Push Starting and MFI Car

[daepp]

Can an MFI car be push started? For example, if your battery goes dead can you still start it? Has anyone actually done so?

[lateapex911]

I had a starter fail on a trip to San Francisco, and had to stop along ther highway to ..um...err..well, anyway, I made sure I parked facing downhill, and jumped in let it roll a bit and popped the clutch. 2.4E, MFI, started right up. Same thing the next day, but a cold start.

[daepp]

Good to know - thanks!

[304065]

If your battery is truly DEAD there won't be enough current to fire the ignition and the car won't start.

If it's merely low, say around 12.3 volts or 25% charge, you might start the car, and you might overheat the alternator as it tries to bring a 25% battery back from the dead. The alternator is designed to restore the battery after a single start, like a 3% drain, so it's entirely possible that the alternator will overheat when it goes to maximum output trying to bring the dead battery back.

So it will work, but only in an emergency would I try it, followed by a removal of the alternator and a thorough inspection of the diodes and their soldered connections.

911's don't make it any easier with the alternator being the shaft for a cooling fan and being located 2" from the engine block. Also, the 55 amp Motorola alternator isn't bad, but it uses only a single isolation diode vs. the trio of the Bosch, so you might notice