Parked on ice or snow difficult for car to Move

Tiny
JIM HALE2
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 FORD CROWN VICTORIA
  • 5.3L
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 165,000 MILES
When parked on ice or snow it is very very hard to move if any. Tires are fairly new. The tires do not spin and the engine seems to load up. Tried rocking the transmission from drive to reverse. Get very little movement. Get pushed or towed to dry pavement and put it in gear and away I go.
Monday, February 5th, 2018 AT 10:12 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,752 POSTS
Sounds like a sticking brake issue. For most other car brands that is a dragging front disc brake, usually caused by a constricted rubber flex hose, but since your rear tires are not spinning, it points more to a real common problem on Fords; that is a parking brake cable rusted in the partially-applied position. One potential clue is found by stopping on a slight incline, shifting to neutral, releasing the brakes, then observing if the car creeps downhill on its own. Try that going forward, then backward.

Another clue is to raise the tires off the ground, shift to neutral, then try to rotate the wheels forward and backward by hand. If a parking brake is dragging, and you have rear drum brakes, that brake will self-energize and lock easier one way, usually rearward.

With rear disc brakes, one wheel will just turn harder than normal by hand but direction will not matter.
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Monday, February 5th, 2018 AT 2:26 PM

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