I was talking to my knowledgable friend who previously owned a twin turbo 3000gt.

I was telling him about how my battery died one day because i left my radio on and he started saying something i though was not possible.

He claimed with his 3000, he could bump start his car by putting it in neutral, get the car rolling a couple mph, and then drop it in gear (fwd or reverse) and you could start the engine this way if your battery was dead.

I know you can do this with bikes but is it possible in our car?

I just thought maybe it might be useful if i ever end up with a dead battery at teh wrong time.

How would you make this work?

-Dan

 

The motion of the car, as transmitted by the drivetrain to the engine, is doing the same thing that the starter motor would.

 

so this would be ok to do every once and a while?

do you have to hold the starter button or just put the key 2 clicks forward?

 

you put the key 2 clicks forward and then have the car start rolling. what i've been told is you pop the clutch while in gear and this will start the car.

i tried it once on my wrx ... i heard it all starting to work but it didn't and i felt bad for the car because the shock felt excessive

 

Wow, I really thought this technique was common knowledge.

Figuring out when to let out the clutch and when to put it back in again takes practice, but generally goes:

Get the car rolling; a good 5 MPH will do. Put the car in first, and quickly (but not instantly) let out the clutch to get the engine spinning. As soon as you hear/feel the engine start disengage the clutch -- at the same time you may have to tap the gas pedal slightly to give the engine a little encouragement. You should now have a running engine.

 

It is possible in the S2K, I did it when I was learning to drive stick. I basically just got the car rolling at about 5mph, put it in first, and let out the clutch while giving it a little gas as Ryan said. Key was in the ignition and turned 2 clicks.

 

[QUOTE=JstnRyan,Aug 3 2008, 11:19 PM] Wow, I really thought this technique was common knowledge.

 

My thoughts exactly, just how young are you people that you have never bump started a car before?? this works with anything that has a clutch, now if we can just figure out how to do it with an automatic....

 

It's possible in any manual shift car. I've done it a few times with a dead battery, no car to jump start, and no phone service to call. Never in the S2k, but in pops truck and my DD quite a few times.


I even knew someone who had a bad starter, and put off buying a new one for months because he was always able to park atop a hill and use the hill to start the car each time.

 

I used to do this with my Toyota truck whenever I had battery trouble. That is one of the perks of driving a stick shift car. Just make sure the key is in the "on" position (two clicks with the S). Get the car rolling then press the clutch put the car in 1st and then quickly "pop" the clutch. When the engine starts to turn over press the clutch again and the engine should run. Make sure that there is plenty of space in front of you, and don't forget that you are rolling and in gear...LOL