I always park in 1st.
But every time someone else drives my car or I take it in somewhere they park it in 4th.

What is better? What do you use?

My manual cars, I put in neutral when parked, with the parking brake on.

Always use 1st Try pushing the car in while in 1 st and then in 4th or 5 ft you'll see the difference

the lowest gear creates the largest "holding force"

quote Originally posted by dobey: My manual cars, I put in neutral when parked, with the parking brake on.

My e-brake doesn't work

Reverse is usually the best to leave the transmission in. In most manual transmissions reverse is a straight cut gear and 1st is heretical cut. So if you leave the car in 1st gear, the force of holding your car has a component transferred into the bearings. This will squeeze the oil film on that bearing. When you go to drive again you will have metal on metal contact until that bearing gets splashed lubed again.

Park. If I leave it in Neutral, I can't get the keys out of the ignition.

Oh wait...

I always leave it in reverse. That's usually the lowest gear ratio which gives you the most holding force to prevent the car from rolling. I keep a small 2x4 block to chock the wheel on steep grades since my parking brake does not work yet.

1st or reverse ! Some states will fine you if they find your car was in neutral and it rolled away.

Reverse. Always.

I park in first if the nose is pointing uphill, and reverse if parking downhill.

generally the gear opposite the car is facing nose down hill car in reverse!!!!

It's hard for me to explain, but reverse is the best gear to park a manual in. The reason is, reverse is the lowest gear ratio in a manual transmission. The engine needs to turn very fast to make the car go backwards (compared to ANY forward gears when going forward). The lowest gear ratio will hold the car best, because the gear is trying to turn the engine.

quote Originally posted by 1fatcat: It's hard for me to explain, but reverse is the best gear to park a manual in. The reason is, reverse is the lowest gear ratio in a manual transmission. The engine needs to turn very fast to make the car go backwards (compared to ANY forward gears when going forward). The lowest gear ratio will hold the car best, because the gear is trying to turn the engine.

I thought that was only true of the 85/86 V6 + 4 speed setup? at least according to this: http://ironduke7.tripod.com/transmissions.htm

Note that reverse isn't always the lowest gear. In Fiero manuals, 1st is the lowest gear in all but V6 4-speeds.

quote Originally posted by Hulki U. My-BFF: I park in first if the nose is pointing uphill, and reverse if parking downhill.

I do the exact opposite. That way if the vehicle moves, the engine turns in the correct rotation. After reading the helical v spur gear comments though... reverse might become the only one I use.

You don't need to worry about parking in 1st because it's helical.

Besides, nowadays with cars that have synchromesh reverse, and presumably helical gears (since sliding is no longer a requirement), how do you think they park?

[This message has been edited by pmbrunelle (edited 07-12-2011).]

quote Originally posted by pmbrunelle: You don't need to worry about parking in 1st because it's helical. Besides, nowadays with cars that have synchromesh reverse, and presumably helical gears (since sliding is no longer a requirement), how do you think they park?

I know the 4 speeds have a spur gear for reverse and I assume the 5 speeds do too because of the whine in reverse.

1st. Then I always think about where it would roll if it decided it wanted to. I lock the wheel in whatever direction it would create the least amount of damage.

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quote Originally posted by Justinbart: 1st. Then I always think about where it would roll if it decided it wanted to. I lock the wheel in whatever direction it would create the least amount of damage.

Oh, i forgot about this rule. Steer towards the curb when pointing downhill, away from the curb if pointing uphill. That way you just wedge the car against the curb if inything goes wrong.

i read some of the replies but not all so forgive if im saying what others have but i park in 1st normally. if im pointing up hill it is first as well if its more of a down hill grade i park in reverse.

quote Originally posted by no8forme: Steer towards the curb when pointing downhill, away from the curb if pointing uphill. That way you just wedge the car against the curb if inything goes wrong.

I do the above, leave it in reverse AND have the brake on. Ain't going nowhere !!

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My '70 Vette and '78 Trans Am have linkage interlocks that only allow the key to be removed when in reverse, so it seems that GM may favor parking in reverse gear.

I use 1st or reverse. Others may not hold it.

Just use one of these.

quote Originally posted by blander66: ... 1st is heretical cut ...

I really had to laugh at that one. Does that mean that your transmission is possessed? Does it need an exorcism? (I think you meant "helical" ... at least I hope you did.)

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-14-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: I really had to laugh at that one. Does that mean that your transmission is possessed? Does it need an exorcism? (I think you meant "helical" ... at least I hope you did.)

um.. can you explain what each of the two are? How are they configured and different from one another?

The gear types not the vocabulary words

Oversimplifying somewhat:

The teeth of a "straight-cut" (a.k.a. "spur") gear are cut parallel to the axis of the gear ... i.e. the teeth are cut perpendicular to the plane of the gear.

The teeth of a "helical" gear are cut at some (usually small) angle with respect to the axis of the gear. The specific angle chosen depends upon the design parameters of each particular gearset.

All else being equal, spur gears are easier (and cheaper) to cut than helical, slightly stronger, but noisier in operation. Ever notice how much noise the spur-cut reverse gearsets in your car make when compared with the helical-cut forward gears?

(OTOH, heretical means "characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards," almost always in a religious context.)

[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 07-14-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: Oversimplifying somewhat: The teeth of "straight-cut" (a.k.a. "spur") gears are cut parallel to the axis of the gears ... i.e. the teeth are cut perpendicular to the plane of the gear. The teeth of "helical" gears are cut at some small angle with respect to the axis of the gears. All else being equal, spur gears are easier (and cheaper) to cut than helical, slightly stronger, but noisier in operation. Ever notice how much noise the spur-cut reverse gearsets in your car make when compared with the helical-cut forward gears? (OTOH, heretical means "characterized by departure from accepted beliefs or standards," almost always in a religious context.)

I guess I never pulled the root "heretic" out until you just explained that. Thanks for the explanation.

quote Originally posted by Marvin McInnis: I really had to laugh at that one. Does that mean that your transmission is possessed? Does it need an exorcism? (I think you meant "helical" ... at least I hope you did.)

Yea I am not the greatest at spelling lol, give me math equations and i will be fine but spelling, i guess there is a reason i became an engineer and not a English major lol

lim of x --> ∞
f(x)=1,000 / x

Easy enough.

quote Originally posted by Mike Gonzalez: 1st or reverse ! Some states will fine you if they find your car was in neutral and it rolled away.

Well if there's any damage, I hope they'd hold the owner responsible for his vehicle regardless, unless the car was sabotaged. If they give fines when there's no damage, it still seems odd to me that they'd care why it happened.

quote no8forme Oh, i forgot about this rule. Steer towards the curb when pointing downhill, away from the curb if pointing uphill. That way you just wedge the car against the curb if inything goes wrong.

I know this is what the world says to do, but it doesn't make sense to me. If you point away from the curb when pointing uphill, you might catch the outer front wheel on the curb, but it may also slip past and go barreling into the street. Even if the curb does catch the wheel, the car won't be in a very stable condition. Why not just point toward the curb, that way you know the rear of the car will hit the curb, even if you don't park very close to it, and the persistent forces will continue to push the car into the curb instead of toward the street.
I've read an explanation that the back wheel doesn't have a sharp enough angle into the curb, but I'm not really buying it. I really don't see the car sliding back with the wheel cocked for very far before it has to stop, and it will be pushing in a safer direction.
I know I'm being heretical here.

[This message has been edited by armos (edited 07-15-2011).]

quote Originally posted by dobey: My manual cars, I put in neutral when parked, with the parking brake on.

You're brave.

quote Originally posted by Will: You're brave.

My parking brakes all work, and I don't park on hills. I'd have to try really hard to find a hill around here.

I do 1st & ebrake on a manual trans, every time. just incase

I actually looked in the original owners manual when I got my Fiero V6 Munci 4-spd. And it recommends the reverse gear.

What do other Fiero owners manuals say?

Well, the manufacturer's recommendation should end the debate, but I'm guessing...

[This message has been edited by kalel14 (edited 07-15-2011).]

quote Originally posted by dobey: I'd have to try really hard to find a hill around here.

I guess that's why you get away with it

Not too many hills in the Tidewater area...

quote Originally posted by Will: For reasons posted above, that only applies to the V6 4 speed.

I'm sorry, but I have to question this. EVERY manual transmission vehicle I've ever driven (and it's been quite a few) the reverse gear is ALWAYS lower ratio than first gear. I don't know of ANY vehicle that can achieve a higher mph in reverse than it can in first. Are you ABSOLUTELY sure that the specs you're refering to are accurate?