Can you damage a car by parking on a slope?

shnaek

Can you damage a car by leaving it parked on a 45 degree slope for 2 weeks? My girlfriend did this. Today is the first day she has driven it in almost two weeks and her engine is heating up a lot. She has had to pull over several times to let it cool.

The_Magoo

Parking at a slope should not be a problem, but you might want to check the radiator for coolant/water, might have a leak in your system, if left sitting for two weeks there might be feck all water in it!

Big Nelly

shnaek wrote:

Can you damage a car by leaving it parked on a 45 degree slope for 2 weeks? My girlfriend did this. Today is the first day she has driven it in almost two weeks and her engine is heating up a lot. She has had to pull over several times to let it cool.

Only way would be if you forgot to pull the handbrake and it rolled down the hill


Parking on a hill will not cause damage to a car

MrPudding

Is there a chance the brakes are seized slightly which could be causing extra work for the engine?

MrP

shnaek

MrPudding wrote:

Is there a chance the brakes are seized slightly which could be causing extra work for the engine?

MrP

I'll check that out.

Anan1

Have you checked all the fluids yet? I'd be thinking along the same lines as the magoo on this one.

The_Magoo

If the brakes were seized to the point of having to stop the engine to let it cool, there would be smoke also coming off the brakes. Do you find you have to work the engine harder to maintain progress?
Possible causes of over heating engine
- No coolant
- Blockage in cooling system
- Thermostat not opening
- Head gasket fecked
- Fan not working

What year is the car, make, mileage, last serviced, normal driving envoirment, town or country, whats the coolant level like?

The_Magoo

Edit - - Double post sorry!

tabatha

can a car be damaged by parking half on a footpath. left side up and right side down? just wondering thanks.

Anan1

tabatha wrote:

can a car be damaged by parking half on a footpath. left side up and right side down? just wondering thanks.

As long as the car is not completely upside down, you should be OK.

daymobrew

tabatha wrote:

can a car be damaged by parking half on a footpath. left side up and right side down? just wondering thanks.

Probably only by pedestrians extracting long overdue revenge for this unpunished offence (it's even listed in the old "Rules of the Road").

The_Magoo

tabatha wrote:

can a car be damaged by parking half on a footpath. left side up and right side down? just wondering thanks.

Depends how high the footpath is! And how fast you mount it!

Kermitt

shnaek wrote:

Can you damage a car by leaving it parked on a 45 degree slope for 2 weeks? My girlfriend did this. Today is the first day she has driven it in almost two weeks and her engine is heating up a lot. She has had to pull over several times to let it cool.

Is there such thing as a 45 degree slope on any public road/street in this country? thats a 1 in 1 slope.. never seen this other than offroad.

ek942

Anan1 wrote:

As long as the car is not completely upside down, you should be OK.

Ha Ha..Like this?

Litcagral

Kermitt wrote:

Is there such thing as a 45 degree slope on any public road/street in this country? thats a 1 in 1 slope.. never seen this other than offroad.

Yes, I think the steepest roads are 1 in 4 or 5. The only time I recall seeing a car at 45 degrees would be some car transporters.

shnaek

The_Magoo wrote:

If the brakes were seized to the point of having to stop the engine to let it cool, there would be smoke also coming off the brakes. Do you find you have to work the engine harder to maintain progress?
Possible causes of over heating engine
- No coolant
- Blockage in cooling system
- Thermostat not opening
- Head gasket fecked
- Fan not working

What year is the car, make, mileage, last serviced, normal driving envoirment, town or country, whats the coolant level like?

Cheers for that - I will get her to look at the rad and the fan. The car is a 00 rover 25 with about 80k on the clock, serviced 5 months ago . The car was parked in Cork - hence the 45 degree angle!

AMurphy

Unless something bizzarr, like the angle made it possible for rain to blow into the rad fan motor and siezed it, or rusting/siezed brakes, or rats took up residence in your intake or exhaust, parking on a slope has no effect on anything.
You may have a slow waterleak from a pipe joint, or pump shaft. check the level.
This is kinda normal long term parking pre-start procedure anyway.

peasant

Joking aside ...one thing to watch out for when parking on a slope regularly is rain water not running off properly.

Happened to me on my old Saab hatchback. Water couldn't run off and crept over the seals inside, soaking my boot trim, causing some rust (and a whiff:o )

Parked it facing the other way as soon as I found out ...problem solved:D

Johnny Storm

AFAIK If the brakes are seized you should be able to feel the wheels getting very hot

ds20prefecture

Did you check the oil level? Perhaps it drained out?

Are you sure it was a 45 degree slope? You'd stuggle to walk up a 45degree slope, never mind park a car on one.

John R

45 degree slope... hmm.

AMurphy

For the oil to you'd need the 90 or 180 deg slope, I think.

endplate

More than likely the slope is about 10 degrees at the most. As for the brakes been siezed I think that is unlikely as brake fluid is water based and boils when overheated producing steam (heat will come from brakes sticking). This steam been a gas then compresses when the peddle is pressed resulting in no braking :eek:

Most probably her problem is loss of coolant check the expansion tank is it empty? If so than this is probably why the car is overheating. Otherwise the thermostat is probably not opening fully

shnaek

I'll get her to check the coolant and oil levels. Cheers for all the help. And seriously - the slope is more than 10 degrees. Have you been to Cork? Have you seen some of the hills there - eg. Patricks hill? A friend of mine parked in the same spot with a hyundai coupe and he was burning rubber reversing into it.

Kermitt

Patrick's hill is steep- I've driven up it, but its not a 45 degree slope. Very few vehicles would be capable of hauling thier own ass up a slope like that. Its a physiscs thing. Anything 45 degrees or more there's more force acting vertically than horizontally. I think a 1 in 1.15 slope exists somewhere in the US- about 40 degrees.

Anyway it shouldnt affect your brakes as the force of keeping the car on a slope would be far less than that needed to slow the car to a stop from 100kph.

shnaek

She took it to a garage today and they told her the head of the engine could be cracked. That doesn't sound too good! He said he'd do a pressure test. He pointed out fumes coming from the exhaust. So I guess it wasn't the slope after all.

Big Nelly

shnaek wrote:

She took it to a garage today and they told her the head of the engine could be cracked. That doesn't sound too good! He said he'd do a pressure test. He pointed out fumes coming from the exhaust. So I guess it wasn't the slope after all.

Head gasket?

shnaek

Could be. She just said head in her text. I know she had work done on the head gasket in the past.

Big Nelly

shnaek wrote:

Could be. She just said head in her text. I know she had work done on the head gasket in the past.

Give some specs on the car, type, model, milage, age etc

shnaek

Big Nelly wrote:

Give some specs on the car, type, model, milage, age etc

The car is a 00 rover 25 with about 80k on the clock, serviced 5 months ago. She is the second owner and has it about 3 years now.

Anan1

endplate wrote:

More than likely the slope is about 10 degrees at the most. As for the brakes been siezed I think that is unlikely as brake fluid is water based and boils when overheated producing steam (heat will come from brakes sticking). This steam been a gas then compresses when the peddle is pressed resulting in no braking :eek:

Brake fluid is not water based! It does, though, absorb water over time, which is why it needs to be periodically replaced. Brake fluid can boil, though, leading to loss of braking.

RoundyMooney

Rover 25?

Oh dear. It's almost certainly head gasket failure. They all do that sir :mad:

shnaek

Ar*e! How much € is she looking at?

prospect

I would doubt that the hill had anything to do with it.

endplate

Anan1 wrote:

Brake fluid is not water based! It does, though, absorb water over time, which is why it needs to be periodically replaced. Brake fluid can boil, though, leading to loss of braking.

Ok that was something I picked up in a class sometime ago obviously the instructor needs to read up on brake fluid more. But yeah I know brake fluid boils but when water is present it will cause a vapour lock in the system

RoundyMooney

shnaek wrote:

Ar*e! How much € is she looking at?

That I don't know. Parts cheap, labour expensive (couple of hundred?).

I just saw that the gasket was already done, was it recently?