front on the down slope (back into the driveway) or the up slope (drive into the driveway) I am asking out of curiosity... if the oil is in the front of pan does the oil pump still pick it up?


I am driving a
2008 Sport Ranger
3.0L - V6
Had it since new, always looked after it.

 

[Doofy]

Manual or Auto transmission? Interesting dilemma. Where I live, we can't set the emergency brake in the winter, because the brake shoes can freeze to the drums. Can't leave it in gear either when it gets super cold because you can't get it out of gear until it warms up some, after starting. It is a real pain at times.

Your problem is a possible run-away vehicle. I would say park with the nose pointing down hill with the wheels cocked towards a safe direction.

 

[ScubaDive]

Its auto trans.
but I was more worried about the fluids sitting on an angel for a weekend then starting it up monday, would you still get lubrication where you needed it.
I am not to worried about a run away, more the machenical end of it, i guess.

 

[Doofy]

Check the oil level with the dipstick while parked in both directions. May not make as much difference, as you may think.

 

[RonD]

As long as the fluid levels are close to full it won't matter as far as the oil pump or transmission goes.
If it did you would see alot of blown engines at the top and bottom of steep streets .
Although normally a steep grade is only 7%, 7 feet up/down every 100 feet of road
A 20deg angle would be closer to a 40% grade, so pretty steep, hopefully you are not located where snow or ice comes and visits

Seattle has some streets running up to a 30% grade
San Fransisco tops the mark at a 41% grade, with many above 25%

People often back into their driveway, or a parking spot for that matter, because it makes it easier to pull out into traffic when you are ready to leave.

I back into my driveway because I have tools in the back of the truck, with locked canopy, so it will be less likely to be targeted by thieves.

I friend if mine installed a speed bump in his steep driveway(downhill to the house), he puts his front or back wheels on it, he says it is easier on his transmission when getting it out of Park, but in realty it doubles as a water diverted when it is raining, lol.

 

[ab_slack]

I have a really steep driveway, uphill from the road.

We have the same parking brake issues as mentioned above so tend to avoid using it, particularly in the cold.

When my original 88 B2 was new, didn't really have trouble parking using first gear at the very top of driveway where it wasn't so steep. In the steep parts that wouldn't work. As engine got up around 100K miles it was so loose it wouldn't stay in place in the less steep area so I started putting it in 4L to park.

I always parked pointing in for what it was worth (facing uphill) just because it was easier pulling in and...well since it is steep and dirt it either required inertia or 4WD to get up. I tended to just pull in with enough speed to roll up the steep part.

Snow was a pain over 30 years the only time I couldn't get up the driveway in 4WD in the snow (using some momentum as well) was after a pure ice storm with no snow under it...it was just ice.

It took some care to keep her in place when it snowed. In steeper parts it was a real issue with sliding. At the top where not so steep I would do a brief 4WD wheel spin to dig some holes in the snow. That usually kept her there


The steep driveway worked out very well in many instances when my battery was weak. Put it in reverse, let her roll and let out the clutch as she got some speed. I get clutch in after she started and have her stopped before the end of the driveway....the free-fall feeling when I did this tended to be a bit unsettling to any passengers that were with me when I did this. There was one period when I was particularly poor when I couldn't afford a battery and it would hardly keep a charge overnight. I did this sort of start for about 3 months.

 

[Kowboy]

A good friend of mine had an old worn out 64 Chevy step side. He called the truck Frank. His driveway was 1/4 mile long steep and straight. Came into work one morning and said, "Old Frank ran away from home last night". Seems Old Frank had very little compression left and let the self adjusting rear brakes do their thing. Frank was down at the mailbox waiting for him in the AM.

 

[ScubaDive]

I don't think my driveway is all that steep... the 20deg slope was just a guess, I really bad guess from what I am reading.... but when I change the oil I am backing down the driveway and having to park on the side of road... I normally leave it there for a good 10min and let everything level out then check the dip stick to get a true reading... most of the time I can be accurate but there are times that, I seem to rush or for whatever reason I put to much in then I'm pissed off that I have to drain some out... I was really just wondering if its in any way bad for the engine to be started up on a slope with all the fluids sitting on one side???
Thanks for all the replies I had no idea run away cars were such a common thing