What you're seeing does not necessarily indicate anything wrong per se,
and certainly does not indicate anything wrong with the transmission and
drivetrain.

Engine compression makes it difficult to turn over the engine by hand or
by turning the rear wheels, with the car in gear.  But, you CAN do it,
and you take advantage of this fact everytime you "pop start" the car.

You don't say how steep the hill was or what gear the car was in, but
find a sufficiently steep hill and any car, in any gear, will roll down
it.  As an engine ages and loses compression it gets easier and easier to
overcome engine comprssion; a car that would "hold" on a hill in second
gear when new might not hold on that same hill after 150,000 miles of wear.

On Sun, 27 Jun 1999, M.R. Nimmo wrote:

> Because my emergency brake cables have not yet been
> replaced (shame on be) I park my 84 4 speed (150k)
> with only the tranny holding it.
>
> I parked the thing on a fairly steep hill a couple of
> nights ago and I could here a very odd straining
> noise.  Then the vehicle would lurch forward about a
> foot.  Then the straining noise and another lurch.
> This being enough for me, I parked on a level area.
>
> What's wrong?   The only drivetrain symptoms I've had
> is a pop from the left rear when I accelerate from a
> stop making a tight left hand turn.

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Tom Young               young@sherlock.SIMS.Berkeley.EDU
Lafayette, CA  94549    '81 Vanagon
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