Got to Love a Manual Transmission.

[rwest]

Got up early Sunday morning for my weekly grocery run in the DD 2008 Toyota Yaris 5 speed. Car started right up, got my groceries, car started right up, stopped for gas and... after a few minutes of checking the shift interlock and trying to think about my next move, duh, give it a push and just pop the clutch. Started right up as it was all warmed up.

Got home did some stuff then decided I better get it fixed, so I verified that it was the starter and not wiring, interlock, fuses or relay. Found one at NAPA a few miles away, push started in my driveway, went to NAPA, was going to leave it running, but ended up killing it, so bought the starter, push started it in the lot and went home and replaced the starter. Not too bad of a job.

Auto box would have left me at the mercy of others and sitting at the closed gas station or walking home.

[stevej37]

I drove my 84 Carrera from the Porsche Parade in Charlotte, NC to home in MI without a working ignition switch. (950 miles)
Every gas fill-up, I left it running. Any stop at a hotel or restaurant...I left it on a grade. I remember at one gas station, going to take a whizz, I could hear the exhaust pounding inside the bathroom..lol

Made it home and fixed it.

[flatbutt]

Manual transmission...a bit of a security device these days.

[Baz]

You used to be able to get an engine to turn over on an automatic transmission vehicle by getting it up to a certain speed - IIRC around 25-30mph......

[oldE]

Powergulides would do that, I think.

Best
Les

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rwest

Got up early Sunday morning for my weekly grocery run in the DD 2008 Toyota Yaris 5 speed. Car started right up, got my groceries, car started right up, stopped for gas and... after a few minutes of checking the shift interlock and trying to think about my next move, duh, give it a push and just pop the clutch. Started right up as it was all warmed up.

Got home did some stuff then decided I better get it fixed, so I verified that it was the starter and not wiring, interlock, fuses or relay. Found one at NAPA a few miles away, push started in my driveway, went to NAPA, was going to leave it running, but ended up killing it, so bought the starter, push started it in the lot and went home and replaced the starter. Not too bad of a job.

Auto box would have left me at the mercy of others and sitting at the closed gas station or walking home.

Yep, I've push started everything from my old '88 911 to my first car which was a 1965 Impala (2dr) and most of them I've done by myself. I even had to do it in reverse in the old impala once which was almost a very bad thing. In college I had a car that I push started for a month before I got the funds together to replace the starter.

Originally Posted by stevej37

I drove my 84 Carrera from the Porsche Parade in Charlotte, NC to home in MI without a working ignition switch.
Every gas fill-up, I left it running. Any stop at a hotel or restaurant...I left it on a grade. I remember at one gas station, going to take a whizz, I could hear the exhaust pounding inside the bathroom..lol

Made it home and fixed it.

That was ballsy leaving the car running while taking a leak.

Twice in my old '88 targa (the first fix didn't hold) I had the clutch fail and had to drive the car once about 50 miles in traffic and on a toll road without using the clutch. Up from 1st to 5th and back down to first by rev matching. get the car down to idle in 1st gear and throw the quarters at the toll booth basket as you rolled up to in hoping to have the bar go up before you got there. Worked every time.

Originally Posted by Baz

You used to be able to get an engine to turn over on an automatic transmission vehicle by getting it up to a certain speed - IIRC around 25-30mph......

Yep, I did have an automatic die once but we got it going by pushing it with another car.

[Norm K]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Manual transmission...a bit of a security device these days.

So much so that I call it the Millennial anti-theft device.

_

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by norm k

so much so that i call it the millennial anti-theft device.

_

:d

[stevej37]

4 cars in the garage...all manuals.
Should get a break on theft insurance.

[Superman]

I thought it was impossible, or nearly so, to push start a fuel injected car.

[stevej37]

^^^ On the trip I described above, the 84 was started several times by a small grade. (it's a stock Carrera)
Always use second gear and it starts up from a slow coast.

[fastfredracing]

I delivered pizza in a 1983 Honda Civic with a bad starter for an entire winter when I was in college . I would just keep it parked on the hill in our lot, and bump start it , That was such a good running car. Dead cold on a flat surface, I could push it, then plop in , shove it in second gear and it would light right off , every time without fail, I even drove it to New Smyrna beach and back that spring with no starter . This was all before I was any kind of a wrench , I did end up installing the starter myself that spring after I got done with school

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by Superman

I thought it was impossible, or nearly so, to push start a fuel injected car.

I can do this on my fuel injected Vanagons, but they are fairly primitive compared to modern fuel injection systems (not mechanical, but old-school ECU etc). Why would push starting fuel injected car be an issue... unless you mean specifically a car with a dead battery?

[nota]

Originally Posted by Baz

You used to be able to get an engine to turn over on an automatic transmission vehicle by getting it up to a certain speed - IIRC around 25-30mph......

did that to a junk rambler to see if the motor was worth pulling
ran it up to about 50 and drop in to gear damm thing ran
paid 50 for a nice convert with motor falling out
65 red red rambler that broke the bell housing some how before I got it
a free 64 4 door with the same motor and trans junker
and 100 to the local gas station owner to let us do the swap with tools and help
my first car after a 1/2 doz bikes followed by 1/2 doz corvairs 65 or 66 only

low mile vairs were everywhere and cheap 50 to 200

[rwest]

My HS 914 had a bad rebuild alternator that I was arguing with the store over a replacement for a long time, so I carried a spare charged battery and parked on an incline whenever possible to preserve the battery.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Superman

I thought it was impossible, or nearly so, to push start a fuel injected car.

Nope, definitely not. '88 911 - check, '97 Grand Am - check, '97 miata - check, '04 miata - check, and I'm sure plenty that I've forgotten.

THere are probably some situations where it won't work.

[GH85Carrera]

I was on vacation in Eureka Springs for the weekend in my 914 when the starter failed. The entire city is hilly, so finding a slope to park on was not too bad. Three days of push starts was no big deal.

My brother daily drives his 1954 VW bug. One rainy day he drove to work with the headlights on. He forgot to turn them off, and when he was ready to go home it was 100% dead. He saw two 20 something co-workers in the parking lot. He asked them to help him push it. They both were laughing and said we ain't pushing you home! He said he just needed to get rolling at 5 or 6 MPH and he would be fine. They were puzzled, but started pushing and he of course got it started in 2nd gear and off he drove. The 20 something kids was astonished. They had never seen anything like that. The next day they were asking how he can do it and he said it is very simple with a 4 speed transmission. They were let down as all they knew how to drive was an automatic. They though he was a magician to pop start a car.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Superman

I thought it was impossible, or nearly so, to push start a fuel injected car.

For sure any G body 911 and earlier can push start easily. The fuel pump only runs for a few seconds, but once the engine starts to rotate, the crank sensors see the rotation, and the ECU turns on the fuel pump, and the car easily starts. On a SC is it just a mechanical fuel injection controlled by the electronics. 914s and older 911s are easy to push start.

[Superman]

Yes, I guess I was thinking of a CIS car with a dead battery. You can push them until the cows come home and they won't start. When the air flow sensor plate rises, then the fuel pump can run on its own. Until that sensor plate rises due to the air flow, the starter runs the FP, and only when the key is in starting position. And there is electricity.

[vonsmog]

I know that the early Mercedes automatics can be pop started, have done it many times on cars that have sat for a long time and didn't want to start with the starter. Mostly diesel cars sitting for 5 years plus. I have pop started many a Unimog that have been sitting as well.