Moving Vehicle Forward at Cold Start Before Reversing

That's only true in the northern hemisphere.

In the southern hemisphere, you must back up first, before going forward.

Otherwise, the gears don't know which way to go.

WTF?!? I KNOW THAT WAS PRETTY FUNNY!

It's probably related to some old gearbox which didn't like reverse, or to break stiction on the clutch or somesuch. I'm sure it's nonsense these days.
I remember there was an old 3 wheeler in the UK which had a reverse mechanism which could only be engaged when absolutely stationary else it wrecked the box.
Del

Yes, probably some old bit of machinery that launched a "tradition". There are some large bits of kit with large transmissions featuring direct-driven gearpumps to lubricate the bearings. These days the pumps are reversible (ie positive feed to the bearings whichever direction the shaft is turning), but this might not always have been the case, in which case a bit of forward motion would have been required to get oil to the bearings.

The procedure does not apply to an N-registered Volkswagen Polo 3-door (usual disclaimer).

Is that because it won't move in either direction?

Not until a filament lamp has been connected between the....oh, never mind.

OK, Now I will say my bit: This is only true when you drive a manual gearbox. ; Just shift to any forward gear and then immediately shift to reverse gear. Because the reverse gears has no sinchro the too gears are turning at different speeds clash and thus wear out. If any other gear gets selected first the input shaft and cluster gears get stopped by that the forward gear's sinchro and then revers can be selected without grating the reverse gears. Here in South-Africa most vehicles still has manual [stick-shift] gearboxes and most wo43n still grate revers gears and nobody tells them how to select revers!

It may be due to Hindu culture. They might have thought going forward brings goodluck and going backwards is a bad omen when you start a journey.

I have also heard this. It may have been the start to an interesting urban legend.

In cramped parking spaces this is required. It helps "push" cars out of your way. Very useful for parking in beach areas.

I've seen the same parking procedure used in Belgium.

Bet it only worked if you moved forward in 1st gear, but not if you moved forward in 2nd? Crappy input shaft bearing.

Or, call CarTalk. Those guys would love this one.

In an older vehicle with automatic transmissions the forward gears will fill the valve body faster if you run through them first, not so much with the reverse selection. I have to do this on my Jeep sometimes.

It's kind of a clue that my tranny fluid is low as well.

I've heard of this. GA

Yes! In another life I owned a 1951 Oldsmobile with Hydra-matic that would often stall while backing into a curbside parking space. Of course, the transmission would lock up instantly, and required a shift into "neutral" to re-start the engine. This was a particularly exciting experience in heavy traffic.

Upon further introspection... although I too gave a GA to this answer, I now don't believe this is the answer to the OPs question. I have heard of this situation that Relativity PL mentioned, but in that case it was a necessity to engage the forward gear momentarily, in order to reverse. You had no choice. The OP, on the other hand, I believe is referring to a choice one would make as a Preventative Maintenance measure, whereas it was merely suggested... or was a good idea to first move forward for some reason. At least that's what the phrasing of the question seems to suggest. Perhaps I'm over thinking it?

This is only necessary with current vehicles if you have parked a fire truck on an uphill slope. You have to move forward enough to pull the chocks out from behind the tires before you can continue in reverse down the uphill slope.

Same procedure would be require if you have parked your airplane on a uphill slope.

Good Luck, Old Salt

It depends on the religious upbringing of the vehicle...

Being a gearhead for the last 40 years now and counting......that is the first time I have heard such a thing.

I've never done it and any problems I've ever had was the result of other abusive driving techniques or some other random problem. Never for failure to do that.

I almost bet if we keep this up we will find a suitable answer. In the mean time being in the early 70's, 'not born in, but am in', I remember being told this when learning to drive, never did it but never questioned it either. My 'Y' 4 wheeler has to be put in foward low before it will shift to reverse. Could be a safety factor involved...

Yes you need to do that to remove the stones you had used to prevent the vehicle from rolling backwards while you were away

This brings to mind another question. Do any of you live in a city, like San Francisco for instance, where a million vehicles are forced to park on extremely radical slopes all day? I'm curious to know how often you get "run-aways". That's got to be scary... an empty car careening down a busy city street because something gave way, or the tires weren't turned toward the curb.

I was trained to leave the tires pointing towards the curb so that a runaway car would go into the sidewalk and not the street. i.e. parked on right side uphill- turn tires to right; parked on left side uphill- turn tires to left; right side downhill- turn to right; left side downhill- turn to left. Also pull as close to the curb as possible, this gives the vehicle less momentum before it hits the curb should it begin to roll.

Good Luck, Old Salt

We lost an individual to that in Seattle this spring. A truck was improperly parked and pinched a person between it and another vehicle. It was quite a sensational event here in Washington.

We think about it here, but it rarely happens.

Speaking of pinched between cars... back in 1976 when my dad was like 52 or so, he was giving a jump to a stranded motorist on new years eve, in the snow. A drunk driver came along and ran into the cars and my dad was caught between. Pinched one leg off, and the other got so pulverized, it may as well have come off.

He spent 8 months in the hospital. He's in his 80's now and has both his legs. Walked with a medium limp, but to this day no one can believe they were able to reattach both legs and get them in working order. Wasn't like a clean chop. They literally were crushed off. Some pretty miraculous stuff, for 1970's surgery technology.

Yeah, I need to do that with my Jeep. I just do it without thinking now. Just shifting into any forward gear lines up the reverse gear.

You're right as rain on a dusty corn field..There was a time we drove an 0le 2 ton truck and had to idle it down to get reverse and had to let it grind a bit to line up the gears so it would go into reverse..It would go clunk and drop into reverse..we would get our ears boxed if we got in a hurry..and got to walk...

yes, very nice, GA.

If you drive such a car forward until it touches the wall or curb, are you stuck there forever?

Somehow, I don't believe this story....

If you are addressing what I said... I said you don't need to move forward at all... just shifting into any forward gear and then into reverse is enough to line up the gears.

That used to happen to me with an old Mercedes 220D... It was embarassing to have to ask a passerby to help push the thing backward to get it off the curb when parked "nose in" on a slope.