RAC man and steering lock

provided the ignition key has been in the on position and not removed then the steering lock will not engage. could be difficult if the steering was locked and he towed you round a corner .!

mrcheerful

Last time I was towed (broken clutch cable) the RAC man towed me with my engine running so I had use of the power steering.

He used one of those mini trailer thingies. I think (hope) Mr Cheerful is right though, the key has to be removed before it locks. I'm getting a garage to do the clutch because it's probably a bit on the difficult side for diy skills/ facilities. Would you agree ?

Simon

John ( snipped-for-privacy@invalidaddress.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Broken clutch cable? You could have driven...

what's the generally preffered technique for driving with no clutch then ?

Simon

snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk ( snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Try not to stop, by managing your approach to traffic lights etc. If you do have to, then start it in gear.

Change gear without the clutch (obviously) - carefully - by matching revs and road speed.

It's fairly straightforward. Try practicing next time you have a loan car or rental...

Normally to start off, you pop it in 1st, and turn the engine over, and drive off.

To stop, turn the engine off.

To change, pop it out of gear, match the engine revs with the next gear you want, and change gear.

Not much help for city driving, but for my normal run to/from work, if I can get a clear run, I only change gear a few times.

HTH

Pete.

LOL - or a work van etc. Good fun.

-- Stu

The message from " snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk" contains these words:

Easy. Stop engine, stuff it into first, start engine. Gently does it with the gas pedal and you're away. Changing gear I rarely use the clutch anyway, but for those without the habit - you feather the gas till the engine's not quite driving the car yet not quite slowing it either, slip it into neutral, bring the revs to the expected level for the next gear up or down, the the gear lever will move easily into gear.

The clever bit comes with avoiding stopping again - if you're good you can drive for miles even in heavy traffic with very few actualy stops. I once got from Liverpool Street Station back to Harrow in a Friday rush hour with only three stops after a melted a clutch release bearing.

Actually I have done that in the past (not nice) but on this occasion it was in city centre rush hour traffic.

And make sure you knock it out of gear well before you start to approach the slow moving traffic in front as I found out it's a right bastard to get it out of gear if the engine speed and revs have dropped too low!!

The message from "John" contains these words:

Ah - that takes cunning. You blip the gas very slightly so that as you come off it the engine's rocking away from the direction the driveshafts are trying to turn. However....it's not easy to blip the gas as you approach the back of a queueueueue.

I have found revving the engine and lightly pushing the gear lever towards the gear I want to put it in works. As the revs come down the gear lever just slips into position.

Quite interesting all these stories about driving with no clutch, but to be honest I'd rather just wait for the rescue guy!

Cheers Paul, W.Yorks

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember " snipped-for-privacy@lycos.co.uk" saying something like:

Full steam ahead and stop for nothing. :O

Nah,,, in preparation for it you should practice doing clutchless changes and try to see if your car will trickle along in first gear as you approach traffic lights. Try to start in first gear and take away smoothly then upchange without the clutch. Downchanging is more difficult, since you have to knock it into neutral, rev the engine a bit and then snick it into the lower gear.

It's a useful skill to have; I've had to do it a few times because of broken clutch cables or popped clutch hydraulic seals.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Guy King saying something like:

Yes; it helps if you scrawl on a cardboard sign "Knackered clutch - please pass" and stick it in the rear window. Surprising how accomodating people can be once they know you're not holding them up for the fun of it.

I got quite practised it when our old marina clutch used to stick to the flywheel.