1996 Oldsmobile Silhouette Owner's Manual - Page 210

Driving On Grades Reduce speed and shift to a lower gear before you start down a long or steep downgrade. If you don't shift down, you might have to use your brakes so much that they would get hot and no longer work well. On a long uphill grade, shiftdown and reduce your speed to around 45 mph (70 km/h) to reduce the possibility of engine and transaxle overheating. Parking on Hills You really should not park your vehicle, with a trailer attached, on a hill. If something goes wrong, your rig could start to move. People can be injured, and both your vehicle and the trailer can be damaged. But if you ever have to park your rig on a hill, here's how to do it: 1. Apply your regular brakes, but don't shift into PARK (P) yet. If you are towing a trailer that weighs more than 1,000 lbs. (454 kg), and you have an automatic transaxle with AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE (@), you may prefer to drive in THIRD (D) instead of AUTOMATIC OVERDRIVE (@)(or, as you need to, a lower gear). This will minimize heat build-up and extend the life of your transaxle. 2. Have someone place chocks under the trailer wheels. 3. When the wheel chocks are in place, release the regular brakes until the chocks absorb the load. 4. Reapply the regular brakes. Then apply your parking brake, and then shift to PARK (P). 5. Release the regular brakes. 4-36