Do you really need to park with the transmission in reverse?

[altonloe]

I have read that parking the C6 in any gear except reverse will drain the battery. I asked my dealer, and he said he didn't know if my 2009 C6 would drain the battery if I didn't park in reverse. He checked his documentation and said the manual recommends parking in reverse but didn't know why.

If it is not a battery issue, why does the manual recommend parking in reverse?

 

[c4c5specialist]

HI there,

THIS WAS ONLY FOR 2005 MODEL YEAR>

After that, the BCM was recalibrated and it doesnt need to be in reverse to shut completely down.

Allthebest, c4c5

 

[NORTY]

However, if you rarely drive your car, you can expect reduced battery life. This is true for any vehicle made (car, motorcycle, boat.)

 

[altonloe]

Thanks for the tips. I do park my Corvette every winter, and use a trickle charger while it is off the road. I was more concerned about leaving it in the hands of a valet at the airport and whether the battery would be dead when I get back from a trip.

 

[o2bnkc]

Do I need to park my 02 in reverse?

 

[tim414]

Do I need to park my 02 in reverse?

Had a '04 C5 and I do not remember if necessary....do not think so...

 

[GS Diva]

The "park in reverse" didn't apply to C5's or any of the C6 stick shifts except for the 2005 models. If you don't put the '05 in reverse, the car "talks" to you on the dash..."Shift into Reverse"! :L

Elaine

 

[Red Vette]

My 08's battery drained in 3 days when I did not park it in reverse when I first got it home. Ever since I have put it in reverse and have not had trouble. Now I make it a point to put the 2 C5s and the C6 in reverse with the E brake on just to stay in the habit. Never tempt fate.
Barrett

 

[o2bnkc]

The reason I asked was because my manual says to put it in reverse. I've only had it for a few days. When I walked out in the garage last night, the cd changer was cycling through and after taking it to the car wash, the battery was dead! We jumped it, and I ran a few errands and had no problems. I put it on the trickle charger when I got home today and it just took about 30 minutes for the light to go from red to green, so the battery is fully charged. Kind of wondering what's going on?

 

[C5sarge]

I usually park it in 1st and set the brake in the garage.

 

[altonloe]

I bought a C5 in 2000 and just traded it off. I parked it in 1st gear in the garagae for 10 years, without setting the parking brake, and never had a problem with the batter going dead. I did buy a new battery after about 6 years, but it didn't go bad because I didn't park it in reverse.

I put the car away for the winter 9 of the 10 years, and did use a trickle charger on it for the winter months. But that's it.

It was definately not a problem on my C5.