# Use your handbrake.



## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

Otherwise you may end up like me and have your neighbors frantically knocking on your door letting you know this happened:










Came outside to find it in my neighbor's front yard IN GEAR.

Dealership already looked at it and said there's nothing wrong with the transmission anywhere. I haven't experienced this one before.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Wow! My heart would have dropped to my feet! Hope the car is alright man! On a side note, the cruze is looking mad clean in the picture!


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## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

I can't imagine any possible way for it to move that far on its own while in gear, unless you have pretty much zero compression (I had an ancient, wheezy GMC that would roll in gear if I didn't set the brake).


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

About a month ago while walking down the sidewalk, I was approaching a driveway when the car in it rolled backwards into the road. Glad my pace wasn't any faster!

Setting the brake on a standard is a requirement!


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## Scarecrow26 (May 27, 2012)

I agree with the second to last post. rolled back, looks like level ground to me. man that car is clean. looks like it should have some sort if dent on the back if it rolled that far in gear. hope everything is good though.


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## The Wolf Wagon (Mar 5, 2012)

Looks like you got away clean THIS time. Hopefully, it was just a case of no brake being on. Is it running fine and is the brake holding?


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## OnlyTaurus (Mar 20, 2012)

:question: Holy cow!! That's insane.. I'm glad noone got hurt! (Including the car)

On a side note, that's a pretty cool shot! lol


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

I did leave the most important part of the post out: nobody got hurt. Furthermore, there is also no property damage of any sort. Better for me is that the left side of the back bumper is the only part that got it any marks, and I'm pretty sure it'll buff out.

It rolled down my driveway from my flat-surface garage and did that. It's always been my understanding that if you leave a manual trans in gear, it's not supposed to move. When I opened the door, it was still in gear. It's weird, but there's more good news than bad news out of this one, including my transmission not being damaged.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

What gear was it in? I always leave mine in 1st or Reverse since those are the two shortest gears. In those gears, the car will settle back until the engine starts holding the car. Then the parking brake gets set as a backup to the engine. 

If it was in any gear other than 1st or R, I could see this happening.


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

sciphi said:


> What gear was it in? I always leave mine in 1st or Reverse since those are the two shortest gears. In those gears, the car will settle back until the engine starts holding the car. Then the parking brake gets set as a backup to the engine.
> 
> If it was in any gear other than 1st or R, I could see this happening.


First.


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## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

> It's always been my understanding that if you leave a manual trans in gear, it's not supposed to move. When I opened the door, it was still in gear.


 If that were so, then push starting a car wouldn't work. Just get in the habit of using the brake. I do that even though I have an automatic.


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## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

Bump starting really only works with 2nd or higher, depending on speed; try it in 1st or reverse and it'll whiplash the driver and still not start.

Rupp: can you perform a controlled test? Sit in the driver's seat on a level surface, trans in 1st and clutch engaged, and get an assistant to try to push the car. I suppose it's possible that your clutch is slipping, which the dealer may not have noticed if they only looked at the trans.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Can't bump-start a car unless it's in 2nd or 3rd. 

A slipping clutch could result in this. Coinneach has a good test. If it can be consistently demonstrated, I'd start bugging the dealer.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

TheRupp said:


> It rolled down my driveway from my flat-surface garage and did that. It's always been my understanding that if you leave a manual trans in gear, it's not supposed to move. When I opened the door, it was still in gear. It's weird, but there's more good news than bad news out of this one, including my transmission not being damaged.


Normally, this would work, but you have to remember it's a little 1.4L engine and a heavy car. Not as much "engine braking" power with that tiny little motor. 

Glad there weren't any serious consequences. The only time I've ever parked my Cruze without the handbrake was when I had to adjust the rear drums...


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

Maybe it wasn't all the way in gear. I've had vehicles that seemed to be in gear, I had moved the shifter into gear but it really wasn't totally in gear. Let out the clutch and nothing moves and the motor reves. A Corvette I had would do this and GM eventually made changes to the transmission to reduce the percentage of times this happened. I think it's possible with any manual trans that the gears or synchros don't quite mesh, sort of hitting tooth to tooth. It's never happened on my Cruze but I always use the handbrake.


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## NBrehm (Jun 27, 2011)

With 4 tiny little cylinders I can see how the weight of the car could easily spin the engine, if it has enough inertia to get the crank turning it will roll all day


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## silverls (Nov 12, 2011)

I guess im the only person here who doesn't use the handbrake (unless steep hill) lol. I put it in first for an uphill or reverse for slight downhill.

Had a bad experience with my first vehicle. Had the e brake engaged, went in vacation for a week in the winter, and came back and went to drive to work and when i pulled the release the cable broke. Rusted.

I think the slipping clutch may be a viable answer. I know i have sat around in parking lots leaning on my car and everything else and it never moved. The roll start really doesn't make a difference in this situation because when you do that you have the clutch in til you can get up some speed and by that point you have enough momentum to overcome the motor when you release the clutch. In this instance it would have to overcome that from a dead stop with no help. I dont see that happening. But im not expert.

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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

A slipping clutch at 12,000 miles? This isn't my first manual.


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## silverls (Nov 12, 2011)

TheRupp said:


> A slipping clutch at 12,000 miles? This isn't my first manual.


Could possibly be faulty?

If not the maybe the "not all the way in gear thing"? Its just hard to think of how the car could overcome a foreword gear and the motor to roll backwards.

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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

I can buy into the not getting into 1st thing. Sometimes the synchros don't mesh well with the car off, and the gearshift will feel like it's in 1st, but really is only halfway in despite leaning on it with lots of force.


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## Mick (Dec 31, 2011)

That is hilarious!! (only cause no one including the car got hurt)

Happened twice to me but because I didn't pull the hand brake high enough. After 7 years with an automatic, you tend to lose habit of putting in gear and engaging break.


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

*@ Mick* - You're right, it IS hilarious, for that reason exactly.

So this is interesting. If you guys have about 3 minutes total check these videos out. I figured out what happened:

http://<a href="[url]http://www.you...ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vWnIzNXRhk</a>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vWnIzNXRhk

http://<a href="[url]http://www.you...ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyXVxXDh38A</a>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyXVxXDh38A


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

There's something not right with your car. Mine'll hold with it in gear until the cows come home. 

Any revving without increase in speed while in gear?


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

From that video if you are in 1st & reverse it certainly looks like your clutch is one of the bad ones. car should not move in gear period. There is a bad batch of clutches that some cars got that the clutch gets glazed & will slip. only fix is a new clutch.


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

That's the weird part - I don't detect any slippage of any sort while driving or launching from a stop. No revving when driving, no trouble getting up hills, etc


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## Chris2298 (Aug 1, 2012)

It sure looked to me like in the video it was turning the engine over the way it was "pulsing" for lack of a better word....


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## 70AARCUDA (Nov 14, 2010)

...curious, how "steep" is your driveway?


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

My driveway isn't flat by any means, but it's also not steep to the point where your heart rate changes any when you walk up it.


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## mmontini6289 (Feb 14, 2012)

Chris2298 said:


> It sure looked to me like in the video it was turning the engine over the way it was "pulsing" for lack of a better word....


Right, which means the clutch is not slipping at all. This is strange...


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## Dale_K (Jul 16, 2011)

Well, the engineers DID take extra efforts to minimize internal motor friction, lol. I guess my theory about the car not being in gear was wrong. It looks like it's turning over the engine. Maybe you could open the hood and see if the belt is moving to verify.

A compression or leak down test might be interesting. If the rings or valves aren't sealing perfectly you could see how there would be less resistance to rotating the motor. You'd think if it really had a problem in those areas the car would either burn oil or have poor performance.


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

What's interesting about what Dale_K said is that if you notice at the end of one of the videos, I go to start it, resulting in a long crank. It doesn't start up the first time around, which I'm guessing is because the crank position sensor isn't where it thinks it is. So yes, the engine is rotating.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

wrong color for phoenix oooppppsssssss


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## TheRupp (May 8, 2012)

brian v said:


> wrong color for phoenix oooppppsssssss


It's not THAT bad. We don't have to deal with water spots from rain too frequently and we don't have to deal with road salt. California duster about once a week takes care of everything.


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

TheRupp said:


> What's interesting about what Dale_K said is that if you notice at the end of one of the videos, I go to start it, resulting in a long crank. It doesn't start up the first time around, which I'm guessing is because the crank position sensor isn't where it thinks it is. So yes, the engine is rotating.


Sounds like a compression test might be in order. Might be a valve that's not seating properly, so the car is unable to make enough compression to hold itself.


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## CruzeTech (Mar 23, 2012)

I guess at times I completely forget about leaving the car in gear and not putting the brake up. I've been driving remote start manuals since the early 90s. I park manuals in neutral with the e-brake up, 100% of the time. 

Of course, all of my other cars have paddles and electric parking brakes. 


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## 4piecekit (Mar 17, 2011)

I have always used the handbrake but not first gear. I used to park it in neutral. I did that until my dad parked my car in reverse one day. I started it without my foot on the brake and the car shot back into a chain link fence and ate up my bumper. Now I park it in first. 

I think the pulsing of the car helped you out. If it just straight rolled back it might have been a different situation. Hope you get everything squared away with your dealer so this won't happen again to you.


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