1997 Pontiac Sunfire Owner's Manual - Page 205

Driving On Grades Parking on Hills You really should not park your vehicle, with a trailer attached, on a hill. If something goes wrong, yourrig 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. NOTICE: D o not tow on steep, continuous grades exceeding 6 miles (9.6 km). Extended, higher than normal engine and transaxle temperatures may result and damage yourvehicle. Frequent stops are very important to allow the engine and transaxle to cool. Reduce speed andshift to a lower gearbefore you start down a long or steep downgrade. If you don't shift down, youmight have to use'your brakes so much that they would gethot and no longer work well. On a long uphill grade,shift down and reduce your speed to around 45 mph (70 k / ) reduce the m hto possibility of engine and transaxle overheating. Pay attention to the engine coolant gage. If the indicator is in the red area, turn off air conditioning (ifyou the have this option) to reduce engine load (see "Engine Overheating" in the Index). 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 theregular brakes.