Now it might be a really stupid question, and I might even receive some face palms for asking this...but I must ask.

I was changing my summer tires for winter tires today on my Fit. It was the first time on the Fit, since I got it last April. My Fit is manual. So I jacked up the front and got working on front wheels first. On other cars that I have owned, in order to change the front wheels, I put the transmission in first gear so that will lock the front wheels and it makes it easier to change wheels. The issue is that, on the Fit, well on mine, the front wheels would not lock. I was still able to change the wheels of course, but I find the fact that the wheels won't lock when I'm first gear really weird.

After changing the wheels I went for a ride and stopped in a slope. I put the car in first gear, stop the engine and release the brakes. The car did not move...so first gear/front wheels lock in a slope but not when the wheels are jacked up ?

It was not the case on my previous cars. The Fit might be different, but I prefer to ask to make sure nothing is broken.

Thanks,

Neo.

 

If your wheel is off the ground, and in first gear, the wheels will turn "forwards" but not backwards.

 

Were both front wheels off the ground at the same time? You were probably just seeing the differential action—turning one wheel forwards makes the other turn backwards, and vice-versa. If only one corner is jacked up at a time, this won't happen. The same thing will happen with (most?) automatic transmissions in park. (The rear wheels are, of course, kept from turning by the hand brake.)

Generally, it's recommended to loosen the lugnuts (but not remove them) before jacking up the wheel, so that you're applying torque against the tire's traction on the ground rather than against the car's mechanical bits. Likewise, it's recommended to only tighten them enough to get the wheel properly positioned and seated before lowering the jack, and torquing them down fully afterwards, for the same reason.

 

Thanks guys.

I jacked up both front wheels because I wanted to do an oil change. And since it was the first time I was jacking up my FIT, I wanted to know it a little bit so took some time to investigate under it

Thanks for the tip DrewE. I'll make sure to follow it next time to avoid applying torque to the mechanical parts.