| WELCOME TO TIPS & TRICKS this months tip is called E BRAKE August 2008 I have lived in the hilly city of Pittsburgh almost my entire adult life. Pittsburgh is considered to be a high stress driving environment. If you have ever read the maintenance schedule part of your owners manual, there is a disclaimer that suggest different intervals of maintenance for vehicles driven in high stress areas. Pittsburgh in case you did not know is one of those. That right there is a tip within itself but what I really came here to say today is this… If you live in a city like Pittsburgh that has you constantly parking on a hill, use your emergency brake. More important than that; engage it before you put your automatic transmission equipped vehicle in park. Putting the vehicle in park then putting on the emergency brake is counter productive. You see when you do it in that order, the weight of the vehicle is already resting on your mounts and your transmission. When you put on the brake first, it holds the weight of the car instead of you transmission. Have you ever tried to put your car in drive and had yank on the shift lever to get it out of park? That is why. The weight of the car is resting on the trans. When you finally get it to come out of park you hear a loud pop. That is stress on your mounts. Mounts are cheaper than a tranny but it is no fun to replace either. Keep that in mind and this little tip could go a long way. Happy motoring; see you next month. Leon The Link |
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