push start a stalled car
i watched three persons attempting to push start a stalled car along the main road. they did not manage to get very far as their effort proved futile. i was wondering if it was due to lack of trying or lack of technique or was it because the battery was totally drained. nowadays, with most of the cars on our roads having automatic transmission, it is getting rarer and rarer to see people getting into this kind of act.
one should not try to push start a car alone. you should have one person in the driver's seat and one or more pushing. if the car is parked on an upslope, you definitely need more manpower to push it.
for it to be effective, you have to first turn off all accessories that will drain whatever little power is left in the battery, like the radio, lights, air-conditioner, wipers, etc.
turn the key to the 'on' position. depress the clutch pedal and engage 2nd gear. although it works on 1st gear, i usually put the transmission in 2nd gear. keep the clutch depressed.
next, release the handbrake and the foot brake.
the persons need to get the car rolling as fast as it can, so it is best if there is an incline or a downhill. the one in the driver's seat has to simultaneously, release the clutch and step on the accelerator the moment the car has gathered sufficient momentum. once the engine comes to life, he has to keep feeding the petrol to keep the engine running. a word of caution though: he must not accelerate too fast, otherwise the helpers (pushers) may end up with their faces flat on the road.
one should not try to push start a car alone. you should have one person in the driver's seat and one or more pushing. if the car is parked on an upslope, you definitely need more manpower to push it.
for it to be effective, you have to first turn off all accessories that will drain whatever little power is left in the battery, like the radio, lights, air-conditioner, wipers, etc.
turn the key to the 'on' position. depress the clutch pedal and engage 2nd gear. although it works on 1st gear, i usually put the transmission in 2nd gear. keep the clutch depressed.
next, release the handbrake and the foot brake.
the persons need to get the car rolling as fast as it can, so it is best if there is an incline or a downhill. the one in the driver's seat has to simultaneously, release the clutch and step on the accelerator the moment the car has gathered sufficient momentum. once the engine comes to life, he has to keep feeding the petrol to keep the engine running. a word of caution though: he must not accelerate too fast, otherwise the helpers (pushers) may end up with their faces flat on the road.
can you push start an automatic car?
13 comments:
Nowadays I alway keep a jumper cable in my car. With a handphone it is so easy to just call a friend or just ask a stranger. Also my mechanic has this jumper that comes with a battery, and you don't even need another car.
Can you push start an auto-trans car? Haven't thought about it. I guess should be possible. Instead of stepping on clutch, put to neutral and then instead of releasing the clutch, shift to 2nd gear.
The commonest cause for a stalled car is a flat battery. Most drivers don't pay enough attention to their car battery.I have a simple gadget which, when plugged into the car charger, tells me the battery and car charging condition.As mentioned here a set of battery cables is essential -it can save you from an embarrassing situation. If you can spare about $70 plus, buying your own backup charger ensures that you'll never be caught with your pants down.
Auto gear no way to push start, its either the jumper cables or the tow truck...
Chun See
auto car u do that you break the gears.
One way of finding out if your car battery is weakening is when you crank the engine. if the cranking goes "woh woh woh...." before the engine starts, better change the battery. Hearing only a slight "woh woh woh" means you got about 1 month supply left in your battery but dont take the risk. Nowdays got water-free battery, so dont bother about filling the battery.
chun see, i am quite averse to using the jump start because of my (irrational)fear of getting an electric shock.
roger, one indication - which i found out later - that my car battery was getting weak was the failure of my remote to activate the opening of the car door. i had thought the problem was with the battery in the remote.
hi simPerBlog, according to someone people it can be done but like peter pointed out, it might damage the transmission box.
unless there was a recent revolutionery new auto gearbox, it is not possible to do push start method
With my old car, I used a battery monitor gadget which I plugged into the car cigarette lighter socket to monitor the car battery. The less than $10 gadget had 3 LEDS (red, yellow, green), and by looking at the colours of the LEDS while driving, I would know the condition of the battery.
Those days, some drivers, especially those with bigger vehicles, carried a rope instead of the battery cables in their vehilce. If their vehicle stalled, and manpower was not available, they hailed a taxi, and using the rope to tie the two vehicles, the stalled vehicle can be jump started.
nah, you meant to say 'pull started', not 'jump started', right?
The remote can be indicative of a weak battery? News to me. Anyway, once I was careless enough to allow the battery to go flat. But no problem. AA came to the rescue.
roger, the moment i had the car battery replaced, the remote worked perfectly again.
Well, ‘pull started’ is more appropriate since the stalled car is being pulled to get it started again. But this ‘push’ and ‘pull’ method can only be carried out on manual transmission cars. Like you mentioned, the stalled car has to be in 2nd gear, with the clutch fully depressed so that it can be pushed. If the clutch is not depressed, the car cannot be moved at all. Likewise, for auto-trans cars, when the car is in 2nd gear, and there is no clutch to disengage the gears, the car cannot be pushed. So, it absolutely impossible to push-start an auto-trans car.
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