Stupid Q about starting a car

Every car i've owned, be it diesel, petrol with a carb, or FI, i've started them without touching the accelerator pedal, (with one exception, a beach buggy i had with twin webber 34 ICT carbs, no chokes, so when cold the only way to start her was to pump the pedal twice before starting.. this shot raw fuel down the intakes and allowed her to start.. had to manualy keep the revs up for a minute before she'd settle down to her usual burble.. at about

Anyway, with most modern cars they will take care of them selves regards to fueling when cold, i.e on a FI car the 5th injector will be brought into play, and the revs will be kept high untill there's some heat produced,

I think most modern car's manuals state never to pump or press the accelerator pedal when cranking, as this could allow rar fuel into the exhaust, and we all know what that does to that nice expensice cat don't we :)

Maybe for a particular car it's best to suck it and see, if it will happily start with no pedal pressing needed, then do that.

I've had our 1 litre micra's engine flood a few times, most likely due to the 5th injector being brought into play when it shouldent.. every time it's done it it's been summer time, only way to start her then is to take the plugs out, spin her over a few times to expell the excess fuel, re-install the plugs, foot to the floor and crank.. note foot to the floor, not pumping the pedal, this opens the buterfly valve fully, allowing max air into the cylinders, as soon as she fires then jump off the pedal.

Stupid thing is on our car it's never recorded a fault code when she floods, and as you can guess, it only does it when i'm late and that's the only car left for me to use :)

On my Mondy, it usually starts without touching the pedal. However when its warm, sometimes i do find it difficult to start, i usually find by placing my foot straight down to the floor this solves it. I can only presume i flood it.

In your case, starting the car should be done while the spouse is still in the house.

Always double-declutch first. If you don't do that you are not doing it properly.

With respect to the Mondeo, and all other similar aged Fords and newer with EFI, the correct starting procedure hot or cold is no gas at all. This of course assumes a fit engine, battery, sparks etc and a non sticky idle control valve. Under very cold conditions say below -10 or so alittle throttle may help, but note that fuelling increases alot with only a small amount of throttle so you may flood it.

Ford's have incorporated a 'clear flood' facility into the ECU from about '89 (almost all cars with eec iv and later) whereby opening the throttle fully and holding before starting to crank shuts off the injectors altogether- try it you'll find the engine will not fire at all until you release the pedal to less than 90%.

Tim..

Oh and I'd add that under cold conditions, always dip the clutch during cranking- it easies the work on the starter motor caused by cold gearbox oil drag.

Tim..

Double declutch? I thought this was letting the clutch in, in neutral, mid gear change.

Yes it is, i think hes taking the piss..

Actually no... now I think of it if the gearbox is disengaged its less work for the engine.... hmmm

Not necessarily. The pressure offered by the clutch release mechanism can be greater than the effort of turning the gearbox.

And, yes. I think it's a windup anyway.

Rob Graham

The only footwork you need, hot or cold, is the clutch (to give the starter an easier life) - then just let the engine do it's own thing for 5 or 10 seconds ..

Unless the handbook says otherwise.

Interestingly enough (or not), I always start any car with the clutch down[1] for one simple reason - I've seen someone forget to check if a car's in neutral before starting. The results were surprisingly expensive.

Tom.

My friend has remote start, and left it in gear since the handbrake needed adjusting. Walked out of the shop and pressed the remote start, reversing lights came on and the car jumped backwards before stalling - how I laughed!

one of the vans at work won't start unless you press the clutch

weird one huh :)

No need to remove plugs on the Micra,Just remove Fuel pump fuse to clear and just as it starts refit fuse... That said it does help to have an extra pair of hands,someone crank it over while you do the fuse and throttle if neccasary..

Steve

You don't need a remote starter to do this. Some years ago I was driving a shagged out Metro (as a second car to get to and from work). The starter pinion must have been missing a tooth, as occasionally it would refuse to start, but if your moved the car slightly in gear, it would start. Dark night, no-one else in the car park. Put car in reverse, give it a firm push to nudge the starter. Cars starts, and proceeds to reverse in a graceful curve across the car park before crashing into another car, with me watching open-mouthed from some distance away. How it managed to do that without stalling I don't know, but there you go, that's metros for you.

haha, thats great!