Losing power uphills

[damacha1]

So I get home from work and pull up the driveway and look for a place to park (have company right now) and I get to the top of the driveway and stop, and when I try to go forward the engine kind of lugs like I'm in third gear or something. The driveway is kind of steep, nothing too crazy though. I just think that it must have been in third or something and back down to look for a spot on the other side, once I near the top the car starts struggling and then stalls, I was definitely in first gear this time though.

So I back down again and start up the drive again to see if the same thing happens and it didn't stall but it is definitely having a hard time. I park the car and leave it in first and set the handbrake and sit there for a minute or so. While I'm sitting in the car, I can hear it trying to move backwards down the hill against the rear brakes as it usually shifts a bit, but this time it doesn't seem to stop.

So it shifts a tiny bit due to the steepness of the driveway then sort of gives a bit, then does the same thing. So I just started it back up and parked on the street fearing my car would just roll down the hill. Sorry if I didn't explain this very clearly, it was kind of difficult putting to words what happened lol.

My first thought was that my clutch is going out, because if the car was in first gear on a hill, the clutch should keep it from rolling back, right? I don't remember if i tried releasing the handbrake to see if the car rolled back or not. It is a standard transmission with around 236k miles on it.

Is it possible that there is some other issue behind this? I have noticed my lifters or what I guess are the lifters have been making noise more frequently just recently. They used to only make noise when it was really cold out or the car had been sitting for a few days. This isn't related is it?

Thanks for any advice.

[georgeb]

Is the issue not running right or clutch slipping? Usually a slipping clutch will be noticed in high gear way before it won't hold a parked car.

[FestYboy]

on a steep hill, you can't expect the clutch to hold the car alone. it sounds like your e-brake actuators are siezed and need to be removed and lubed to the point that they are SLOPPY loose.

[damacha1]

Car seems to be running all right, aside from the lifters recently. I'm probably getting close to needing another tune-up, and I do recall the mechanic saying something about the rear brakes, want to say it was something about bearings, but this was a while ago. I think I have noticed a bit of slipping I guess in higher gears like 4 or 5 maybe, but I'm not actually sure what slipping gears feels like since this is my first car.