- a transmission failure kept the car locked in overdrive
- the engine control computer kept the speed at about 70mph
- turning the ignition switch off didn't stop the engine because "a device in the system would keep the engine revolutions up so the engine wouldn't stall"
Question: Does the Sunfire really keep running after you turn the ignition off at highway speeds? I've never seen a car do that.
Full story:
Jim Land scribbled:
This thing just smells like fish all over. Why would a manual transmission cluch have hydraulic fluid in it? Wouldn't that make the pressure plate rather useless? Then the car wouldn't go anywhere.
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Actually, all manual transmission equiped cars since the 80's have hydraulic clutch assemblies. The part I still can't figure out is why wasn't she able to stop? Try to replicate this story in your car and you'll see that even a marginal brake system can overpower the engine and stop the car. Unless she also had a complete power booster failure and was a small woman, she should have been able to get it stopped. The story even said the e-brake still worked...
Yes it does.
Because it is a hydraulically actuated clutch. They've been around for a long-long time.
Errr... No. The hydraulics (DOT3 brake fluid actually) aren't
-literally- on the friction plates.
It's a GM product, anything is possible...
My guess is that she was talking on a cell phone, painting her nails, putting on make-up while drinking a Latte' and shaving her legs which left her with zero appendages to control the vehicle with.
Well now, in my Sunfire I have talked on my cell phone on occasion while driving (don't make it a habit tho), put lipstick on (while waiting at a light), talk to my little muttley but never have I tried shaving my legs while driving! But I have seen some women that I swear are vacumming their cars while driving ^..^
Neil Nelson scribbled:
D'oh! Forgot about that. Still used to the old cable-driven assemblies. The story wasn't worded too clearly
But you can still at least force it out of gear without disengaging the clutch (might weaken a syncro or two, and most people probably wouldn't think of doing that anyway - "you have to disengage the clutch to do anything", we're told)
According to the story, a pin had come loose from inside the transaxle jamming the gears into engagement.
Personally, I believe it's impossible for all of these supposed amlfunctions to occur all at once.
BTW, neat X-face :-)
Christine II
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