1996 Buick Park Avenue Owner's Manual

If you drive regularly in steep country, or if you’replanning to visit there, here are some tips that can makeyour trips safer and more enjoyable.0 Keep your vehicle in good shape. Check all fluidlevels and also the brakes, tires, cooling systemand transaxle. These parts can work hard onmountain roads.0 Know how to go down hills. The most importantthing to know is this: let your engine do some of theslowing down. Shift to a lower gear when you godown a steep or long hill.A CAUTION:If you don’t shift down, your brakes could getso hot that they wouldn’t work well. You wouldthen have poor braking or even none goingdown a hill. You could crash. Shift down to letyour engine assist your brakes on a steepdownhill slope.0000Coasting downhill in NEUTRAL (N) or with theignition off is dangerous. Your brakes will have todo all the work of slowing down. They could get sohot that they wouldn’t work well. You would thenhave poor braking or even none going down a hill.You could crash. Always have your engine runningand your vehicle in gear when you go downhill.Know how to go uphill. Shift down to THIRD (3).This will help cool your engine and transaxle, andyou can climb the hill better.Stay in your own lane when driving on two-laneroads in hills or mountains. Don’t swing wide or cutacross the center of the road. Drive at speeds that letyou stay in your own lane.As you go over the top of a hill, be alert. There could besomething in your lane, like a stalled car or an accident.You may see highway signs on mountains that warn ofspecial problems. Examples are long grades, passing orno-passing zones, a falling rocks area or windingroads. Be alert to these and take appropriate action.4-23