ELI5, during winters and colder seasons you’re told not to use the handbrake of it possibly freezing. Why wouldn’t a gear in a gearbox freeze as well?
In: 40
Different freezing.
The gears are in a gearbox, and encased housing, smothered in oil.
The handbrake is a cable inside a wound on metal sleeve. If you pull it tight and water has gotten inside between the cable and sleeve, or ice builds up around one end, it can stick really hard in that position, forcing you to drive with your brake calipers clamped.
What? Don’t use the handbrake in winter?
I have driven manual in Canada for 20 years and never had an issue.
If nothing else, the engine can EASILY overpower a parking brake and that will heat it up real quick.
This advice is probably 50 years old.
The handbrake, also known as the emergency brake or parking brake, is a mechanism that is separate from the transmission and is used to hold a vehicle in place when it is parked. The handbrake operates on the rear wheels of a vehicle, using a cable to apply the brake pads directly to the brake drums or discs. Because the handbrake is not part of the transmission, it is not lubricated by the transmission fluid and is more susceptible to freezing in cold weather.
The gears in a transmission, on the other hand, are lubricated by transmission fluid, which helps to prevent them from freezing or seizing up. Transmission fluid has a low freezing point, so it remains liquid in cold weather and can continue to lubricate the gears. Additionally, the gears in a transmission are usually enclosed in a housing, which helps to keep them warm and prevent freezing.
Of course, it is still possible for the gears in a transmission to freeze or seize up in extreme cold weather, but it is less likely than with the handbrake. If you are concerned about your vehicle in cold weather, it is always a good idea to check the level and condition of your transmission fluid, as well as the condition of your handbrake, to ensure that both are in good working order.
You can use the handbrake in winter. The risk is pretty low, it isn’t impossible that they freeze in the engaged position but I have never seen it and I have lived in some damn cold environments.
The transmission will often be sluggish in cold weather because, even though the fluid won’t freeze, it will be a thicker viscosity, so fluid driven transmissions (the vast majority exempting dual clutch and those god awful CVTs) will initially shift like crap. But, even in cold weather the metal on metal friction heats things up quickly even though it is well lubricated.
The bigger risk is the cold start of the engine, it is really hard on it. Cars sold in Canada and parts of the US are ‘pluggable’, they have block heaters you can plug in, so the first start doesn’t shave off a bunch of metal. I have heard of trans heaters for vehicles in extreme arctic conditions, but I have never personally known anyone to use one. Block heaters, absolutely.
Steel brake discs are also susceptible to rust, so if the car has been driven on salted roads, and is parked outside where it rains, and is not used for a while with the handbrake on, the discs can rust onto (“around the outer edge”) of the pads. Normally this is quite easy to break (tho you’ll hear the rust grinding for the first mile or two) but if the wet rust also provides more volume for ice to form then you can have doubly-stuck brakes.
Latest Answers