I have a 2004 RX-8 and have never noticed this before. I parked it the other day in my driveway which has a slight incline (about 20-30) degrees i am guessing at the most. The car is facing uphill. I notice that it starts rolling backwards. I try second gear the same thing.... I don't remember this happening before ever, but maybe I just never tried it without the parking brake....
Anyhow the dealer said this was normal... Anyone else experience this or concur with the dealer assessment? Suggestions?

Thanks again in advance.

 

its a manual, of course its going to roll...

 

?

uh, afaik, and this was yesterday... i put my car in first without the handbrake on a little hill. and it kept it there.

also, did you guys know you can change gears without the clutch if the car isnt turned on?

 

Yeah, it does roll sometimes, depends on how good your bearings are. good bearings = roll. Bad bearings = no roll.

There is a reason why its called a parking brake!

 

Well it sounds pretty unanimous that this is fine. I can't believe I haven't ever noticed this before on my 8 or any other manual transmission car I have had. In the old days when trying to start a manual transmission from a rolling start first gear clutch pop would always jerk the car and impossible to move if pushing. I was just very surprised the car would roll the entire driveway being in first gear...


Thanks again everyone.

 

20 to 30 degrees is not a slight incline - it's a pretty steep slope.

Use the parking brake. That's what it's there for. There is a belief (supported by statements in the owner's manual) among many menbers of this forum that a manual transmission should be left in gear when you park. If you believe in that, use first or reverse. Second and higher won't offer as much resistance. But there is no positive lock, like there is for an automatic's "P".

Glad your car didn't hit anything or roll into traffic.

Ken

 

Always use the handbrake.

The reason it rolled is that there is a measely 1.3L of compression to hold the car. Most other cars have 3X+ that, so there is much more compression with which to hold the car.

But always use the handbrake.

 

Yes.

I have told the story about when my clutch pedal broke, with my whole family in the car, and how I drove home and ****** gears without disengaging the clutch at all the whole way.

 

Good anser

 

wow this is funny

 

yeah. rotary engines do that. Use the handbrake.

 

must have been painful