Starting a car with a car battery charger...

[brinnbry055]

yes that is a problem when your on gravel, ,
thanx for the comp, it took me an hour writing it all ,golf are cool cars , i just got an ford escort xr3i at the mo and its on its last legs. not much you can do about the gravel unless you park it on the street but theres not always enough room . well anyway good luck m8. BRINN

[brinnbry055]

yes that is a problem when your on gravel, ,
thanx for the comp, it took me an hour writing it all ,golf are cool cars , i just got an ford escort xr3i at the mo and its on its last legs. not much you can do about the gravel unless you park it on the street but theres not always enough room . well anyway good luck m8. BRINN

[olliebeagle]

With the new cars. If the battery is dis-connected the LED info like clock,date,etc. etc. is lost and has to be re-entered upon re-connection.. Is it possible to connect the leads on a charged up Car Battery Booster to the Car Battery to start the car without dis-connecting the Car Battery leads so that the LED info is not lost.

[kalniel]

Dn-ner dn-ner Dn-ner dn-ner, Dn-ner dn-ner Dn-ner dn-ner....

[shaithis]

With the new cars. If the battery is dis-connected the LED info like clock,date,etc. etc. is lost and has to be re-entered upon re-connection.. Is it possible to connect the leads on a charged up Car Battery Booster to the Car Battery to start the car without dis-connecting the Car Battery leads so that the LED info is not lost.

If you are talking about the booster packs that can get you going, then yes.

I have a very bad habit of leaving my car for 2 weeks without driving it, means I find my car won't start a lot of the time thanks to it needing quite a kick to get it going, when I have had to remove the battery because the booster isn't string enough, I connect the booster to the power cables and they keep clock and alarm ticking over nicely for days at a time.

[steve threlfall]

[Kumagoro]

Another thing to remember when your battery is near flat is to push the clutch down when
you turn it over so there is less of a load.

Obviously it wont work with a really flat battery but if it borderline it makes the difference.

[Butcher]

Another thing to remember when your battery is near flat is to push the clutch down when
you turn it over so there is less of a load.

Obviously it wont work with a really flat battery but if it borderline it makes the difference.

I always do that anyway...

[TAKTAK]

I always do that anyway...

some cars won't start if you don't have the clutch depressed nowadays

[Jay]

some cars won't start if you don't have the clutch depressed nowadays

My MX5 Roadster needs that... no one told me when I picked it up though!

[olliebeagle]

If you are talking about the booster packs that can get you going, then yes.

I have a very bad habit of leaving my car for 2 weeks without driving it, means I find my car won't start a lot of the time thanks to it needing quite a kick to get it going, when I have had to remove the battery because the booster isn't string enough, I connect the booster to the power cables and they keep clock and alarm ticking over nicely for days at a time.

Thank you Shaithis., for your helpful reply.

[sleepyhead]

My MX5 Roadster needs that... no one told me when I picked it up though!

I thought only US models had that? There is also a US mod to "de-activate" that feature too.

[brinnbry055]

yes there are some tips . very simple but good helpfull ones such as depressing clutch peddle fully as stated by another member of this panel. if you were to lift your car of the ground with engine on then the wheels would roll at a steady pace. as if you are coasting in 1st gear. this is becouse the engine always has a small connection with the gears through a clutch plate. therefore when you are letting car tick over in nuetral you wont notice but there is a small drive normally but not enough to move the car forwards. so when you start a car without the peddle depressed there is already an obstacle for the battery to overcome. it needs to work harder becouse the battery is effectivly putting drive into the wheels, not just the engine. although its the same thing its so difficult to explain so by pressing clutch peddle fully down you are giving the car the best fighting chance of starting. dont forget when ignition is on. act quick. even them bulbs on the dash use power . no fan on or lights either. oh and music. these combined you have an extra 10-30% in your favour on a weak battery. happy motoring everyone btw. i have just sold my 19th car but wont be replacing it. i will be using public transport for the rest of the year. i hate trains but dont mind busses. one more thing may interest a few ppl here as im sure we all need all the money we can get. why dont you try hypermilling??????. look it up . can you drive 196 miles with one gallon of petrol £ about £5s worth????
i never could but apparently achievable with extreme driving skills and techniches. look it up

[Mblaster]

if you were to lift your car of the ground with engine on then the wheels would roll at a steady pace. as if you are coasting in 1st gear. this is becouse the engine always has a small connection with the gears through a clutch plate. therefore when you are letting car tick over in nuetral you wont notice but there is a small drive normally but not enough to move the car forwards.

I don't know that much about cars, but I'm pretty sure that in neutral there's no connection between the engine and the wheels, since you can rev the engine as much as you like and it has no effect on the wheels. Maybe you're talking about an automatic set in drive, that would move the wheels as if you're coasting in first gear, because that's exactly what you're doing.

so when you start a car without the peddle depressed there is already an obstacle for the battery to overcome. it needs to work harder becouse the battery is effectivly putting drive into the wheels, not just the engine. although its the same thing its so difficult to explain so by pressing clutch peddle fully down you are giving the car the best fighting chance of starting.

Depressing the clutch would (I think) just mean that the engine doesn't need to turn the clutch and half the gear box, because it breaks the link between engine and the rest of the car closer to the engine. Putting it in neutral break the link at the gear box, where as depressing the clutch breaks the link a the clutch.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here

[kalniel]

You're both saying the same thing more or less

It's true that there is a higher load on the engine in neutral (for a manual gearbox) compared to having the clutch fully disengaged. Most car manuals recommend starting with the clutch depressed for exactly that reason.

[shaithis]

I've always bump started in 2nd gear as well, just because that's what I was alays told....and it's never let me down.

Jump starting can be a real pain if (as I found out recently...) you have a powerful car and the person trying to jump start you has a low powered car :S Also, make sure you buy jump cables that are thick, the thin ones might not last if you connect them to a powerful car.


Recently bought a dry-cell battery as I kept letting my battery go flat (car doesn't get used much) and they do seem to be noticably better at holding their charge.