You mean to say that you haven't disabled that stupid switch?
My old Mustang had that, and it was removed the day I bought it used,
along with the seat belt buzzer. I always wear the belts, I just don't
have them on when I start the car. The little ding ding ding had to go!
The Clutch lockout starter switch is in reality, a litigation inhibitor.
It keeps idiot drivers from driving through shopping center windows
after starting their car in gear. ..."I just turned the key, and the
car learched forward and drove through the crowd. The bodies were
flying everywhere. I swereved three times before I hit the
fountain.....". If they can't grasp the simple mechanics of operating a
vehicle, then they should not be allowed behind the wheel, period.
When I lost a TO bearing in my old Dodge PowerWagon (4X4), I
could not disengage the clutch, but I still had ten miles of city
driving to go. Smooth no-clutch shift up and down were no problem, but
starting from a stop was, of course. My solution was to stop, kill the
engine, put it in first and when the light turned green, hit the
starter. Granted, this is a bit tough on the equipment, but it got me
home, instead of blocking traffic for an hour waiting for an expensive
tow. This is one of the reasons I disable those lockout switches. The
other, is by flexing the presure plate springs every time you need to
start it up, you will weaken the springs, and thus shorten the life of
the clutch before it starts to slip. You only need to go down far
enough for the clutch disk to spin free. How far that is varies from
car to car.
Rich
> ----------
> From: RobCarpent(at)aol.com[SMTP:RobCarpent(at)aol.com]
> Reply To: RobCarpent(at)aol.com
> Sent: Sunday, June 15, 1997 5:26 PM
> To: t_wiencek(at)qmgate.anl.gov
> Cc: alpines(at)autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: thrust washers (was clu
>
> In a message dated 97-06-15 09:36:17 EDT, you write:
>
> << With the amount of throw-out bearing failures I've seen, just
> pressing
> the clutch, much less while starting, is a spooky experience.
> >>
>
> I will be the first to admit that I had never heard of such a thing.
> I have
> started my manual shift cars with the clutch in since I was 16 [35
> years, you
> do the math]. I have learned tons reading this list so I assumed I
> have
> been killing my bearing all the while and would have to relearn.
>
> Yesterday I forced myself to start my 1984 Ford Ranger pickup [daily
> driver]
> 5 speed and found that the ignition will not fire WITHOUT the clutch
> being
> depressed. Yes, I had it in neutral. It simply requires me to
> depress the
> clutch if I want to start it.
>
> Are Alpines built differently? Is this really a problem?
>
> Rob Carpenter [doing it wrong for years]
> Seattle
> Series V
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 09:44:30 CDT