'98 210 - stalls when rolling backward...

[KarTek]

First time I've experienced this... I was going up the driveway the other day and had to stop at te top because a contractor vehicle was sitting there blocking my path. I had nowhere to go so I had to roll backwards about 75 feet and then go back up the other way.

I simply left the transmission in D and let off the brake and made a slow controlled descent. At some point, I felt a clunk and when I came to a stop and tried to move forward again, I discovered that the engine had stalled.

I started it back up and all has been fine ever since. Is this a problem or just a characteristic of the transmission?

Thanks!

[jkoebel]

I think you probably should've put it in N. Letting it roll in reverse while in drive, you were probably putting a lot of force and stress on the engine, slowing it down, and it stalled out due to dropped RPMs or something.

[TMAllison]

Reverse would have been a better choice. Can't imagine a hill it wouldn't hold you back on with no throttle.

Engine may have died because of difficutly of lift pump delivering fuel or could have been that the computer was sensing you in D, but rolling backward (out of control) and reducing torque to correct.

[Parrot of Doom]

How steep is the hill? Mine starts rolling back at around 25% gradient or so.

As Terry has said, could have been the car wondering what was happening with the rear wheels turning the wrong way. You can't damage anything, what the engine sees would have been little different to a grand prix start.

[KarTek]

My driveway is gravel, about 4:1 near the top for the last 100'. I usually have to charge to the top with the selector in 2 at 2000 RPM to avoid spinning and rutting the driveway. The anti-spin circuitry takes too much power off so I just use my foot to keep the power steady. The guy's truck was right at the top and I was so surprised to see it when I rounded the corner that I think I just stopped and allowed the car to sink slowly down the hill, back to the fork. When I put the selector in D, I realized the engine was dead...

[Parrot of Doom]

I think you've just confused the car, nothing else.

You could purchase some of that grid metal stuff for your drive, 2 tyre-wide strips of it, gives your tyres grip and they can't be easily seen once the gravel is back down. Something like this: