Does parking a car on an inclined driveway ruin/damage its transmission?
Yes, it can cause damage. If you are parked on a steep incline putting the car in “Park” and not using the parking brake will put a lot of stress on the “park” mechanism inside your transmission. Will it damage it? Pretty rare but possible. What you will notice is it will be hard to move the gear selector out of “Park” and into “Drive”, and a clunk maybe heard and felt in the process.
On a steep incline you should put the parking brake on hard enough to hold the vehicle and then put the transmission into “park”. The parking brake should bear the weight of the vehicle. The “park” in the transmission is a back up to the parking brake to make sure the vehicle stays in place. Another trick is to turn the front wheels into the curb and let the wheel bear some of the weight as well.
If the park mechanism is damaged it should not ruin the trasmission. There is a “pin” that is usually park of the transmission case and a prawl on this pin engages a gear in transmission. When something breaks that is not good, but most of the moving parts of the transmission are still OK. Not having “Park” anymore is a problem however.
Not as long as you SET THE PARKING BRAKE BEFORE shifting to PARK.
What you will likely cause damage to (in time) is bending or shearing off the PARKING PAWL which holds the tranny when engaged. All the vehicle weight is applied to that pin.
If you are parking next to a curb, follow the driving rules and turn the front wheels toward the curb and let the vehicle move to set the tire against the curb.
If facing downhill, turn the wheels right toward the curb. (apply PARKING BRAKE)
If facing backward down a hill (Parking on the up-slope) next to a curb, turn the wheel left and let the vehicle roll slowly backward to the curb. (apply PARKING BRAKE)
When parking on an up-slope next to a ditch, turn the wheel hard right and set the PARKING BRAKE as firmly as possible. If you can, block the rear wheel.
If parking facing downhill next to a ditch (no curb) turn wheel toward the ditch, apply the PARKING BRAKE FIRMLY and if possible block one of the wheels.
The trick to having a working PARKING BRAKE is to have it serviced a couple of times a year and use it CONSISTENTLY.
Parking facing uphill, the PARKING BRAKE ‘seldom’ holds a vehicle firmly in place from rolling backward, that’s why I highlighted the word FIRMLY so as to give it your best shot.
Ya snuck in ahead of me Uncle Turbo, so I guess parts of our posts are duplicated, oh well.