Pontiac 1998 Grand Am Owner's Manual page 198

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, use the highest gear possible.
If you cannot maintain posted speeds, driving at
a
lower speed may help avoid overheating your engine
and transaxle.
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
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), or REVERSE (R)
for a manual transaxle.
5. Release the regular brakes.
PARK
(P)
yet, or into a gear for a manual transaxle.
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