I searched but didn't find this anywhere:

Any 5speed owners ever start their car the cool way? That is, if you're parked on a steep slope (driveway, street, whatever) facing up the hill, and you turn the key to ON but don't start it, let up the brake, and once you're rolling backwards at a few MPH, you put it in gear (reverse, I think) and the engine turns over and starts. I've never seen it done except by a big ol' dumptruck. I know you can do it with a stick.

It just seems like a cool trick to impress the girl, and it saves your battery (haha).

As soon as I get my 5speed this summer, I'm gonna try this out. Unless someone says it ruins your tranny or something.

 

please do this. I hope your impress the girl, cause after you impress her you 2 might be walking for a long while for doing a very stupid thing.

Thanks for calling have a nice day

 

Why would you want to do this when you can start it with the key like it was designed? This is usually only done if you have a dead battery and need to get your car started. But I guess to each his own.

 

Wait, I'm stupid. Would you put it in 1st for a backwards roll, and Reverse if you're facing down the hill rolling forwards? It's confusing to me...but I know it works.

Would you care explaining to me why it's so bad?

 

MAXINXS--

Because it's f***in cool, that's why.

 

OMG....if you survive doing the first thing bags told you, do this one. Your tranny will love you.

Roll down a hill, put it in second, pop the clutch. Only if your battery is dead though.

Reverse??

 

Ok, so the bad part is that you're popping the clutch when the engine's at 0RPMs and the wheels are going, so it'll lurch. And I suppose there's no way to do it without hurting your tranny a bit? ****. Oh well. At least I know what to do if my battery dies.

 

I've push started my car before, but like most mentioned it's usually only if your battery is dead (or I imagine if your starter is dead).
-hype

 

how can you impress a girl like that... go "oh look, my starter won't start the car but its ok because I can roll backwards and force the car to start"

 

your car is.....





...dirty

 

 

well if u wanna do it go ahead, whatever floats your boat
"push starting" is mostly used in emergencies
the best gears to do it is 2nd or reverse

 

I have a better idea on how to impress a girl... rip out your HIDs (or equvalent) give them to somebody here and then take your girl to a saturday night star wars premierre. you will be 'using the force' all the way.. way cooler than starting a car with an emergency procedure.

 

I've done this. I had to park my old 2nd Gen. on a hill and roll-start it for a couple weeks when my starter was shot. Not great on the tranny, but it won't kill. Yes, I did it in reverse once too.


But, dude. It's not the cool way. I felt like the biggest dork.
Don't be a dork.

 

dont do it

 

I would not recommend doing this routinely, but it works fine in a pinch. Put it in first gear for a forward roll, and in Reverse for a rearward roll. Most of the times I have done this, I rolled a bit to pick up speed, popped the clutch, and it fired up instantly. Not even much of a lurch, really...

 

Thanks for the replies. Yeah, I was just musing...obviously it's not something you want to do very often.

Maybe if you were on a REALLY steep hill and let off the brake with the car IN GEAR, the engine would spin up slowly till it caught? That way you'd be doing no damage to tranny or engine. Maybe?

 

Start your car while your standing a block away. That usually impresses them!

















Lets see how long it takes him to figure out how thats done.

 

Just remember no power steering or power brakes until it starts . Use first or second (probably second) for a forward roll or reverse for backwards roll. It's good for an emergency, but I don't see whats cool about it , whatever floats your boat. If you just leave it in gear on a steep hill it probably won't move or may lurch foward a foot or so at a time. At least that's what my old escort did, but obviously a much smaller moter.

 

Duhhhh, does it involve THIRD gear somehow?


Hey baby, look how fly I am: I have the finger strength to push a button on my remote.

 

Thebasic concept is called a Bump Start (as opposed to Jump Start). This can be acheived in 3 ways - Towing the car to road speed then letting out the clutch (BAD idead - usually rearend towing vehicle if you start too quick), Push Starting is where one vehicle pushed you to road speed then then BACKS OFF while you pop the clutch. Finally, there is the basic bump-start that you describe where you get the car moving by rolling down a hill (or having friends push your car - I haven't done this since my student days).

For anyone who really needs this EMERGENCY procedure to start a stickshift, here's the way it goes;

- Put the car in gear (1st if you are rolling slowly or being pushed by people, 2nd if you are being pushed to road speed by another car or rolling downhill to greater than 10mph. Reverse if you will be rolling backwards - but rolling a car backwards with no power steering or braking is not a good idea)

- Turn the key to Engine-On position

- Push the clutch it, let off the footbrake and handbrake

- Get moving! Roll down a hill, push by friends or push by another car. Don't tow. You're smarter than that. I hope.

- When you get up to a good speed, release the clutch quickly, then push it fully back in again - this will force the engine to turn over a couple of times - hopefully enough to start it. If it's not enough, try again, but faster.

- When the engine is running, engage the appropriate gear and drive away.


Remember that all you are doing is turning the engine over, this is not magic. If you engine usually needs 5 to 6 turns of the starter, or it's really hard to start normally, then jump-starting is gonna be difficult. My shortest-distance record is bump-starting on a sloped driveway in 1st in less than one carlength - but that requires an engine that will happily start on the first turn...

In the UK where 95% of cars are stick, and there is virtually nobody that cannot drive a stick, everyone knows this technique. If you do this, people think you're a poor sob driving a POS. It won't impress anyone!

BTW - Remote starters on a stick are a bad idea. A remote starter that is designed for a stick will need a neutral lockout so it won't try to start if the car is in gear, plus a clutch interlock bypass. More than one person has installed an auto-only remote starter in a stick, and then found their car driving away. Hopefully into a wall - hopefully NOT into a person.